Apple's new iPhone 5 is selling well in the Gaza Strip despite inflated prices, reaching the Palestinian enclave via smuggling tunnels even before high-tech hub Israel next door.

Kuwait said Sunday it will host the first summit of the 10-year-old Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) this week, bringing together economic powers China, Japan and leading energy producers.

As high oil prices and improved efficiency force refineries in the U.S. and Europe toward closure, the industry is shifting toward the Middle East and Asia in a move fuelled by a thirst for energy among emerging economies.

Iran's currency, the rial, plunged 9 percent against the dollar at the opening of trade on Monday, to a record low of 32,500 to the greenback, real-time exchange websites showed.

Iran launched a fresh bid on Monday to stabilize its falling currency, opening a foreign exchange center that provides government-subsidized U.S. dollars to import some goods as the country struggles with Western economic sanctions.

The son of Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was arrested after he returned from abroad on Monday, two days after authorities jailed Rafsanjani's daughter, the official IRNA news agency reported.

British construction output fell 10.1 percent on the year in July, nonseasonably adjusted data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday. Compared to June, construction rose 2.2 percent.

Iran is using a little-known port off the East Malaysia coast to hide millions of barrels of oil from Western sanctions, according to shipping data, industry sources and officials.

Three international banks that backed out of US$10 billion debt restructuring talks with an investment company controlled by Dubai's ruler say they are now pursuing legal action against the firm.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi began commercial operations on Saturday at its new Khalifa Port in a multibillion-dollar project to transfer its main container terminal from the 40-year-old port of Mina Zayed.