current US sanctions on Iran are unlikely to stop Iranian oil exports completely, a long-time adviser at Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said on Tuesday, adding Iran would be unable to close the straits of Hormuz and Bab Al Mandeb even partially.
Speaking at an oil conference in the Norwegian city of Stavanger, Ebrahim Al Muhanna said Iran would be the first to lose out on a move to block those major shipping routes and that any such action would trigger further sanctions on Iran.

“Current sanctions are unlikely to stop Iranian oil exports completely, as almost all experts agree. I mean, they will continue to export 1 million (barrels per day) or so. So closing that Strait of Hormuz will damage the Iranians as much as damaging others,” he said.
Iran has said if it cannot sell its oil due to US pressure, then no other regional country will be allowed to do so either, threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz.
“The amount of oil going through the Strait of Hormuz is so large. There’s more than 18 million barrels a day, about two thirds of world maritime oil trade. Meaning, cutting oil from there will lead to an acute oil shortage and prices will skyrocket,” Al Muhanna said.
“Is Iran able or willing to close completely, or even partially, the Strait of Hormuz or Bab Al Mandeb, or both? The answer is no, and a really big no.”
US President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 pact between Iran and major world powers under which sanctions were lifted in return for Tehran accepting curbs on its nuclear programme. The Trump administration then announced unilateral plans to restore sanctions against Tehran.

France's Carrefour group said Tuesday it is overhauling its business in a transformation plan involving thousands of job cuts, a product revamp and new partnerships in China.

Carrefour, which was the world's second-biggest retailer at the start of the century after US giant Wal-Mart, has since slipped to ninth position, according to the Deloitte consultancy, having been overtaken by the likes of Amazon and Costco.

Some 2,400 jobs will be cut in Carrefour's French operations, which currently total 10,500 staff, via voluntary redundancies, the group announced.

The retailer's product mix is to be redirected towards more organic produce, with a target of increasing sales in that segment almost four-fold by 2022, it said.

It will also accelerate its online development, aiming for a 20-percent market share in French online food sales, and open at least 2,000 new neighbourhood outlets in its French home market in coming years.

Carrefour is hoping for 2 billion euros ($2.45 billion) dollars of annual savings from 2020 onwards thanks to the restructuring as it streamlines logistics and overheads.

Carrefour also said it had signed a deal with Chinese internet giant Tencent and supermarket group Yonghui which will take a minority stake in Carrefour's Chinese subsidiary.

Bitcoin slid below the $10,000 mark to $9,995.58 on Wednesday for the first time since December 1, leaving the cryptocurrency down by close to half from its peak hit last month.

Bitcoin, the largest and most prominent cryptocurrency, fell more than 11 per cent to hit $10,000 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, amid worries about a regulatory clampdown.

The cryptocurrency touched a peak of almost $20,000 in December - and indeed crossed over that threshold on some exchanges - but has since been roiled by several large sell-offs.

Other cryptocurrencies plunged as well. Ethereum and Ripple were both down heavily after reports South Korea and China could ban cryptocurrency trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown.

"There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling to try and get the hell out of there," said Charles Hayter, founder of Cryptocompare, which owns cryptocurrencies.

"You have more regulatory uncertainty... and because of these falls you have these other outfalls," he said, referring to the collapse of some cryptocurrencies in the recent slump in prices.

With South Korea, Japan and China all making noises about a regulatory swoop, and officials in France and the United States vowing to investigate cryptocurrencies, there are concerns that global coordination on how to regulate them will accelerate.

Officials are expected to debate the rise of Bitcoin at the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina in March.

"Cryptocurrencies could be capped in the current quarter ahead of the G20 meeting in March, where policymakers could discuss tighter regulations," said Shuhei Fujise, chief analyst at Alt Design.

At its lows on Tuesday, bitcoin suffered its biggest daily decline in four months. It was a far cry from its peak close to $20,000 in December, when the virtual currency had risen nearly 2,000 per cent over the year.

Tuesday's decline followed reports that South Korea's finance minister had said banning trading in cryptocurrencies is still an option and that Seoul plans a set of measures to clamp down on the "irrational" cryptocurrency investment craze.

Separately, a senior Chinese central banker said authorities should ban centralised trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.

"Bitcoin is deciding whether this is the moment to crash and burn," said Steven Englander, head of strategy at New York-based Rafiki Capital.

"My conjecture is that cryptocurrency holders are trying to decide whether to abandon bitcoin because its limitations mean it will be superseded by better products or bet that it can thrive despite them."

Cryptocurrencies enjoyed a bumper year in 2017 as mainstream investors entered the market and as an explosion in so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) - digital, token-based fundraising rounds - drove demand.

While many observers say the recent falls show that the bubble has burst, those backing the nascent markets say that regulation is welcomed and wild price swings to be expected.

"The volatility of Bitcoin - and other cryptocurrencies - is an expected, and important, part of the journey to becoming a mature asset class. We expect the volatility to continue throughout 2018 but fundamentally believe that bitcoin is still in a bull market," said Christopher Keshian, co-founder of $APEX Token Fund.

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market value, was down 18 per cent since Tuesday, according to website CoinMarketCap.

Ripple, the third biggest, has lost 25 per cent of its value over the past 24 hours and was quoted at $1.03, down from a high of $3.81 on January 4.

Bitcoin futures maturing on Wednesday on the Cboe Global Markets Inc's Cboe Futures Exchange were at $10,070, with 1,586 contracts traded, after having opened at $10,850.

"The run-up in bitcoin created a mystique of one-way trading which is being shaken, but the pricing requires faith that there will always be demand," Englander wrote.

"This is far from guaranteed given the existence of alternatives with better characteristics." 

Villas in Sharjah bucked the wider trend of falling rents in the emirate's residential rental market, recording an increase of 1.7 per cent and taking the rate of growth to 0.4 per cent during the last quarter of 2017, according to real estate consultancy Cluttons.

Over the last two years, Sharjah's villa market has grown in popularity, appealing to those households priced out of Dubai or seeking a more family-oriented lifestyle.

Suzanne Eveleigh, Cluttons' head of Sharjah, said: "Communities such as Al Zahia have been a runaway success and with most major new shopping mall developments in Sharjah anchoring these new lifestyle destinations, the future of community living in the emirate appears relatively buoyant, especially when compared to many other property segments in the UAE."

In contrast to the villa market, apartment rents in Sharjah registered a steep decline of 13.6 per cent in the last quarter of 2017, compared to a decline of 10.6 per cent in 2016. Research shows that Abu Shagara topped the list of weakest performers, with rents retreating by 15.1 per cent during 2017.

This market has been evolving ever since the used car showroom dealerships vacated the area at the end of 2015. Much of the demand here has been driven historically by those working in the used car industry. Many of these households have now relocated, which has pushed vacancy rates up to between five and 10 per cent and rents are declining as landlords move to entice demand. The only other market to register double digit declines was Al Qassimiya (-10.6 per cent).

According to the report, Sharjah's residential rental market is set to face pressures from rising stock.

"Many landlords are reluctant to adjust advertised rents downwards due to concerns about alienating existing tenants. However, with tenants increasingly seeking out new and energy-efficient buildings, reflecting household financial pressures stemming from the January 1 introduction of VAT, rising utility bills and rising inflation levels, we feel landlords will need to be flexible with rents and payment plans, particularly in older buildings, to sustain demand," added Eveleigh.

Faisal Durrani, head of research at Cluttons, said: "With a sudden turnaround in economic growth or residential demand unlikely to increase during 2018, rents will continue to moderate, with apartments likely to see corrections of five to seven per cent next year, while villa rents are expected to experience growth of between one to two per cent. This makes Sharjah's villa market the only property segment in the UAE to see sustained positive growth. This is likely to prompt further investment in the city's villa segment."

A public employee, who was convicted of embezzling Dh2.2million he collected from the receipts of road tariffs but never handed over the cash to his employers, has been fined Dh2.2 million and jailed for three months. He has also been asked to pay back Dh2.2million he embezzled to the public department.

The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi upheld earlier rulings by lower courts that handed down the sentence to the Emirati man after he was found guilty of embezzling public funds.

Official court documents stated that the man who had been working with the department of public works in Al Dhaid since 2010, was in charge of issuing receipts for road tariffs imposed on lorries after collecting materials in the area.

Investigations revealed that the defendant had issued hundreds of receipts totalling Dh2.2 million, but didn't give the cash to the persons concerned in the public works department.

Officials said the Emirati instead used the money to buy luxurious vehicles, including two Tahoe vehicles for himself, a Range Rover for his wife and gold jewellery.

The Federal Court of First Instance in Sharjah had sentenced the Emirati to three years in jail and fined him Dh2.2 million after he was found guilty. The man was also ordered to pay back the amount he had embezzled. 

The Emirati challenged the ruling in the appeal court, which upheld the earlier verdict by the first instance court but reduced the jail sentence to three months. The appeal court also maintained the Dh2.2 million fine and Dh2.to be paid back to the public department.

The man then appealed to UAE's top court, which upheld the appeal court sentences.

Bahrain All Share Index has closed at 1,334.89 points marking a decrease of 1.04 points below the previous closing.

This decrease was due to the fall in the Investment Sectorand Services Sector.

Bahrain lslamic Index has closed at 1,113.77 points marking a decrease of 5.14 points below the previous closing.

Results indicated that 81 equity transactions took place with a volume of 9,834,513 worth BD 1,506,788.

Results also indicated that two equity REIT took place with a volume of 76,981 worth BD 7,698 representing 0.51% of the total value of securities traded.

Investors traded mainly in the Investment Sector representing69.08% of the total value of securities traded.

It's that time when I dust off the snow boots, get the overcoat back from the dry cleaner, and try to find the scarf and gloves that are used only once a year. The annual trek up the Swiss Alps beckons, to mingle with the glitterati, movers and shakers, and masters of the universe at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Some cynics dismiss the Davos bash as an irrelevant talking shop — all hot air in a cold climate — that’s little more than an excuse for some fun in the snow and some time on the piste.
But I always find it an intellectually stimulating occasion, an opportunity to take an early-year sounding of the state of the world. All that sub-zero Alpine air blows away the festive cobwebs and gets you thinking straight again.
And, of course, for a journalist it’s the best networking event in the world. WEF 2018 promises to be the best for many years. Here — in rough order of priority — are the questions I’m hoping to get answered at the event:
1. How will President Trump go down among the global elite that he affects to despise? Having the “America First” populist in the midst of the “swamp” he wants to drain should be fascinating. WEF plenary sessions — the big set pieces that world leaders use to tell their message — are usually indulgent places, but the mood among the audience is transmitted almost by osmosis. Theresa May, the British prime minister, drew some “tut-tuts” from the crowd with her pro-Brexit declarations last year. Will the US president win them over to his anti-globalist ways? Or will they react more noisily to his message? I’m betting he will make some friends, but also confirm his enemies’ worst fears.
2. What will be the global judgment on Saudi Arabia’s dramatic year of change? The Davos constituency of business leaders and financiers have a keen interest in the economic transformation underway in the Kingdom, while the proponents of greater liberalization will applaud moves toward gender equality and cultural change. But there is also likely to be a significant portion critical of Saudi Arabia’s assertive moves in regional foreign policy. Which will prevail in the overall assessment of the Kingdom by its global peers?
3. Will “sustainability” remain the WEF buzzword? The idea of promoting a sustainable planet amid all the private jets, helicopters and Cadillacs might seem bizarre, but environmentally aware policies and initiatives have been the central themes of recent WEF events. Serious business leaders are increasingly factoring in these issues in their strategic plans, and environmental concerns are top of the WEF’s global risks. Will anything concrete emerge in this respect from WEF 2018?
4. Will women make further progress at Davos? Gender equality is another of the WEF’s long-held policy stances. It makes economic sense, as much as being transparently more just in a social and cultural sense, as the Arab world is increasingly convinced. For the first time at WEF 2018, all of the meeting’s seven co-chairs are women. But the event remains a predominantly male affair, in terms of the gender of attendees. “Spouses and partners” are welcomed, but Davos Man still rules, though he is a little less assertive about it in the MeToo age. Will there be a significant change at this Davos? I suspect not much.
5. What is the mood among the “masters of the universe,” the financial and economic titans who run the world and traditionally dominate Davos? They are in a good place at the moment, with global economic growth forecast strong in 2018, world stock markets at record highs and several big “liquidity events” expected this year, not least the record-breaking initial public offering of Saudi Aramco. On the other hand, valuations are at all-time highs, and some are expecting the “Trump boom” to give way to bust later this year. Has the world learned from the global financial crisis? Davos is the place to find out.
6. What does Elton John make of it all? The aging rocker is one of the celebrity attendees at this year’s WEF, along with Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett, rapper-with-a-brain will.i.am, and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. If I get close enough, I want to ask Cate about the making of the moving refugee poem “What They Took With Them,” will.i.am about urban infrastructure investment patterns in the US rust-belt, and Shah about the initiatives of his Prime Minister Modi (also present at Davos) to cut through bureaucratic red tape in Indian business. I will ask Elton, who is giving a talk on leadership, what he thinks of the other “rocket man,” Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea.

A record number of bosses are optimistic about global economic growth, according to a PwC study published on Monday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The data will be especially welcome for this year's star WEF attendee US President Donald Trump, with many respondents in the US praising his party's tax cuts for businesses.

According to the survey, conducted among 1,300 business leaders worldwide, 57 percent of top executives believe that global growth will strengthen in the next 12 months, a record figure since the survey started in 2012.

The annual poll helps set the tone for the conversation in Davos, where the world's business and political elite meet to discuss pressing global issues, but also to network and hash out deals.

The findings are significantly better than last year, when only 29 percent were bullish on the world economy, and match much of the optimism expressed by business leaders heading for the forum in Switzerland.

Optimism has particularly jumped in the United States, where 59 percent of bosses declared themselves confident.

But even in Japan, or Brexit-bound Britain, the situation has improved with optimism among CEOs in the UK at 36 percent, against 17 percent last year.

"With the boom in stock market and GDP growth around the world, it's no wonder that CEOs are so optimistic," said Bernard Gainnier, president of PwC France.

When it comes to the prospects of their own companies, business leaders are also confident, even if the increase over last year is less spectacular: 42 percent of respondents said they are "very confident" for the next 12 months, against 38 percent in 2017.

The United States remains the most promising market for non-US bosses, followed by China, Germany, Britain and India.

However, despite this general optimism, leaders say they are "extremely concerned" by terrorism, geopolitical uncertainties and cyber threats.

A French appeals court on Monday dropped a case against JPMorgan Chase for allegedly aiding tax fraud at the Wendel investment group, citing clerical errors, sources at the prosecutors office said.

Prosecutors, suspecting the US bank of helping Wendel top managers to hide more than 300 million euros ($368 million at current rates) from the French taxman in 2007 and 2008, in 2016 ordered it to stand trial for "complicity in tax fraud", alongside current and former Wendel top brass.

The latter included former chairman Jean-Bernard Lafonta and Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, who for seven years also ran French employers lobby group Medef.

But appeals by JP Morgan prevented the trial from taking place until, on Monday, the Paris appeals court cancelled proceedings "because of problems with procedure and the notification of rights", a source close to the case said.

This does not, however, necessarily mean the end of the case for JP Morgan, a judicial source said.

A higher Paris court could still ask the French financial crime squad to investigate further, possibly leading to a reopening of the case, the source said.

The investigation against JP Morgan was launched in June of 2012 after the French tax authorities discovered a financial instrument called Solfur which yielded a net 315 million euros for its shareholders -- including three Wendel board members and 11 top managers at the firm -- for an initial investment of just 996,250 euros.

The gain was "completely tax-free", according to a 2015 document by the financial fraud squad which suspected tax fraud.

Europe's biggest software company SAP on Monday said it will spend up to two billion euros investing in and nurturing French start-ups as part of its push into cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence.

The move by the German firm comes as France is increasingly emerging as a leading hub for tech innovation, boosted by President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to promote the nation as open for business.

"There is a real sense of economic momentum in France," said SAP chief executive Bill McDermott after Macron hosted talks with some 140 business leaders at the Versailles chateau near Paris.

In a statement, SAP said it will spend 150 million euros ($180 million) annually over the next five years on research and development in France.

It plans to focus its efforts on emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain—the technology that underpins bitcoin.

SAP also said it would open an incubator in France, its second in Europe after Berlin, that would nurture over 50 start-ups and give them access to SAP's software and cloud computing operations.

It also promised to invest in early-stage ventures looking for their first seed money, and said it had already acquired the young French venture Recast.AI that builds so-called "chatbots".

Without giving a breakdown of its planned investments in France, SAP said overall it "estimates a more than two-billion-euro spend over five years".

Other firms attending Macron's business summit in Versailles also unveiled new spending plans.

Facebook said it will pour an additional 10 million euros into artificial intelligence in France by 2022.

It also pledged to train 65,000 people in digital skills in free schemes to help women set up businesses and the long-term unemployed get back to work.

The global unemployment rate is expected to tick down in 2018, the United Nations said Monday, while warning that far too many workers still live in desperate poverty.

The International Labour Organisation forecast a worldwide unemployment rate of 5.5 percent this year, a marginal improvement on the 5.6 percent recorded in 2017, thanks to broad economic growth.

But in its flagship "World Employment and Social Outlook" trends report, the ILO also raised serious red flags about the health of the planet's labour market.

"Even though global unemployment has stabilised, decent work deficits remain widespread: the global economy is still not creating enough jobs", the organisation's director-general, Guy Ryder, said in a statement.

A key problem is the abundance of "vulnerable employment", a category that includes informal work arrangements with little or no social and contractual protections.

"The significant progress achieved in the past in reducing vulnerable employment has essentially stalled since 2012", the ILO said in a statement.

The problem is most acute in the developing world, where three out of every four workers have a "vulnerable" employment status, the report said.

The study's lead author, ILO economist Stephan Kuhn, pointed out that 40 percent of all employed people in the developing world still live in "extreme poverty".

Uneven economic growth and the huge concentration of global wealth in the hands of very few is expected to be a key topic at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, which opens on Tuesday.

The charity group Oxfam reported Monday that 82 percent of the wealth created in 2017 was controlled by the world's richest one percent.

For ILO chief Guy Ryder, broadening the benefits economic growth remains the key priority.

"Additional efforts need to be put in place to ensure that the gains of growth are shared equitably", he said.

US authorities on Monday charged six accountants, including former partners from "big four" global auditor KPMG, with using stolen information to cheat on inspections for corporate audits.

The charges follow KPMG's decision last year to fire five former partners, including the head of its audit practice, after the company improperly learned which audits government regulators planned to review.

Federal prosecutors said the scheme was a fraudulent attempt to interfere with inspections by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a regulator created in the wake of Enron-era corporate accounting scandals in 2002.

US authorities charged the six with fraud and conspiracy. They include three former accountants in KPMG's national office and three former PCAOB employees.

Steve Peikin, of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told reporters the defendants' behavior was "shocking and serious."

"We allege that this misconduct was motivated by the fact that KPMG had experienced a high and increasing rate of PCAOB audit deficiency findings and had made it a priority to improve its results," he said.

Officials did not identify the company or companies under audit by KPMG but said the audits in question, while imperfect, did not pose a danger to the investing public.

KPMG is among a group of global accountancies, including Ernst & Young, PWC and Deloitte, which dominate the global auditing industry for major corporations.

Their audits act as assurance for investors that company financial results are accurate.

One of the defendants, Brian Sweet, a former PCAOB official later hired by KPMG, has pleaded guilty, the US Attorney's office in Manhattan told AFP.

Despite the charges, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said he believed companies and the investing public could continue to rely on KPMG.

"I do not expect that these actions will adversely affect the orderly flow of financial information to investors and the US capital markets, including the filing of audited financial statements with the Commission," he said in a statement.

In August, KPMG agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle SEC charges that its audit of the oil and gas company Miller Energy Resources had left investors "misinformed" about the company's value.

Global economies are recovering simultaneously and at a stronger pace, and will get at least a short-term boost from the US tax cuts, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.

In the latest update to the IMF's World Economic Outlook, nearly all the forecasts for 2018 and 2019 were revised upward compared to the October edition.

However, the fund warns that exuberant financial markets could be due for a reversal.

The global economy is now expected to grow 3.9 percent this year and next, two-tenths higher than the previous estimate, and up from 3.7 percent in 2017.

Advanced economies are seeing solid simultaneous growth, and the US tax reform passed just before Christmas will have a measurable effect, at least for a couple of years.

"The revision reflects increased global growth momentum and the expected impact of the recently approved US tax policy changes," the IMF said.

"Some 120 economies, accounting for three quarters of world GDP, have seen a pickup in growth in year-on-year terms in 2017, the broadest synchronized global growth upsurge since 2010."

The WEO upgraded the US GDP forecast by a surprising four-tenths of a point this year to 2.7 percent, compared to the expected 2.3 percent in 2017.

And for 2019, the IMF increased its US growth forecast a whopping 0.6 points from October to 2.5 percent.

The corporate tax cuts are seen driving investment, which could add growth of 1.2 percent to the US economy through 2020, while also contributing to the faster expansion in US trading partners like Mexico.

- A few exceptions -

Mexico's economy is now expected to expand by 2.3 percent in 2018, 0.4 points better than the prior forecast, while 2019 got a stunning upward revision of 0.7 points to 3.0 percent, according to the WEO.

However, the US tax reform will lower growth from 2022 onwards "due to the temporary nature of some of its provisions," the report warned.

The euro area also will see growth accelerating, improving in nearly all member states, especially Germany, which saw its GDP forecasts upgraded by a half point this year and next to 2.3 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.

Spain, with the hit from the independence movement in Catalonia, was a rare exception, seeing a one-tenth downgrade in the 2018 forecast to 2.4 percent.

The UK economy, facing separation from the European Union, was also one of the very few that did not see an upward revision. The 2018 forecast was unchanged at 1.5 percent.

Japan saw a rare and large upgrade of five-tenths for this year to 1.2 percent.

China saw a more modest improvement of just one-tenth to 6.6 percent.

- Downside risks -

The IMF said even though the economic "rebound could prove stronger in the near term," the risks to the global forecast remain tilted to the downside.

As major stock markets worldwide have been on the upswing, with repeated records set on Wall Street, the report warned that "rich asset valuations... raise the possibility of a financial market correction, which could dampen growth and confidence."

Ironically, the stronger growth could provide the seeds of a possible reversal if it triggers faster-than-expected inflation in advanced economies, and a quicker increase in interest rates.

And the absence of worries in the near term could prompt financial market players to look for riskier and more profitable investments "and amplify the buildup of financial vulnerabilities," the IMF warned.

As it has done regularly, the fund urged member countries to take advantage of the good times to make necessary reforms and investments to boost potential growth.

"The current cyclical upswing provides a unique opportunity for structural and governance reforms," the IMF said, adding, "policymakers should guard against the temptation to defer reforms and budgetary adjustments for later."

Swiss banking giant UBS reported Monday that its profits plummeted 63 percent last year due to US tax reforms that hit fourth-quarter earnings.

It said annual net profit dropped to 1.16 billion Swiss francs (900 million euros, $1.01 billion) for the year.

During the last three months of 2017 the bank suffered a net loss of 2.2 billion Swiss francs as it took a charge of 2.87 billion Swiss francs due to changes in US tax laws.

Without the charge against earnings, the bank said it would have posted a net profit of 641 million Swiss francs for the fourth quarter.

Changes in US tax law have forced banks that operate in the United States to book considerable one-time losses in the final quarter of last year, but are expected to be favourable to them going forward.

"2017 was an excellent year for us. We delivered stronger financial results and met our net cost reduction target," chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in a statement.

"Greater regulatory clarity means we can open a new chapter for UBS, allowing us to sharpen our focus on growth across our businesses, make further investments in technology and deliver attractive returns to shareholders."

French President Emmanuel Macron will be hosting over 100 CEOs of major multinationals at the chateau of Versailles to try to persuade them to invest, and especially hire, in France.

Macron will vaunt his government's changes to French tax and labor law, as he tries to attract foreign investors wary of France's traditionally high taxes and worker protections.

His office said Friday that discussions are underway with dozens of companies about setting up or expanding their presence in France, and some will announce investment plans Monday.

CEOs or top executives from Coca-Cola, Google, Facebook, JP Morgan and Alibaba are among those expected, according to Macron's office.

The executives are stopping in France en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Macron will be a key speaker.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

With the World Economic Forum kicking off in earnest on Tuesday, AFP presents a guide to the week-long event in the Swiss Alps.

- WHAT IS ‘DAVOS‘? -

Davos is shorthand for the World Economic Forum (WEF), which in its original guise was founded in 1971 by German business professor Klaus Schwab as a way for European corporate leaders to learn from their US counterparts.

Political leaders started attending later in the 1970s, and since then it has morphed into an annual jamboree where the global elite – joined by intellectuals, activists, celebrities and sometimes protestors -- debate the world’s problems.

- WHO’S COMING? -

Who isn’t coming, more like. Among the 2,500 delegates and 70 world leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first of the week's keynote speakers on Tuesday.

Every European leader of note will be in attendance – including Emmanuel Macron of France, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s Theresa May and Paolo Gentiloni of Italy.

A large contingent is coming from Africa, including Emmerson Mnangagwa, the successor to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, plus a smattering from Latin America such as the presidents of Brazil and Argentina.

Influential thinkers such as Israeli “Homo Deus” author Yuval Noah Harari and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker will be on hand along with Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and celebrities Elton John, Cate Blanchett and the Bollywood baddie Shah Rukh Khan.

But top billing has to go to US President Donald Trump, who is due to close the conference with a speech on Friday – provided he is not held back by a US government shutdown.

His mantra of "America First" is the antithesis of the liberal world order cherished by the Davos crowd – free trade, open borders and respect for cultural diversity.

- WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA? -

The overarching theme this year is “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”.

From breakfast seminars to midnight drinks, via film screenings and morning sessions of meditation and yoga, every day is packed.

Panel discussions feature leaders from the worlds of business, finance, science and the arts. Many of the panels will revolve around the theme of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution", how to equip today’s workers to survive the advent of automation and artificial intelligence.

Others will look at geostrategic challenges in the era of Trump, Brexit and identity politics; how to decipher fact from fiction in the age of "fake news"; exploiting machine intelligence in health, and combatting "the next pandemic"; risks to high-flying financial markets; making economic growth inclusive; and the future of food.

And those are all just on the first day.

While only one-fifth of attendees are women, the organisers are keen to harness discussion about the #MeToo movement with an array of panels looking at gender equality.

It would be a surprise to find Trump at one of the WEF’s sessions illustrating “A Day in the Life of a Refugee” or joining a Thursday night panel on climate change with former vice president Al Gore.

Gore is showing a special screening of the sequel to his global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". The follow-up is called "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power".

- HOW TO CHILL? -

Chilling in a literal sense is not hard in Davos, Switzerland’s highest alpine village where the snowfall has been even heavier than usual this winter.

The bad weather has disrupted train and road links from the nearest big city of Zurich. Not that that should unduly bother the VIPs, who routinely take helicopters to access the WEF.

If you’re a delegate and want to hit the shops, you’ll probably be out of luck. Many retail outlets and even a church are handing over their premises – for hefty rents – to corporate clients to use as their base for the week. Other residents are happy to lease out their homes to the visiting jet-set, and hotel rates are astronomical.

But for downtime and networking, the WEF is unsurpassed for the breadth of opportunities it gives attendees to rub shoulders with the great, the good and the obscenely (as some would say) wealthy.

They can tramp through the snow (or take chauffer-driven limos) to national-themed buffets, followed by corporate-sponsored cocktails with canapés catered by celebrity chefs, followed by nightcaps touting other companies and countries.

- WHO’S NOT INVITED? -

Trump’s presence has invigorated anti-globalisation protestors.

While some 4,000 Swiss soldiers and police will keep a close eye on the Davos environs, one group of young socialists intends to rally in the village itself when the US president arrives on Thursday, giving voice to nearly 17,000 people who have signed a petition declaring Trump is not welcome in Switzerland.

Beyond Davos, a bigger anti-Trump protest is expected in Zurich on Tuesday.

And beyond Switzerland, a group called Fight Inequality intends to contrast the mountain of Davos with the mountain of garbage disfiguring one Nairobi slum with a concert in the Kenyan capital.

That is one of several events around the world designed to spotlight the chasm of income and opportunity that lies between the “one percent” meeting in Davos and the vast majority of humanity elsewhere.

Shares of crisis-hit commodities trader Noble Group soared by as much as 37 percent Monday after a report said that a Chinese conglomerate was interested in buying the company.

The once-mighty firm is struggling to survive after making heavy losses, and has been selling off assets to try to stay afloat.

Bloomberg News reported that China's Cedar Holdings had expressed an interest in buying control of Singapore-listed Noble, sending the company's shares surging.

Noble's stock closed at 27.0 Singapore cents (20 US cents), up 31.7 percent from its Friday close.

The jump prompted a query from the Singapore Exchange. Noble said in a statement it remained in talks with "various potential strategic parties", without naming them.

"Whilst no assurance can be given as to the outcome of these discussions, the company believes that these are open and constructive, and are moving forward," it added.

Noble is moving to reach a deal on restructuring $3.5 billion in debt before a payment falls due on January 29, according to Bloomberg. It said the company's market value has fallen from more than $10 billion to less than $300 million.

Cedar is the largest private company in Guangzhou and ranks 16th in China, with businesses ranging from commodities trading, chemicals, tourism, real estate and finance.

Noble, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, has been hammered since 2015 as plunging commodity prices hit its bottom line. It has also suffered a ratings downgrade and allegations of irregular accounting practices.

The company reported last year that its net losses for the first nine months of 2017 were more than $3.0 billion.

It has sold assets, including its American oil-liquids business and US gas and power unit, in a bid to repay its debt.

It also wants to refocus its business on hard commodities -- those that are mined, like coal and metals -- as well as on freight and liquefied natural gas, with an eye on Asia.

Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has opened the Jafza Bridge for traffic, linking Jafza North and Jafza South across Sheikh Zayed Road.

The bridge, built in collaboration with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), will facilitate the flow of traffic between Jebel Ali Port and Free Zone and Al Maktoum International Airport. It further enhances the efficacy of the Dubai Logistics Corridor which links the port, free zone and airport under a unified customs bond.

DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said: "Jebel Ali Port and Free Zone continue to invest in infrastructure in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai Plan 2021 and the 'Emirate After Oil' strategy to diversify sources of income and build a sustainable economy based on knowledge and innovation.

"The DP World group continues to attract more foreign investments and maintain the competitiveness of the port and the free zone globally with focus on innovative development of the global supply chain to strengthen the country's position as a regional and global business hub, facilitate trade movement and open up new markets for companies operating from the Free Zone in Dubai."

The founder and chairman of Damac Properties, Hussain Sajwani, will speak about the increasing demand for advanced digital skills on day one of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Sajwani's session to focus on the Middle East's efforts in developing ICT skills among its young population, where Sajwani was the main supporter of the recently launched 'One Million Arab Coders' Initiative in October 2017.

The 'Digital Skills Imperative' session will bring top decision makers and thinkers together to discuss the need for advancing digital skills as a priority, in response to rapid global digitalisation and mass automation. The session aims to identify whether existing skill-building efforts can scale up to address the changing nature of the digital workforce.

"As the world moves towards the adoption of a digital economy, it is becoming increasingly dependent on the availability of a skilled workforce, where each nation's economic success and failure is dependent on its efforts in developing a talent pool of highly skilled workers to cope with this disruption," said Sajwani.

'One Million Coders' is a first of its kind pan-Arab education initiative supported by the Hussain Sajwani - Damac Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Damac Group and its chairman. Launched in collaboration with Dubai Future Foundation, the initiative aims to create a pool of one million software coders to lead the Arab world into a digital era.

The 'Digital Skills Imperative' session at WEF aims to highlight some of the key industry trends driving demand for advanced skills, and raises a number of discussions around the topic including shifting mindsets on lifelong learning and inclusive opportunities, designing incentives for collective action and investment, and understanding the role of emerging technologies.

"The digital skills gap is a global dilemma, not just one for the emerging markets, as millions of jobs in software development already need to be filled right now. What happens when these jobs increase by 20, 30 or 40 percent in the near future? Where will the global community find a sustainable stream of talent to tap into? The global community needs more initiatives like 'One Million Coders' to empower their societies with the skills and technical expertise required for jobs of the future. This is a strategic imperative for the economic success of any nation, as the world enters the Fourth Industrial Revolution," Sajwani added.

Global oil markets are tightening quickly on falling supply from Venezuela, which posted 2017's biggest unplanned output fall and could see a further decline in 2018, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

Debt and infrastructure problems cut Venezuela's December output to 1.61 million barrels per day (bpd), somewhere near a 30-year low. That helped oil prices top $70 per barrel in early January, their highest level in three years.

"The general perception that the market has been tightening is clearly the overriding factor and, within this overall picture, there is mounting concern about Venezuela's production," the IEA, which coordinates energy policy in industrialised nations, said in its monthly report.

"Given Venezuela's astonishing debt and deteriorating oil network, it is possible that declines this year will be even steeper... US financial sanctions are also making it tougher for Venezuela's oil sector to operate," the IEA said.

As a result of lower Venezuelan production, the IEA said Opec's crude output in December fell to 32.23 million bpd, boosting the group's compliance with a deal to curb output to 129 per cent.

December also saw production problems in the North Sea, which helped cut global December oil supply to 97.7 million bpd, down 405,000 bpd from November.

Opec agreed to lower production in 2017 and has agreed to maintain output cuts for the whole of 2018 to help bring oil stocks in OECD industrialised countries down to their five-year average.

The IEA said that if Opec and its non-Opec allies maintained good compliance with the output deal, oil markets would balance in 2018.

It said stocks in industrialised countries posted an average fall of 600,000 bpd in the last three quarters of 2017, the largest since 1984 when it began collecting data, helped by record global refinery runs in the fourth quarter.

"Global crude oil markets saw an exceptionally tight 4Q17," the IEA said, adding that it saw a combined fall of one million bpd during that period on declining stocks in industrialised nations and a fall in Chinese balances.

The recovery in oil prices and a decline in global oil stocks has been helped by robust global demand growth in 2017 but it will slow down in 2018, the IEA said.

It kept its oil demand growth estimate for 2018 unchanged at 1.3 million bpd, down from 1.6 million bpd in 2017, mainly due to the impact of higher oil prices and changing patterns of oil use in China.

Besides slowing demand, a spectacular rise in US output is expected to keep oil prices under pressure, the IEA said. 

US to overtake Saudi as crude producer 

The US is set to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's number two oil producer after Russia this year, as shale companies, attracted by rising prices, ramp up drilling, the International Energy Agency said.

"This year promises to be a record-setting one for the US," the IEA said.

Crude production of 9.9 million barrels per day in the US was now at the highest level in nearly 50 years, "putting it neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia, the world's second largest crude producer after Russia," the IEA said.

"Relentless growth should see the US hit historic highs above 10 million bpd, overtaking Saudi Arabia and rivalling Russia during the course of 2018."

UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) responded to rumours regarding paying Dh5,000 fine at the nearest police station for using VPN.A hoax SMS went viral this week, asking some residents to pay Dh5000 fine at the nearest police station for illegal use of VPN and calling cards.Taking to Twitter on Sunday night, both etisalat and TRA rubbished the message as fake as it wasn't sent by them.The hoax message was flagged on Twitter after UAE netizens tweeted a screen grab of the message to the concerned authorities.

To mark the Year of Giving, Beit Al Khair Society (BAKS) spent Dh225 million, on an array of charity projects and programmes, and is geared to keep it up during the Year of Zayed.

Abdeen Taher Al Awadhi, director-general of Beit Al Khair Society, said they significantly increased their expenditure to over Dh225 million in 2017. "This includes over Dh83.5 million spent on financial and food aids for more than 25,000 families during the holy month of Ramadan."

The society has also efficiently distributed surplus foods received from the UAE Food Bank. In cooperation with the Emirates Islamic Bank, it distributed 45,000 free meals to low-income workers, and sponsored expatriate orphans of Emirati mothers."

BAKS also assisted low-income families complete the construction of their houses in association with charity associations nationwide, the department of Islamic affairs and charitable activities, and Mohammed bin Rashid housing establishment.

"It released 28 Emirati inmates after paying out their outstanding debts of Dh8.4 million in cooperation with the Relief Fund and prison departments in Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain," said Al Awadhi.

BAKS supported several health and development drives and launched numerous initiatives for detecting and treating chronic diseases in collaboration with the 'Zayed Giving', and doing 12 obesity operations in coordination with the Zahra hospital, he explained. "It participated in the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Dialysis Centre, worth Dh40 million, at Al Tawar area, in cooperation with four charity entities and the Dubai Health Authority."

The society also supported productive families develop and market their products at the 'Matjari' virtual platform initiated by the General Women's Union in Abu Dhabi to improve their standard of living.

"A 'seven-star' service has been introduced to meet the needs of emergency cases, as well as the 'relief' initiative to fulfill the needs of orphans and their families. Al Ansari Exchange has agreed to quickly pay emergency and regular aids." 

BAKS also developed and secured its smart applications to ease the suffering of listed beneficiaries and reach more vulnerable people and donors easier, Awadhi said. 

"The society was crowned with the best charity performance in the Arab world prize for setting a role model in contemporary corporate performance. The prize was also in recognition of showcasing balanced performance that can effectively participate in the progress of the society and uplift low-income segments." 

Industry, Commerce and Industry Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani today received newly-appointed Ambassador to Indian Abdulrahman Mohammed Al-Qaud. The meeting focused on commercial, investment and economic cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of India. The Minister stressed Bahrain’s keenness on strengthening economic relations with all countries in the world, wishing the ambassador success in his diplomatic duties.

President Trump early Wednesday morning lashed out at the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players arrested in China for shoplifting earlier this month, referring to LaVar Ball as a "poor man's version of Don King" and an "ungrateful fool."

"It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence — IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair," the president tweeted."LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you," Trump added. "But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!"Trump and Ball have gone back and forth through the media since Ball's son, LiAngelo Ball, and two other UCLA players were released from China after being detained for shoplifting earlier this month.

In a news conference held shortly after their return last week, the UCLA players apologized for their actions in China and thanked the president and the U.S. government for helping to secure their release.

"I'm grateful for this UCLA team that stood strong beside us and made it possible for me to be sitting here in front of you all today," Ball said last week. "I respect the amount of hard work they put in to get us back to the United States."

"I would also like to thank President Trump and the United States government for the help that they provided, as well," he added. 

On Monday night, LaVar Ball fired at Trump for his role in the students' release.

“If you help, you shouldn’t have to say anything,” Ball said in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “Somebody told me about the tweet a couple days ago. … Why is that on your mind? All this stuff going on, and that’s on your mind, that a father didn’t say thank you? And you’re the head of the U.S.? Come on.”

Ball also told Trump to “stay in [his] lane.”

“Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and let's just stay in our lane,” Ball said.

This followed criticism from Trump on Sunday, when the president said he should have waited until "his next trip" there to negotiate for the player's release.

"Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar," Trump tweeted. "Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!"

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia called Sunday for extending cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers beyond 2018, after a deal to cut output succeeded in shoring up prices.

The call, the first explicit invitation by Riyadh for long-term cooperation between oil producers, came with oil prices topping $70 a barrel thanks to the deal, after they dove below $30 a barrel in early 2016.

"We should not limit our efforts to 2018. We need to be talking about a longer framework for our cooperation," Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh told reporters before a meeting between ministers of OPEC and non-OPEC countries in the Omani capital Muscat.

At the end of the meeting, attended by several OPEC and non-OPEC countries including the world's top producer Russia, Faleh said conformity levels were excellent.

He said that compliance level was 129 percent in December and was 107 percent for the whole of 2017.

The production cuts deal has removed two-thirds of the 330 million barrels of extra stocks that were on the market before the agreement, Faleh said.

He said improvement in the oil market will continue throughout this year and expected that "beyond 2018, we will continue to cooperate through these joint action mechanisms ... to avoid strong fluctuations that led to the oversupply glut".

Oil producers from inside and outside the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries signed a landmark agreement in November 2016 to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day to fight oversupply and lift sagging prices.

That deal was initially for six months, but the 14-member cartel and 10 independent producers have since extended it until the end of this year.

- 'We must not relax' -

Amid talk of exiting the deal at the end of the year, the Saudi minister said the agreement should be extended for an unspecified duration.

"I am talking about extending the framework that we started –- which is the declaration of cooperation... beyond 2018," Faleh told reporters.

Faleh however said the new framework for cooperation might differ from the current agreement and its production quotas.

"It does not necessarily mean sticking barrel by barrel" to the same agreement.

It would mean "assuring stakeholders, investors, consumers and the global community that (the agreement) is here to stay".

It would send the message that "we are going to work together not only with the 24 countries, but inviting more and more participants," he said.

Faleh said oil producers had not yet achieved their target of reducing world stocks to normal levels and striking a balance between supply and demand.

"That objective has not been achieved. We are not close to achieving it," said Faleh, adding that a rebalance is unlikely in the first half of 2018.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said oil producers should not ease off on their efforts despite the rebound.

"Despite the fact that progress is obvious, we must not relax. We are determined to carry through the rebalancing," Novak, whose country is the world's top crude producer, told reporters.

Novak held separate talks with Faleh on the sidelines of the Muscat meeting.

The Russian minister praised the outcome of the cuts deal.

"The market got on the way towards balancing and we jointly managed to reduce the surplus in stocks by more than half," Novak said.

- 'Consultations' -

But Novak but appeared less committed to the idea of establishing a permanent framework.

"As for efforts to coordinate joint actions on the oil market, the last year showed that this is a successful experiment," he told reporters, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

"I think that if necessary it can be used in the future too."

But "mutual action between OPEC and non-OPEC countries" could also continue after the end of the agreement in the form of "consultations", Novak added.

Omani Oil Minister Mohamed al-Rumhi said different arrangements could be discussed.

"By the end of this year, the stock level will be very small and it will be time to discuss different arrangements or agreements," he said.

Gulf states as well as many oil-producing nations have posted huge budget shortfalls since oil prices plummeted in mid-2014.

A French dairy group said it "has widened its product recall to cover all infant formula made at its plant regardless of the manufacture date in an effort to contain the fallout from a health scare." 
"Lactalis will pay damages to families affected by a Salmonella contamination at one of its plants producing baby milk," said the company’s Chief Executive Emmanuel Besnier.
Besnier did not say how much the damages might amount to, according to Reuters.

French President Emmanuel Macron said a special post-Brexit trade agreement between Britain and the EU was certainly possible but would not involve full access to the single market, in a BBC interview to be screened Sunday.

Macron, who met British Prime Minister Theresa May for talks on Thursday, said there could not be complete single market access without fully signing up.

However, Britain could strike a deal that would fall between full access and a regular trade agreement.

"For sure, you will have your own solution," Macron told BBC television, in extracts released Saturday.

"But... this special way should be consistent with the preservation of the single market and our collective interests.

"To get full access to the single market, you need contribution to the budget and you have to accept the freedoms... and you have to accept the jurisdiction.

"As soon as you decide not to join these preconditions, it's not a full access," the 40-year-old said.

"So it's something perhaps between this full access and a trade agreement."

After Thursday's talks with May, Macron said France would not give in to British demands for the financial services sector to be covered by a Brexit trade deal.

Full access for financial services to the single market "is not feasible", he told the BBC.

"There should be no cherry-picking in the single market because that's a dismantling of the single market."

Macron said Britain could have "deeper relations" with the European Union than other countries, as is the case with Norway.

Following a referendum in 2016, Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019.

"I do respect this vote, I do regret this vote, and I would love to welcome you again," Macron said.

The full interview is to be aired Sunday.

US fund managers are ramping up efforts to tap into the fever surrounding digital assets, and the latest planned bitcoin products could deliver some head-turning and stomach-churning price movements if they come to market.
The new idea is to build “leveraged” and “inverse” funds that would rise — or fall — twice as fast as the price of bitcoin on a given day.
Direxion Asset Management plans to list such products on Intercontinental Exchange Inc's NYSE Arca exchange if US securities regulators give the nod, according to a filing by the exchange this week.
In the filing, the exchange said the listing “will enhance competition among market participants, to the benefit of investors and the marketplace.”
Bitcoin is a virtual asset that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government.
Bitcoin is one of the wildest trades in the market today, delivering sharp gains and losses that defy explanation. Trading has been expensive and difficult, with brokerages offering limited access and specialist websites like Coinbase reporting regular outages.
Top voices on markets from economist Robert Shiller to JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon have warned people off buying bitcoin.
Yet asset managers have been racing to design more than 10 proposals for bitcoin funds that are currently before US regulators.
New ETFs could make access to bitcoin easier and, in the case of the Direxion product, mean bigger stakes for investors, with a 25 percent gain or loss on one day doubled to 50 percent.
So far the US Securities and Exchange Commission has declined or put on hold all the proposals.
A spokesman representing Direxion declined to comment on the latest filing as did a representative from NYSE.
Bitcoin gained nearly 12 percent on Friday to $16,928 on the Bitstamp exchange.

France's Kering said Thursday it would distribute shares in German sporting goods maker Puma to its shareholders to focus exclusively on the luxury sector.

"The contemplated project would enable Kering to reinforce its status as a leading pure player in luxury with an enhanced, best-in-class profitability," said the firm which owns brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Stella McCartney.

Kering said its board of directors had approved unanimously distributing about 70 percent of Puma's outstanding shares.

The holding company of the Pinault family, Artemis, which owns nearly 41 percent of Kering, plans to be a long-term strategic investor in Puma with a stake of approximately 29 percent, the statement said.

Chief executive Francois-Henri Pinault said the move would be a milestone for Kering, allowing it to dedicate itself to developing its luxury houses.

He said it would also benefit shareholders.

"This operation would enable our shareholders to directly benefit from Puma’s future value creation," said Pinault, adding that the firm has the capabilities to take advantage of growth opportunities.

What is World Economic  Forum?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international organisation for public-private cooperation.

What is the event about?

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting/Davos 2018 is an event that aims to rededicate world leaders towards improving the state of affairs that the world is in today. It aims to reshape the future by channelizing global effort towards

>Co-designing

>Co-creation

>Collaboration in the world

Where will it take place?

The 48th meeting of the WEF will take place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland from January 23-26, 2018.

Also known as the Davos Summit, it will bring together academia, heads of the states (Presidents and Prime Ministers), chairs of government and international organizations, leaders of the business industry and members of the civil society arts as well as the media.

This year's meeting is themed 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World'.

WEF/Davos 2018 agenda

The programme has been designed around the following four tracks:

>Driving sustained economic progress

>Navigating a multipolar and multi-conceptual world

>Overcoming divisions in society

>Shaping the agile governance of technology

How to follow WEF/Davos 2018

Meeting spotlight

The meeting will be focusing on looking for ways to regurgitate international cooperation on crucial shared interests, such as

>International security

>Environment

>Global economy

This meeting is happening at a point of time when the geostrategic competition among the states in the world is evidently on the rise.

It also intends to overcome the rifts within the countries that are a result of breakdowns in the social contract caused by failure to protect societies from the transformational impacts of a series of shocks: from globalization to the proliferation of social media and the birth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

These have led to

>A loss of trust in institutions

>Damaged the relationship between business and society

Who pays for WEF/Davos?

A majority of the funding for WEF/Davos 2018 comes from the businesses and business entities. These entities happen to join the forum as members and partners who also get to participate in its activities. The membership offered is at different levels in order to meet the strategic needs of the members as well as the partners.

Membership of WEF

Membership and partnership fees range from Swiss Franc CHF60,000 to CHF600,000. This amount depends on the level of engagement. Most types of membership include the opportunity to participate in the Annual Meeting for the CEO of the company. Davos participation incurs a fee over and above membership or partnership fees.

WEF/Davos 2018: What you need to know?

>50 Global Shapers, 35 social entrepreneurs and 80 Young Global Leaders

>32 Technology Pioneers

>70 leaders civil society, labour unions and faith-based organisations

>Over 400 sessions and workshops

>More than 160 sessions webcast live

>Over 3,000 participants from more than 110 countries (21 per cent of them are women)

>More than 340 public figures. These people include over 70 heads of state and government and 45 heads of international organisations

>Over 1,900 business leaders from all industries

>230 media representatives and almost 40 cultural leaders

Co-chairs at the meet

1-Sharan Burrow -General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)

2- Fabiola Gianotti-Director-General, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

3-Isabelle Kocher- Chief Executive Officer, ENGIE Group

4- Christine Lagarde-Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

5- Ginni Rometty- Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM Corporation

6- Chetna Sinha-Founder and Chair, Mann Deshi Foundation

7- Erna Solberg-Prime Minister of Norway, Office of the Prime Minister of Norway

Communities participating

These communities will be attending the World Economic Forum 2018 through an invitation

>Chief executives and chairs of the Forum's 1,000 Partner and Member companies actively engaged in the International Business Council, Community of Chairmen, Industry Governors, Regional Business Councils and System Initiative Stewardship Boards

>Political leaders from the G20 and other countries and heads of international organizations engaged in high-level dialogue facilitated by the Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL) programme 

>Members of the Forum Global Future Councils, Expert Network and Global University Leaders Forum collaborating with spiritual and cultural leaders and representatives from important civil society, labour and media organizations

>Technology Pioneers, the Community of Global Shapers, the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, communities representing a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs

Public figures, heads of the states to be attending

>Argentina: Mauricio Macri, President

>Brazil: Michel Temer, President

>Canada: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister

>Colombia: Juan Manuel Santos, President

>Côte d'Ivoire: Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Prime Minister

>Denmark: Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister

>Ethiopia : Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister

>European Commission: Jean-Claude Juncker, President

>France: Emmanuel Macron, President

>Germany: Ursula von der Leyen, Federal Minister of Defense

>Greece: Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister

>Ireland: Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister

>India: Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

>Iraq: Haidar Abadi, Prime Minister

>Islamic Republic of Iran: Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs

>Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister

>Italy: Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister

>Jordan: Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein, King

>Lebanon: Saad Rafic Hariri, Prime Minister

>Netherlands: Mark Rutte, Prime Minister

>Nigeria: Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-President

>Norway: Erna Solberg, Prime Minister

>Pakistan: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Prime Minister

>Palestinian Territories: Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister

>People's Republic of China: Liu He,  Member, Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee; General Office Director

>Poland: Andrzej Duda, President

>Portugal: António Costa, Prime Minister

>Republic of Korea: Kang Kyung-Wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs

>Rwanda: Paul Kagame, President

>Russia: Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister

>South Africa: Cyril M. Ramaphosa, Deputy President

>Sweden: Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister

>Switzerland: Alain Berset, President

>Tunisia: Béji Caïd Essebsi, President

>Ukraine: Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine

>United States of America: Donald Trump, President

>United Kingdom: Theresa May, Prime Minister

>Zimbabwe: Emmerson Mnangagwa, President

Participants from international organisations

>Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General, World Trade Organization

>David Beasley, Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme

>Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

>Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

>Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization

>Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

>Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations

>Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank

>Peter Maurer, President, International Committee of the Red Cross

>Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization

>Erik Solheim, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme

Dress code

>Business casual (no tie) is appropriate during the Annual Meeting. Black tie or traditional national dress is required for the Soirée on January 26.

Key speakers

>This year's opening address will be delivered by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.

>Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, will deliver a keynote address before the close of the meeting.

Recipients of 24th Annual Crystal Awards

>Cate Blanchett

>Elton John

>Shah Rukh Khan

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

The MOU provides a formal basis for supervisory cooperation and mutual support between CBB and DFSA. It paves the way for sharing of information between the two regulatory authorities to strengthen the supervision of cross-border operations of financial institutions under their regulation. 

The MOU was signed by Rasheed M. Al Maraj, Governor of CBB, and Saeb Eigner, Chairman of DFSA.

Bahrain All Share Index has closed at 1,335.92points marking an increase of 2.76 points abovethe previous closing.

This increase was due to the rise in the Commercial Banks Sector, Investment Sectorand Services Sector.

Bahrain lslamic Index has closed at 1,118.91 points marking an increase of 4.45 points above the previous closing.

Results indicated that 97 equity transactions took place with a volume of 5,815,107 worth BD 703,990.

Investor straded mainly in the Commercial Banks Sector representing 49% of the total value of securities traded.

A compelling clash of cultures will unfold in the vertiginous Swiss Alps this week as Donald Trump, just over 12 months into his high-wire presidency, confronts the cheerleaders of globalisation in Davos.

Having whipped up working-class resentment of the global elite to devastating effect en route to the White House, the US president's "America First" vision will run headlong into the haughty ambition of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to map out "a shared future in a fractured world".

The 2017 gathering ended on the same day as Trump was inaugurated, and many of the discussions during the week dwelt anxiously on what his presidency would portend.

China's President Xi Jinping, the star turn in Davos last year, exploited such misgivings to stake out an alternative vision for the international economy with China playing a lead role in both trade and fighting climate change.

A year on, Trump will be closing the conference with a speech next Friday.

He faced a budget mess at home, where the US government officially shut down on Saturday after lawmakers failed to agree a stop-gap spending deal.

The president is relishing his role as apostate-in-chief bent on demolishing the pieties held dear by the WEF, which is drawing some 70 other leaders along with thousands of delegates from the worlds of industry, finance and show business, plus protesters opposed to the US president.

The property mogul's final election campaign advertisement of November 2016 made the distinction brutally clear, casting himself as the defender of hard-working Americans against "global special interests", over images of Davos perennials such as financier George Soros and Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein.

Both are Jewish, and the ad was assailed as anti-semitic by critics.

- Best behaviour? -

So why consort in the Swiss Alps with people who are hate figures to his political base?

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump said part of his motivation in becoming the first US president to attend Davos since Bill Clinton in 2000 was to be an unabashed "cheerleader for the country".

Trump also pointed to quickening US economic growth and a roaring stock market as reasons to cheer when he and a large part of his cabinet join leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Michel Temer in Switzerland.

On Monday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will present in Davos an updated overview of the global economy, which is indeed expanding at a broad and healthy clip.

But ahead of the meetings, a WEF survey of nearly 1,000 experts and decision-makers underlined growing anxiety about the risks of environmental disaster and armed conflict -- not least involving North Korea and the United States, after months of bellicose rhetoric from Trump.

Douglas Rediker, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who was appointed by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama to the IMF's executive board, said there was no way to reconcile the WEF's globalist outlook and the Trump dogma.

"It will be a jarring visit even if the president is on his best diplomatic behaviour. And that's a big if," Rediker said.

- Davos Woman -

Trump will be running up against internationalist foils in Davos this week such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Macron, who has subverted one of the US president's signature lines with his own motto of "Make our planet great again".

The White House said he plans to meet Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, days after he cancelled a planned trip to London that had cast further doubt on the strength of the vaunted trans-Atlantic "special relationship".

The organisers, mindful of the globe-trotting but all-male caricature of "Davos Man", are also keen to extol their efforts to promote representation by women, as sexual harassment and the gender pay gap move up the political agenda worldwide.

"Davos Women" will account for 21 percent of the total number of delegates this year, the highest ever proportion, if still relatively meagre. They include IMF chief Christine Lagarde, IBM head Ginni Rometty and screen star Cate Blanchett.

Cue another clash of visions given the presence of Trump, whose election campaign in 2016 was nearly upended late on by a leaked recording in which he boasted of groping women.

And there will be no shortage of movers and shakers from Africa in attendance, should the president wish to explain his recent reported dismissal of countries across Africa as "shitholes".

The politicians will join the chiefs of some 1,900 companies to debate a panoply of issues such as the future of work in an age of automation and artificial intelligence, tackling "the next pandemic", and leveraging the potential of virtual currencies.

Yet there is no escaping the long shadow cast over the event by Trump, as the convention-shredding president bids to make good on his Davos-baiting promises.

WEF founder Klaus Schwab is not giving up hope.

"No country alone, no stakeholder alone, no individual alone, can solve the issues on the global agenda. No issue can be solved in an isolated way," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has banned Philippine citizens from travelling to Kuwait to work following reports of widespread abuse and exploitation, his spokesman said Saturday.

Duterte ordered the ban after reports emerged about the deaths of several Filipina women in the Gulf state, his spokesman Harry Roque said.

"In line with his presidential pronouncement, Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello has ordered the suspension of the deployment of workers to Kuwait," Roque told reporters.

"There is really excessive suffering over there," Roque said, adding that the ban was "long overdue".

An estimated 10 million Filipinos work overseas and the money they send home is a major pillar of the Philippine economy.

It was not immediately clear how long the ban, which does not affect workers already in Kuwait, would last.

In his speech before overseas workers on Thursday, Duterte said he would urge the Kuwaiti government to act against the abuses.

"My advice is, we talk to them, state the truth and just tell them that it's not acceptable anymore. Either we impose a total ban or we can have (disagreements)," Duterte said.

"I do not want a quarrel with Kuwait. I respect their leaders, but they have to do something about this," he added.

Spokesmen for the Kuwaiti embassy in Manila could not be reached for comment.

Kuwait has faced criticism in the past over its "kafala" system for foreign workers which has been likened to a form of bonded labour or even slavery.

The kafala system prevents workers from moving to a new job before their contracts end without their boss's consent, resulting in a wide range of abuses.

The Gulf state is a major destination for migrant workers with the Kuwaiti government estimating that more than 170,000 Philippine nationals live there. Other groups have far higher estimates. 

She may have returned to publishing fiction after a two decade hiatus, but Indian writer Arundhati Roy says she has no plans to sheath her polemical sword anytime soon in a world where the vulnerable are still being "smashed".

Sitting in a cafe in the bowels of Old Delhi's labyrinthine streets on a chilly winter's afternoon, the 56-year-old still simmers with the kind of fiery political rhetoric that has made her one of her homeland's harshest modern day critics.

"I would find it very hard to live with myself in this country if I didn't talk about what was going on," she says.

"Not only in India but all over the world, an economic system is being created that is driving people apart," she adds.

"I'm writing about how this system is actually smashing up the vulnerable in this country."

Roy has spent much of the year publicising her new novel -- "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" -- a sprawling and lavish tale published in June.

But inevitably conversations stray onto the kind of political issues she is now equally well known for: Kashmir, Maoist insurgents, environmental activism and the rising communal tensions in modern day India.

The novelist and the polemicist is a duality she has worn for twenty years and she's not going to stop now. The new book's dedication after all reads: "To, The Unconsoled."

- Fame and acclaim -

After years of struggling to find her voice, penning television and movie screenplays in Mumbai, the daughter of a Syrian Christian from Kerala and a Hindu Bengali burst onto the scene in 1997 with her debut novel "The God of Small Things".

The story of twins Rahel and Estha and their traumatic childhood in Kerala was a publishing sensation, selling more than six million copies worldwide, scooping up the Booker Prize and turning Roy somewhat uncomfortably into a darling of the global literary set.

Many favourably compared her at the time to South Asia heavyweight writers like Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth. But those hoping for a swift series of fiction follow ups were disappointed.

Instead she turned herself into something resembling India's moral conscience, churning out essays on a broad range of topics that riled the country's elite and -- when it came to her harsh criticism of India's treatment of Kashmir -- even earned her a sedition charge.

"I get into so much trouble so many times and I keep promising myself I won't write another (essay)," she explains. "But it comes from a place where just keeping quiet just doesn't seem to be an option."

Her essays, she says, are written with a "kind of pacy restlessness".

But the new novel afforded her an opportunity to write more cautiously and slowly.

"When I write fiction I'm the exact opposite. I'm just completely relaxed, completely take my time."

Started some ten years ago, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" absorbs many of the leftist political subjects she has written about, forming "part of the foundation" of the book.

Among the vast cast are Maoist guerrillas and Hindu nationalist mobs, a transgender community struggling against poverty and prejudice in Old Delhi and a love story set against the backdrop of the Kashmir's long-simmering insurgency.

- 'Constructed chaos' -

Compared to her widely acclaimed debut, the reviews for her belated follow-up are more mixed, with some saying the work is long and chaotic.

It is a criticism Roy partially accepts, but brushes off.

"I know a lot of people describe it as chaos, but that chaos is constructed," she explains.

She expects her readers to spend time exploring the new book.

"It's looking at the story as though it's a big city like Delhi," she says. "You can't really just read 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness', you have to get to know it, like you get to know a city: walk through big roads, small roads, courtyards, barren places."

Politics comes fairly easily to Roy, but fiction less so.

"It took me a lot of time to recover from 'The God of Small Things'," she admits. "Not just because of the worldly success, but to write something that I dredged up from some place that was quite deep."

It is unlikely she will shelve her polemical pen anytime soon.

Roy says under the stewardship of Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi, India is at its most polarised place in years.

She reels off a list of ills, from protesters recently blinded by police shotgun pellets in Kashmir, to the ongoing prejudice against India's "untouchable" castes and rising fundamentalism.

"There are mobs running around wanting to burn down cinema halls, there are mobs of huge mustachioed men celebrating sati," she fumes, referencing the historical but extinct tradition where a widow would throw herself onto her husband's funeral pyre.

Critics of Roy's essays say they can be hysterical and narcissistic. But Roy is unrepentant, seeing herself as a much needed canary in the coal mine.

"It can't go on like this," she warns. "Something will arise either out of complete destruction or some kind of revolution. But it can't go on like this."

China's economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017, picking up steam for the first time since 2010 despite its battles against a massive debt and polluting factories, official data showed Thursday.

The world's number two economy eclipsed the official target of about 6.5 percent and picked up pace from the 6.7 percent growth seen in 2016, which was the slowest for more than a quarter of a century.The robust economic expansion indicated stability after slowing down since China last posted double-digit growth in 2010.

"The national economy has maintained the momentum of stable and sound development and exceeded the expectation with the economic vitality, impetus and potential released," National Statistics Bureau head Ning Jizhe said in a report.

"We should also be aware that there are still difficulties and challenges confronting the economy and the improvement of quality and efficiency remains a daunting task," Ning said.

The reading -- which beat the 6.8 percent predicted by analysts surveyed by AFP -- comes as China kicks its war on pollution into gear, halving industrial production for some steel smelters and mills this winter.

The battle has brought unusual blue skies to Beijing, with the density of dangerous pollution -- particulate PM2.5 -- dropping by more than 50 percent in the final quarter of 2017.

But the latest data showed the economy expanding 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2017, matching the third quarter figure though it was below the 6.9 percent from the first half of the year.

Ning dismissed questions on the reliability of China's statistics raised after the coastal city of Tianjin and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia admitted to inflating certain 2016 data.

"The system for calculating China's statistics data is not affected by a small number of places, or some places, or some companies" having accuracy issues with their data, he said.

The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China's export machine.

"This momentum, especially the part fuelled by external demand, may carry on well into 2018," said Wei Yao, chief China economist at Societe Generale.

- Debt fears -

The country is also facing pressure to prevent a credit crisis, with local government debt growing 7.5 percent last year to $2.56 trillion, according to figures released Wednesday.

China has largely relied on debt-fuelled investment and exports to drive its tremendous economic growth of the past four decades but it is now seeking to move its economy to more sustainable consumption-based growth.

The latest figures show the services industry grew eight percent for the year with retail sales spiking 10.2 percent, good news for the transition.

The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned of risks stemming from China's ballooning debt, saying last year that each extra dollar of debt is producing diminishing returns for China's economy.

China's leaders appeared to wipe away some of those concerns at a critical planning meeting in December.

While vowing a crackdown on financial risk and local government debt, leaders called for a reasonable credit expansion this year.

That flew in the face of IMF and other economists warnings that China must deleverage.

Last year China brought down the pace of debt accumulation but allowed overall credit growth, analysts say.

- Potential headwinds -

"The bulls and the bears have never been so much in agreement since the financial crisis," said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group.

"Most economists expect around 6.5 percent GDP growth in 2018," Hu said, though one of China's top state-affiliated think tanks last month forecast growth ticking slightly downwards to 6.7 this year.

But potential headwinds and risks for China's economy are brewing.

US President Donald Trump is determined to change the balance of trade between the two large trading partners.

China's trade surplus with the US swelled 10 percent to $275.8 billion last year, a record high.

In a telephone call with President Xi Jinping this week, Trump "expressed disappointment that the United States' trade deficit with China has continued to grow", the White House said.

"President Trump made clear that the situation is not sustainable."

Trump has repeatedly insisted he will fight for more equitable trade with China.

The US is expected to release the results of a major investigation into China's intellectual property practices this year.

Economic growth in Africa picked up steam last year and is set to accelerate strongly in 2018, but "massive investments" are needed in infrastructure, the African Development Bank (ADB) said Wednesday.

Growth in Africa rose from 2.2 percent in 2016 to 3.6 percent in 2017 and is likely to rise to 4.1 percent in 2018 and 2019, the ADB said in its annual report, African Economic Outlook.

"Overall, the recovery in growth has been faster than envisaged, especially among non-resource–intensive economies, underscoring Africa’s resilience," it said.

"The recovery in growth could mark a turning point in net commodity-exporting countries," it added.

Last year's spurt has a range of explanations, including a recovery in prices for oil, which helped petroleum exporter Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

East Africa is the most dynamic region in terms of growth: 4.9 percent in 2016, which rose to 5.6 percent in 2017, and to a projected 5.9 percent in 2018 and 6.1 percent in 2019.

However, across the continent job creation did not rise in lockstep with growth, lagging by 1.4 percent.

Woman and young people, aged 15-25, are those who have been most affected by the slow growth in employment.

To generate jobs for the 12 million young people entering its workforce each year, Africa must take a fast-track to industrialisation, the ADB said.

But key obstacles in infrastructure remain, including energy, water and transport, as well as health, education, security and administrative capacity.

"The continent's infrastructure needs amount to $130–170 billion (106-139 billion euros) a year, with a financing gap in the range of $68–$108 billion," the report said.

By comparison, only $62 billion was mustered for infrastructure investment in 2016.

To those daunted by the funding gap, the ADB said African countries today had a wide range of options for tapping funds, and these lie "well beyond foreign aid."

One idea is to create an "infrastructure asset" class of investment, in which governments or development finance institutions offer guarantees, using flexible financial engineering, to lower the perception of risk for investors.

Tax reform is also essential, the ADB said.

Tax collection is improving in Africa -- it hauled in around $500 billion dollars last year, a figure that compares with $50 billion in foreign aid, $60 billion in remittances and $60 billion in foreign direct investment.

Despite this progress, tax revenue is still below the threshold of 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) deemed necessary to scale up infrastructure spending.

"There is an urgent need for better revenue regimes -- including progressive elimination of the vast array of exemptions and leakages that pepper tax systems -- to capture the gains from growth and rapid structural change that some countries are experiencing," the ADB said.

Making these changes will not be "straightforward" given the "intensely political" challenge, the report warned.

General Electric said Tuesday it would book a one-off charge of $6.2 billion on its accounts for the fourth quarter of 2017, following a review of its insurance businesses.

"GE announced today that the comprehensive review and reserve testing for GE Capital's run-off insurance portfolio, North American Life & Health (NALH), will result in an after-tax charge of $6.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017," the group said in a statement.

Last year, the group's GE Capital unit initiated "a comprehensive review" of the group's insurance reserves, said chief executive, John Flannery.

"We have been taking ongoing actions to make GE Capital smaller and more focused while maintaining its key capabilities to support financing for GE Industrial products," Flannery continued.

"These actions will also help restore GE Capital ratios to appropriate level," he said, adding that "a charge of this magnitude... is deeply disappointing."

Dirty money from eastern Europe is flowing through companies registered to nondescript properties across Scotland in a practice that has alarmed global campaigners and policymakers, experts say.

The first Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) were set up a century ago when they were widely used to register contracts for tenant farmers, but today organised crime gangs and corrupt politicians are exploiting the system with them.

A tiny flat in the crime-ridden Edinburgh suburb of Pilton was found to be home to hundreds of SLPs including Fortuna United, part of a US$1 billion theft that crippled the economy of Moldova in 2014.

"It's kind of crazy," Ben Cowdock, an SLP expert at anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International, told AFP.

"There were over 100 SLPs in the Moldova scheme, and some were used to own shares in banks, allow individuals to take over banks and then make dodgy loans to companies that they also controlled."

SLPs can own assets and borrow money, just like a person. They can register as a partnership of two parent companies with no obligation to reveal the people behind them - until last year.Such companies also cleaned money for Russian and Azerbaijani "laundromats" exposed by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

More recently, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and Scottish daily The Herald this month linked SLPs to US$1.5 billion of assets seized from associates of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

On paper, their registered address looked like an office suite a few minutes walk from Queen Elizabeth II's Scottish palace - but it is actually a run-down apartment with a broken window.

"We are aware that SLPs are a feature of some money laundering typologies and are working with partner agencies to tackle the practice," a spokesman for the UK National Crime Agency said.

SLPs were established in 1907 and widely used as a loose tenancy agreement but they are now primarily used for private equity and venture capital investments.

"What seems to make them attractive for legitimate use in the fund industry also makes them attractive for illegitimate uses," Stephen Chan, a partner specialising in SLPs at Scottish law firm Harper Macleod, told AFP.

Cowdock said there were 612 SLPs registered in 2009, a figure that rose to more than 5,000 by 2015.

Over 70 per cent of SLPs registered in 2016 were controlled by anonymous companies based in jurisdictions such as Belize, Seychelles and Dominica, Transparency International found.

The British government changed the rules last year to compel SLPs to identify "persons of significant control", but some have simply ignored the regulation.

"If you're hell-bent on laundering money it's still quite an attractive tool, because it's cheap and disposable," Cowdock said. "You can submit false information, and then launder your money before anyone notices."

Companies House, a government agency, said the government was "considering whether any further action is required to prevent limited partnerships from being used for unlawful activities".

Alison Thewliss, a Scottish National Party politician fighting to change the law, said dodgy SLPs were "damaging Scotland's good name".

But Scotland's semi-autonomous government is powerless to regulate them directly as company law is controlled from London.

"The UK government has agreed to close some of the loopholes but it's clearly not enough," Thewliss told AFP.

But David Young, a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, cautioned that the controversy should not tarnish the reputation of legitimate SLPs.

Watchmakers at the industry's major fair in Geneva this week said they are bringing themselves up to speed in the digital age following China's economic recovery. 

Through online stores, social networks, and brand new boutiques in China's central cities, manufacturers at the international luxury watchmakers show SIHH are hoping to reach up-and-coming affluent shoppers now that financial signals are positive again in Asia.

"China was the good surprise of the past year with a sharp increase in our exports," Swiss Watch Industry Federation President Jean-Daniel Pasche told AFP, adding the market still presents a "strong potential for growth".

While statistics for the whole of 2017 are yet to be published, Swiss watch exports to China have returned to double-digit growth, rising by 19.6 percent between January and the end of November.

Watch sales grew spectacularly with the expansion of the Chinese economy until Beijing banned extravagant gifts in an anti-corruption drive at the end of 2013.

"There was a big dip," said Pablo Mauron, a partner at Shanghai-based digital communications company DLG. "But the signals are once again very positive."

"For a long time, the Chinese loved to buy their watches in Europe, in the shops on the Rue du Rhone in Geneva or in Paris. They liked to come back from their travels with an experience to tell," he added.

But watch enthusiasts are now more inclined to buy directly in China -- both because of a reduction in taxes on foreign purchases and a greater hesitation to travel following the wave of attacks in Europe.

- Online shopping -

Among the developments, Chinese consumers are now much quicker to make purchases online, notably through China's main social network WeChat.

"Many brands have positioned themselves on this platform to reach a new clientele," said Mauron, citing German manufacturer Montblanc, which led a social media campaign to launch its interactive watch in China. 

Swiss brand H. Moser plans to unveil at the Geneva fair a partnership with JD.com, the Chinese online trading giant.

"A small factory like ours doesn't necessarily have the means to launch a big advertising campaign throughout China," its chief Edward Meylan told AFP, emphasising the effectiveness of online trade to gain a foothold in the market.

The brand, however, also plans to open its first high-street store in China because it believes buyers still want to see expensive products in the flesh before buying.

French company Hermes also plans to open an online store in China later this year, said one of its directors Guillaume de Seynes in an interview at SIHH.

He said Hermes will also open two new shops in the centre of the country where a wealthy class is emerging, to strengthen its network beyond China's megacities.

The Paris-based brand intends to set up in Changsha, in Hunan province, where Mao was born, and in Xi'an, a province of Shaanxi, known for its terracotta army.

"It remains a market on which we have a lot of hope," said Guillaume de Seynes.

A possible shutdown of the US federal government at midnight Friday amid a congressional deadlock on spending would have no immediate effect on America's sovereign debt rating, ratings agency Fitch said.

The prospect of a partial shutdown of US government operations, the first in more than four years, grew increasingly likely on Friday afternoon as Senate Republicans and Democrats remained at loggerheads over legislation to authorize funding to keep the government open.

In a statement on Friday, Fitch said partial shutdowns had occurred in the past and the one looming at midnight on Friday "does not have a direct impact" on the top-notch AAA/stable rating for US sovereign debt.

"Its main implication for the US's sovereign creditworthiness would depend on whether it foreshadowed a further destabilization of US budget policymaking, or brinkmanship over the federal debt limit," Fitch said.

The agency cited Congressional Budget Office findings, according to which the federal government is not likely to exhaust its borrowing ability until late March or early April.

Markets appeared unconcerned by the possible shutdown on Friday, with Wall Street and the US dollar relatively stable -- although US currency has weakened in recent weeks against the euro.

A top EU official on Thursday accused several European countries, including Ireland and the Netherlands, of being tax policy "black holes" and promised to pressure them to change their ways.

"Obviously many countries in the European Union are places where aggressive tax optimisation finds its place," EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told reporters in Brussels.

"Some European countries are black holes (...) I want to address this," he added.

Former French finance minister Moscovici spoke ahead of an EU finance ministers meeting in which the bloc was expected to whittle down a month-old blacklist of non-EU tax havens from 17 countries to nine.

When the list was announced in December, NGO Oxfam said four European countries -- Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands -- deserved to be on the list if the EU's criteria were being faithfully applied.

Moscovici denied this, but added: "If you realise that the tax flows go to this or that country: Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus (...), let's talk about how to solve things."

These countries often serve as EU headquarters for global multinationals, offering complicated tax schemes that help companies -- such as Google, Apple or Facebook -- to shift profits and avoid big tax bills.

But instead of expanding their list, the 28 EU finance ministers meeting on Tuesday are expected to absolve eight countries - including Panama and South Korea.

They will now go to a so-called "grey list", jurisdictions that have made unspecified commitments to the EU on reforming their tax laws.

Moscovici warned against breaking citizens trust and called on ministers to make public any commitments made, repeating similar pleas in European Parliament.

"We cannot accept that member states are secretly negotiating exemptions for tax haven nations that have fallen in favour," said French MEP Eva Joly of the Greens party, a major advocate of fair tax policy.

The grey list, which currently includes 47 countries, will be complemented by the eight struck from the blacklist, including the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Mongolia, Macao, Grenada and Barbados.

Paris's public cycle hire company said Friday it would hit its contractor with a one-million-euro bill for a chaotic rollout of new bikes that has infuriated cyclists.

The grey Velib bikes -- usually ubiquitous across the French capital -- have been virtually absent for weeks because of the botched handover from previous contractor JCDecaux to Franco-Spanish firm Smovengo.

Autolib' Velib' Metropole, the public-private consortium that runs the scheme, pronounced itself "dissatisfied" and said it would penalise Smovengo a million euros ($1.22 million) as set out in its contract.

Velib will also refund its roughly 300,000 subscribers for the month of January as a "gesture of compensation" for the delays, the consortium's chief Catherine Baratti-Elbaz said.

Further discounts may be offered if the problems are not fixed next month, she added.

In October, Paris city hall announced a snazzy redesign of the bikes that would result in a third of them going electric, with the grand re-launch taking place on January 1.

