European equities and the euro fell on Wednesday on fresh concerns over banks' exposure to indebted Greece, but losses were capped by expectations of more stimulus measures from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares slid 0.34 percent to 5,345.76 points in morning deals, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.99 percent to 5,515.32 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.80 percent to 2,960.61.

Australian beer giant Foster's has accepted an improved takeover worth Aus$9.9 billion (£6.5 billion) from British-based brewer SABMiller, the pair announced on Wednesday.

Foster's Group, whose leading lager brands include Corona and Foster's, had in August rejected a hostile bid of Aus$9.51 billion from SABMiller, which produces rival beers Grolsch and Miller Lite.

The owners and operators of a cargo ship that struck San Francisco's Bay Bridge four years ago causing a huge oil spill are to pay $44.4 million in compensation, under a deal announced Monday.

The COSCO-Busan container ship leaked 53,000 gallons of oil after colliding with the bridge on November 7, 2007, killing thousands of birds, fish and spoiling miles of shoreline habitat.

The Japanese government is to unveil a series of measures aimed at cushioning the impact of the persistently high yen on the domestic economy, according to a report.

The package is likely to include subsidies for companies to establish facilities in Japan and help for Japanese corporations wishing to take stakes in foreign energy projects, Kyodo news said, citing unnamed officials.

Greece was locked down in tough EU-IMF talks on rescue funds, and Italy was hit by a credit downgrade, dragging the eurozone ever closer towards danger on Tuesday.

The talks on rescue funds needed to avert bankruptcy for Greece and chaos in the eurozone next month dragged unexpectedly into a second day, just as Greek authorities prepared to auction more debt.

The dispute that rose between Lebanon and Israel over the maritime border after the discovery of potential offshore energy reserves drew the attention of many oil drilling companies.

“Time is gold for Lebanon and the cabinet should swiftly take the necessary measures to follow up this issue,” a global oil expert told As Safir on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Monday amid worries about the Greek sovereign debt crisis and the political battle over U.S. deficit reduction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 171.73 points (1.49 percent) to 11,337.36 in the first five minutes of trade.

U.S. firm Noble has began exploratory drilling for gas off divided Cyprus's southern coast, ignoring Turkish warnings it would retaliate by launching its own explorations in the eastern Mediterranean.

Director of the Cypriot energy services Solon Kassinis told the semi-official Cyprus News Agency that Noble had started drilling for natural gas from its Aphrodite platform inside the island's exclusive economic zone on Sunday night.

Greece will remain in recession for all of 2012 with an annual contraction of 2.5 percent, but could return to growth by 2013, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday during a symposium on the Greek debt crisis.

The IMF representative to Greece, Bob Traa, told the conference organized by the Economist magazine that the Greek rescue program is in a "difficult moment" and that gross domestic product was likely to contract by 5.5 percent in 2011 and "an average of negative 2.5 percent in 2012".

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been hit by cyber attacks with fears that its data on nuclear power plants or military-related products has been leaked, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The company found in mid-August that some 80 servers and computers of the nation's top heavy machinery manufacturer had been infected with computer viruses, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun.