Iran's famed carpet weavers are busy at work following the country's historic nuclear deal with world powers, anticipating a boost in exports as sanctions are set to be lifted in the months ahead.

"The Persian hand-woven carpet is Iran's ambassador. I'm delighted that the ambassador is in the process of resuming work in the U.S.," exporter Jila Rassam Arabzadeh said this week. "The Persian carpet is like the Iranian flag, known all over the world. Let our flag fly."

Greece on Tuesday reached a deal on a multi-billion bailout with its international creditors, officials said, with the government planning to submit it to parliament later in the day.

"An agreement was reached," a government source told Agence France Presse, with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos telling reporters: "We are very close... There are a couple of very small details remaining on prior actions."

China's central bank on Tuesday devalued its yuan currency by nearly two percent against the U.S. dollar, as authorities seek to push market reforms and bolster the world's second-largest economy.

The surprise move marked the biggest drop since China reformed its currency system in 2005 by unpegging the yuan -- also known as the renminbi (RMB) -- from the greenback.

France's labor minister said Monday that he would step down next week to become mayor of Dijon, forcing President Francois Hollande to find someone else to tackle stubbornly high unemployment.

Francois Rebsamen, 64, told Le Parisien daily that he would hand in his resignation on August 19, after the next cabinet meeting.

Debt-ridden Greece and its creditors appeared on track Monday to finalize the terms of a third bailout agreement despite the misgivings of EU paymaster Germany.

After Sunday's talks pushed on until 3:00 am Monday, negotiators were back at the table seven hours later, fine-tuning the list of new reform commitments to be required of the radical left Greek government in exchange for the 86 billion euro ($94 billion) lifeline.

Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is to pay 28.3 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) for a nearly 20 percent stake in consumer electronics retailer Suning, the two companies said in a statement Monday.

At the same time, the Chinese shopping chain will invest up to 14 billion yuan for just over one percent of Alibaba, the statement said, bringing the total value of the deal to nearly $7.0 billion.

Greece and its creditors were to resume talks in Athens on Sunday with both sides indicating that the terms of a third bailout will be finalized in short order.

The finance and economy ministers, Euclid Tsakalotos and Giorgos Stathakis, were to go back into the talks with the ECB, the International Monetary Fund and the European Stability Mechanism at 2:00 pm (1100 GMT).

Greece and its creditors were involved in "intense talks" over the weekend to agree a new bailout before the debt-ridden country must repay 3.4 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to the European Central Bank on August 20.

European officials said sticking points still remain despite the progress being made, with a "generally positive reception... towards Greek readiness to vote on reforms this week.  

Australia is cracking down on foreigners who unlawfully own residential properties, investigating hundreds of cases ahead of the introduction of tougher penalties, Treasurer Joe Hockey said Saturday.

The government announced in May it would increase penalties for illegal purchases to rigorously enforce rules under which foreigners are only allowed to buy new dwellings, and not existing residential property.

China's foreign trade performance worsened in July with both exports and imports falling on an annual basis, customs said on Saturday, spelling more worry for the world's second largest economy.

Exports plunged 8.3 percent year-on-year to $195.10 billion while imports dropped 8.1 percent to $152.07 billion, it said in a statement on its website.