But as of Friday, only 113 of the bike system's docking stations were working -- well short of the 600 that had been promised by the New Year, with 1,400 supposed to be working by the end of March.

The disruption began before Christmas and the delays have enraged cyclists, many of whom rely on the hire bikes for their commute.

A possible shutdown of the US federal government at midnight Friday amid a congressional deadlock on spending would have no immediate effect on America's sovereign debt rating, ratings agency Fitch said.

The prospect of a partial shutdown of US government operations, the first in more than four years, grew increasingly likely on Friday afternoon as Senate Republicans and Democrats remained at loggerheads over legislation to authorize funding to keep the government open.

In a statement on Friday, Fitch said partial shutdowns had occurred in the past and the one looming at midnight on Friday "does not have a direct impact" on the top-notch AAA/stable rating for US sovereign debt.

"Its main implication for the US's sovereign creditworthiness would depend on whether it foreshadowed a further destabilization of US budget policymaking, or brinkmanship over the federal debt limit," Fitch said.

The agency cited Congressional Budget Office findings, according to which the federal government is not likely to exhaust its borrowing ability until late March or early April.

Markets appeared unconcerned by the possible shutdown on Friday, with Wall Street and the US dollar relatively stable -- although US currency has weakened in recent weeks against the euro.

China and Russia have shown no intention of living up to World Trade Organization rules and Washington should not have supported their membership in the global trade body, the Trump administration said Friday.

In strongly worded reports to Congress, the US Trade Representative delivered a laundry list of grievances over unfair trade practices by Beijing and Moscow it says runs counter to global free trade rules.

USTR Robert Lighthizer said the reports show "the global trading system is threatened by major economies who do not intend to open their markets to trade and participate fairly."

"This practice is incompatible with the market-based approach expressly envisioned by WTO members and contrary to the fundamental principles of the WTO," Lighthizer said in a statement.

President Donald Trump has ratcheted up retaliatory measures against foreign trading partners, notably China, as part of his America First economic agenda which lifted him to power a year ago. That included an aggressive new trade probe into possible dumping of aluminum and steel.

The US had a $309 billion trade deficit in goods and services with China in 2016, and that was on track to expand by $10 billion last year.

USTR report said after joining the WTO in 2001, Beijing effectively abandoned efforts to adopt market-friendly reforms and instead increased central government control over commerce while erecting barriers to foreign competition.

But WTO rules are insufficient to correct Beijing's interventionist policies, and the United States "erred" in supporting China's membership in 2001, the report said.

US dialogue with Beijing since Trump took office yielded some results, such as renewed access to Chinese markets for US beef, but these were piecemeal changes, the report said.

"China is determined to maintain the state's leading role in the economy and to continue to pursue industrial policies that promote, guide and support domestic industries while simultaneously and actively seeking to impede, disadvantage and harm their foreign counterparts," the China report said.

Chinese authorities also continue to pressure American companies into sharing valuable intellectual property, the report said.

The USTR likewise accused Moscow of an "accelerating withdrawal" from the open market system demanded by WTO membership since joining in 2012, citing burdensome import licensing, opaque customs regimes, and barriers to agricultural imports.

"It was a mistake to allow Russia to join the WTO if it is not fully prepared to live by WTO rules," the report said.

British financial giant HSBC has agreed to pay more than $100 million to US authorities after admitting to defrauding clients during multi-billion-dollar foreign exchange transactions, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The settlement follows an indictment handed down Wednesday against a former Barclays trader similarly accused of defrauding the former California computing giant Hewlett-Packard by manipulating foreign exchange markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, which is under review by a federal judge in Brooklyn, HSBC will pay a $63.1 million fine and an additional $38.4 million in restitution and disgorgement -- or the return of ill-gotten gains, the Justice Department said.

"HSBC's admissions in connection with this resolution confirm that the company misused confidential client information for its own profit on more than one occasion," John Cronan, the acting head of the department's criminal division, said in a statement.

"This sort of misconduct not only harmed their clients, costing the victims money, but it also ran a serious risk of undermining the public's confidence in our financial markets."

Prosecutors say that in 2010 and 2011, traders on HSBC's foreign exchange desk used confidential client information to conduct trades in British currency that deliberately drove the price of sterling in a direction benefitting the bank and harming the clients.

US officials only identified one of the two clients: the British oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy.

HSBC has agreed to continue cooperating with investigators and foreign authorities in any related investigations, including cases brought against individuals and to enhance its internal safeguards against misconduct.

The Justice Department said HSBC received no leniency for voluntarily disclosing the matter, adding that initially the bank's cooperation with investigators was also "deficient in certain respects."

But that HSBC soon "changed course" after prodding from the government, earning "substantial cooperation credit."

The bank faces charges of wire fraud but these are likely to be dropped once HSBC fulfills its obligations under the settlement.

Thursday's settlement comes barely a month after the lapse of a landmark 5-year, $1.9-billion deal between US authorities and HSBC in which the British lender avoided prosecution after admitting in 2012 to widespread money-laundering and sanctions violations.

In October, HSBC's former head of foreign exchange cash trading, Mark Johnson, was convicted of 8 counts of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud after a four-week trial. He is due to be sentenced next month.

HSBC was one of 6 major US and European banks that were fined a total $4.2 billion by global regulators in a November 2014 crackdown for attempted manipulation of the foreign exchange market.

Dutch insurers said Friday that fierce storms that whipped across The Netherlands caused 90 million euros ($111 million) in devastation, as the country's train service slowly creaked back into gear.

"The January storm that raged across our country yesterday caused considerable damage," the Dutch Association of Insurers said.

"According to our first estimates, the damage to homes and cars is at least 90 million euros," it said, cautioning that it had not yet added in the cost of any havoc to businesses, government buildings and the agriculture sector.

The Netherlands bore the early brunt of Thursday's severe winter storms which blew in with winds of up to 140 kilometres (86 miles) an hour off the North Sea.

It then barrelled across northern Europe, leaving nine people, including two firefighters, dead in its wake.

The Dutch railway service, NS, had cancelled all trains on Thursday, stranding thousands of commuters and travellers.

On Friday morning, many trains were running again although railway staff were still busy clearing away fallen trees from the tracks, and fixing overhead lines.

There were still no trains serving the busy route between Schiphol airport and Leiden Central "due to a defective overhead line", although buses had been laid on, NS said. The problem should be fixed by midday, it added.

Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest flight hubs, was forced to cancel all flights in or out for about two hours on Thursday.

In a Tweet Friday, it said it "expects a normal day but it can be busier at the airport due to cancellations and rebooking of yesterday's flights".

Resourceful travellers late Thursday had turned to Twitter to get to their destinations, setting up a hashtag #StormPoolen (storm carpool).

"My lovely boyfriend is trying to get from Leiden Central to Delft. He’s very nice and there’s a bottle of wine in it for whoever can return him unharmed. #StormPoolen," wrote Twitter user Molly Quell.

Puk van de Lagemaat promised "mad Dj-ing and Karaoke skills to accompany you in the traficjam (sic)" if anyone could give her a ride from Amsterdam central station to The Hague.

The US securities regulator on Thursday raised alarm about the safety of bitcoin-themed investments, telling the fund industry they want answers to their concerns before endorsing more than a dozen proposed products based on cryptocurrencies.
A top division chief at the US Securities and Exchange Commission detailed the agency’s concerns about the wild-trading investment in a letter to two trade groups representing fund managers who unleashed a range of proposals for funds holding bitcoin or related assets.
The SEC’s division of investment management demanded answers to at least 31 detailed questions about how mutual funds or exchange-traded funds based on bitcoin would store, safeguard, and price that asset.
They also asked whether investors could understand the risks and how to address concerns that bitcoin markets could be manipulated.
“There are a number of significant investor protection issues that need to be examined before sponsors begin offering these funds to investors,” said the letter signed by Dalia Blass, the SEC’s director of the division of investment management.
Bitcoin’s 1,500 percent surge last year stoked investor demand for any product with exposure to the red-hot asset. A host of companies are jostling to launch exchange-traded funds which would open up the cryptocurrency to a broad retail market.
The SEC in March denied a request to list an ETF from investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, owners of the Gemini bitcoin exchange.
The Winklevoss fund is seeking to invest in bitcoin directly. Other fund firms staked their hopes on recently launched US-listed bitcoin futures contracts, which promised a more stable base for ETFs than the largely unregulated virtual currency spot market. Many of those proposals were withdrawn last week at the request of the SEC.
Bitcoin was last down a fraction of a percent for the day at $11,228 on the Bitstamp exchange, but it has tumbled more than 40 percent from its peak in December.
Jeremy Senderowicz, a lawyer who represented one proposal for a cryptocurrency product before the SEC, said the SEC statement is a “really big deal” by making public concerns that fund managers would have had to address on a case-by-case basis, behind the scenes.
“It shows that they’re going to have to take some time to consider the industry’s responses before they change their minds on it,” said Senderowicz, a partner at Dechert LLP.
“It gives a template for how to get to a yes.”

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant BASF said it expects to post a 50-percent leap in net profits for 2017 on strong demand and a tax windfall due to lower levies in the United States.

Net income for the year is expected to reach 6.1 billion euros ($7.5 billion), up from 4.1 billion in 2016, according to unaudited preliminary results, said the group.

"The earnings figures exceed analyst estimates significantly," said BASF in a statement.

A cut in the US corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent is expected to contribute to almost 400 million euros in savings in the last three months of 2017.

Sales rose by 12 percent to 64.5 billion euros, said the group.

"The year-on-year earnings growth is primarily attributable to the strong earnings increase in the chemicals segment," added BASF, which will post its full-year report on February 27.

BASF said last year that it plans to spend nearly six billion euros acquiring parts of the agrochemical business of competitor Bayer, which is pursuing a mega-merger with US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto.

In October, BASF confirmed its full-year forecast, saying it expected sales and operating profit to "increase considerably" over 2016's figures.

A top EU official on Thursday accused several European countries, including Ireland and the Netherlands, of being tax policy "black holes" and promised to pressure them to change their ways.

"Obviously many countries in the European Union are places where aggressive tax optimisation finds its place," EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told reporters in Brussels.

"Some European countries are black holes (...) I want to address this," he added.

Former French finance minister Moscovici spoke ahead of an EU finance ministers meeting in which the bloc was expected to whittle down a month-old blacklist of non-EU tax havens from 17 countries to nine.

When the list was announced in December, NGO Oxfam said four European countries -- Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands -- deserved to be on the list if the EU's criteria were being faithfully applied.

Moscovici denied this, but added: "If you realise that the tax flows go to this or that country: Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus (...), let's talk about how to solve things."

These countries often serve as EU headquarters for global multinationals, offering complicated tax schemes that help companies -- such as Google, Apple or Facebook -- to shift profits and avoid big tax bills.

But instead of expanding their list, the 28 EU finance ministers meeting on Tuesday are expected to absolve eight countries - including Panama and South Korea.

They will now go to a so-called "grey list", jurisdictions that have made unspecified commitments to the EU on reforming their tax laws.

Moscovici warned against breaking citizens trust and called on ministers to make public any commitments made, repeating similar pleas in European Parliament.

"We cannot accept that member states are secretly negotiating exemptions for tax haven nations that have fallen in favour," said French MEP Eva Joly of the Greens party, a major advocate of fair tax policy.

The grey list, which currently includes 47 countries, will be complemented by the eight struck from the blacklist, including the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Mongolia, Macao, Grenada and Barbados.

Dirty money from eastern Europe is flowing through companies registered to nondescript properties across Scotland in a practice that has alarmed global campaigners and policymakers, experts say.

The first Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) were set up a century ago when they were widely used to register contracts for tenant farmers, but today organised crime gangs and corrupt politicians are exploiting the system with them.

A tiny flat in the crime-ridden Edinburgh suburb of Pilton was found to be home to hundreds of SLPs including Fortuna United, part of a US$1 billion theft that crippled the economy of Moldova in 2014.

"It's kind of crazy," Ben Cowdock, an SLP expert at anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International, told AFP.

"There were over 100 SLPs in the Moldova scheme, and some were used to own shares in banks, allow individuals to take over banks and then make dodgy loans to companies that they also controlled."

SLPs can own assets and borrow money, just like a person. They can register as a partnership of two parent companies with no obligation to reveal the people behind them - until last year.Such companies also cleaned money for Russian and Azerbaijani "laundromats" exposed by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

More recently, a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and Scottish daily The Herald this month linked SLPs to US$1.5 billion of assets seized from associates of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.

On paper, their registered address looked like an office suite a few minutes walk from Queen Elizabeth II's Scottish palace - but it is actually a run-down apartment with a broken window.

"We are aware that SLPs are a feature of some money laundering typologies and are working with partner agencies to tackle the practice," a spokesman for the UK National Crime Agency said.

SLPs were established in 1907 and widely used as a loose tenancy agreement but they are now primarily used for private equity and venture capital investments.

"What seems to make them attractive for legitimate use in the fund industry also makes them attractive for illegitimate uses," Stephen Chan, a partner specialising in SLPs at Scottish law firm Harper Macleod, told AFP.

Cowdock said there were 612 SLPs registered in 2009, a figure that rose to more than 5,000 by 2015.

Over 70 per cent of SLPs registered in 2016 were controlled by anonymous companies based in jurisdictions such as Belize, Seychelles and Dominica, Transparency International found.

The British government changed the rules last year to compel SLPs to identify "persons of significant control", but some have simply ignored the regulation.

"If you're hell-bent on laundering money it's still quite an attractive tool, because it's cheap and disposable," Cowdock said. "You can submit false information, and then launder your money before anyone notices."

Companies House, a government agency, said the government was "considering whether any further action is required to prevent limited partnerships from being used for unlawful activities".

Alison Thewliss, a Scottish National Party politician fighting to change the law, said dodgy SLPs were "damaging Scotland's good name".

But Scotland's semi-autonomous government is powerless to regulate them directly as company law is controlled from London.

"The UK government has agreed to close some of the loopholes but it's clearly not enough," Thewliss told AFP.

But David Young, a partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, cautioned that the controversy should not tarnish the reputation of legitimate SLPs.

After long years of punishingly low oil prices, the global oil market is moving closer to reaching a healthy balance between supply and demand, OPEC said on Thursday.

In its monthly oil market report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said there were “growing indications that the oil market is heading smoothly toward rebalancing.”

Prices were being buoyed by lower crude oil stocks, healthy demand and geopolitical tensions, the cartel said.Oil prices have risen in recent months, after OPEC and a clutch of countries outside the cartel struck a landmark deal at the end of 2016 to cut back production to combat a global oil glut.

At a meeting in Vienna at the end of November, the oil-producing nations agreed to extend that deal until the end of 2018.

As a result, oil prices have recently moved above the $70 mark, after hitting a 10-year low of less than $30 in January 2016.

“In December, oil futures improved further to levels not seen since late 2014,” OPEC said.

The agreement to extend the cutbacks, “as well as supply turbulences in the North Sea buoyed the sustained gains” in futures prices, it wrote.

The Forties pipeline system, which normally carries 40 percent of UK oil and gas production in the North Sea, was recently hit by a cracked pipe.

In its report, OPEC raised its estimate for global oil demand growth for last year, and said oil output would also continue to expand.

The cartel said it expects world oil demand to have averaged 96.99 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, an upward revision that was “broadly a result of better-than-expected data for Europe and China.”For 2018, global oil consumption was projected to reach 98.51 million bpd.

On the supply side, OPEC said that the world oil supply was projected to have expanded to an average 57.79 million bpd in 2017. And it would grow further to 58.94 million bpd in 2018.

“The US remains the key driver of non-OPEC supply growth,” as shale producers in the US ramp up production, OPEC said.

China's economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017, picking up steam for the first time since 2010 despite its battles against a massive debt and polluting factories, official data showed Thursday.

The world's number two economy eclipsed the official target of about 6.5 percent and picked up pace from the 6.7 percent growth seen in 2016, which was the slowest for more than a quarter of a century.The robust economic expansion indicated stability after slowing down since China last posted double-digit growth in 2010.

"The national economy has maintained the momentum of stable and sound development and exceeded the expectation with the economic vitality, impetus and potential released," National Statistics Bureau head Ning Jizhe said in a report.

"We should also be aware that there are still difficulties and challenges confronting the economy and the improvement of quality and efficiency remains a daunting task," Ning said.

The reading -- which beat the 6.8 percent predicted by analysts surveyed by AFP -- comes as China kicks its war on pollution into gear, halving industrial production for some steel smelters and mills this winter.

The battle has brought unusual blue skies to Beijing, with the density of dangerous pollution -- particulate PM2.5 -- dropping by more than 50 percent in the final quarter of 2017.

But the latest data showed the economy expanding 6.8 percent in the last quarter of 2017, matching the third quarter figure though it was below the 6.9 percent from the first half of the year.

Ning dismissed questions on the reliability of China's statistics raised after the coastal city of Tianjin and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia admitted to inflating certain 2016 data.

"The system for calculating China's statistics data is not affected by a small number of places, or some places, or some companies" having accuracy issues with their data, he said.

The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China's export machine.

"This momentum, especially the part fuelled by external demand, may carry on well into 2018," said Wei Yao, chief China economist at Societe Generale.

- Debt fears -

The country is also facing pressure to prevent a credit crisis, with local government debt growing 7.5 percent last year to $2.56 trillion, according to figures released Wednesday.

China has largely relied on debt-fuelled investment and exports to drive its tremendous economic growth of the past four decades but it is now seeking to move its economy to more sustainable consumption-based growth.

The latest figures show the services industry grew eight percent for the year with retail sales spiking 10.2 percent, good news for the transition.

The International Monetary Fund has repeatedly warned of risks stemming from China's ballooning debt, saying last year that each extra dollar of debt is producing diminishing returns for China's economy.

China's leaders appeared to wipe away some of those concerns at a critical planning meeting in December.

While vowing a crackdown on financial risk and local government debt, leaders called for a reasonable credit expansion this year.

That flew in the face of IMF and other economists warnings that China must deleverage.

Last year China brought down the pace of debt accumulation but allowed overall credit growth, analysts say.

- Potential headwinds -

"The bulls and the bears have never been so much in agreement since the financial crisis," said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group.

"Most economists expect around 6.5 percent GDP growth in 2018," Hu said, though one of China's top state-affiliated think tanks last month forecast growth ticking slightly downwards to 6.7 this year.

But potential headwinds and risks for China's economy are brewing.

US President Donald Trump is determined to change the balance of trade between the two large trading partners.

China's trade surplus with the US swelled 10 percent to $275.8 billion last year, a record high.

In a telephone call with President Xi Jinping this week, Trump "expressed disappointment that the United States' trade deficit with China has continued to grow", the White House said.

"President Trump made clear that the situation is not sustainable."

Trump has repeatedly insisted he will fight for more equitable trade with China.

The US is expected to release the results of a major investigation into China's intellectual property practices this year.

Germany's powerful industry federation called Thursday for Berlin to invest massive sums in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, warning that otherwise the nation risks missing its own targets.

"German climate policy risks heading into a drastic gap between ends and means," BDI industry federation president Dieter Kempf said, calling for 1.5 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) in investments by 2050 -- or a little under half of German GDP in 2017.

That sum would allow Germany to achieve an 80-percent reduction of greenhouse emissions compared with 1990, the lower end of Berlin's target range for mid-century, the BDI found in a study.

Measures to reach the top end of the range -- 95 percent emissions reduction -- "would encounter serious limits to acceptance and implementation and could not realistically be achieved" with spending lower than 2.3 trillion euros, the federation said.

"It's right for the business federation to call for predictable planning in energy and climate policy," Greenpeace expert Andree Boehling commented.

"The next government must present a clear plan for how a modern, clean Germany will manage step-by-step without coal, oil and eventually gas."

Calls to do more for the environment have multiplied as conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel pursues a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats.

A bare-bones blueprint for talks agreed between the parties last week implicitly gave up on Germany's 2020 climate target of reducing emissions by 40 percent compared with 1990s.

Differences over climate policy helped blow up Merkel's first attempt at forming a coalition following tricky September elections, with the ecologist Greens and pro-business Free Democrats.

Most of Europe's stock markets ran into profit-taking Thursday as the continent's main currencies posted fresh gains against the dollar, weighing on export-heavy stocks, and Wall Street stalled in early New York trading.

The underlying mood remained confident, however, traders said, buoyed by bullish Chinese data, strong corporate earnings and New York's record close the previous day amid optimism over the impact of US President Donald Trump's tax cuts.

Paris reversed an earlier stronger trend to post slight losses overall, but Airbus shares were 2.2 percent higher after Emirates Airlines struck a $16-billion deal to buy 36 Airbus A-380 superjumbos, having traded as much as three percent up on the day during the morning session.

The Emirates order throws the A-380 programme a lifeline only days after the European manufacturer said it would have to halt production without new orders.

London also lapsed into the red as market participants eyed the strong pound, which weighs on the performance of multinational companies.

Frankfurt was the European standout, with the Dax gaining as German semiconductor giant Infineon's shares surged a day after stellar annual results from Dutch computer chip maker ASML.

"Semiconductor bell weather ASML had blowout results, driving up European tech," Will Hamlyn, senior equity investment analyst at Manulife Asset Management, told AFP.

Wall Street was flat at the opening, with "the markets assessing the recent global rally", according to Charles Schwab analysts.

But FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said that the market may well find strong support "as US equity bulls linger in the vicinity".

 - Hong Kong sparkles - 

Once again, Hong Kong was the star performer in Asia, notching up an historic record as investors tracked another milestone on Wall Street.

Hong Kong rose 0.4 percent, holding above the 32,000 mark it broke in the morning for the first time in its history. The market has fallen only once in the past 17 trading days.

Shanghai ended up 0.9 percent. After the market closed data showed the Chinese economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 percent in 2017, the first annual improvement in the growth rate since 2010.

The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China's export machine. 

Hamlyn however sounded a note of caution about this year's global markets rally.

"There's a lot of froth in markets, valuations are right up there -- not at the crazy levels of the bubble era, but there are signs of excess everywhere," he told AFP.

Bitcoin climbed more than 10 percent, according to Bloomberg data, a day after falling through the $10,000 mark for the first time since mid-December.

 - Key figures around 1435 GMT - 

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,687.20 points

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 13,268.39

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 5,491.21

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.2 percent at 3,618.39

New York - DOW: FLAT at 26,109.84

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.4 percent at 23,763.37 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.4 percent at 32,121.94 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,474.75 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.2249 from $1.2198 at 2200 GMT

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3882 from $1.3833

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 111.04 yen from 111.26 yen

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN 32 cents at $69.06 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 17 cents at $63.80

BP Plc agreed to help increase crude production at northern Iraq’s Kirkuk fields as the government pushes to restore output and exporting capacity after recapturing the oil-rich region from semi-autonomous Kurdish forces in October.

Iraqi and BP officials signed an agreement in Kirkuk city on Thursday to study ways of boosting capacity at the fields to 700,000 to 750,000 barrels a day. The deposits, which include the country’s oldest field, currently can pump about 450,000 barrels a day.The London-based oil giant is returning to a region where it has a long history. Kirkuk’s oil was discovered by the forebears of BP and France’s Total SA in 1927. BP provided technical assistance to Iraq’s state-run North Oil Co. until 2015, when work halted due to fighting between government troops and Islamic State militants. Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi had asked BP to accelerate plans to develop Kirkuk’s fields, the oil ministry said in October.

Under the agreement, BP will perform surveys and studies necessary to develop Kirkuk’s fields and boost their output to as much as 750,000 barrels day, according to an oil ministry statement citing Michael Townshend, the head of BP’s Middle East business.“North Oil must restore its glory and its output averages to 1.5 million barrels a day,” al-Luaibi said at the signing ceremony. “We have an ambitious plan to activate the company.”

Kirkuk’s fields currently pump 140,000 to 150,000 barrels a day, all of it going to local refineries, according a person familiar with the situation. Output has stopped at two of the deposits, Bai Hassan and Avana, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter isn’t public.

Iraq pumps most of its 4.42 million barrels a day from fields in the south and ships it from the Persian Gulf port of Basra. The country, the second-biggest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is limited to pumping 4.351 million barrels a day under OPEC’s global cuts agreement.

Kirkuk’s oil lies in one of the Middle East’s great fields. Kirkuk’s oldest well, Baba Gurgur, earned its name -- the Kurdish term for “Father of Fire” -- for the flames fed by hydrocarbons oozing to the surface in a nearby pit. Local lore has it that the fire has been burning for centuries.Kurdish forces seized the Kirkuk territory in 2014 to ward off Islamic State. The Kurds saw Kirkuk’s oil as a financial lifeline for a future state of their own, a goal fiercely opposed by Iraq’s central government. After the Kurds held a referendum for independence in September, Baghdad moved a month later to reassert control of Kirkuk’s oil deposits.

As part of its effort to revive northern oil fields and exports, the government sought bids last month from companies to build an export pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkey. The link would run parallel to an older link that served as Iraq’s main conduit for oil exports from the north until the conflict with Islamic State forced the network to shut down.

Since then, Baghdad has exported its northern oil to Turkey through a Kurd-run pipeline in Iraq’s Kurdish region. A new link built and controlled by the federal government would enable Baghdad once again to ship northern crude without needing to depend on the Kurds.

Leading economists from France and Germany on Wednesday called for new fiscal rules for the eurozone and the creation of an independent watchdog to help to make the single currency more resilient against crises in the future.

In a 33-page paper, the economists warned that even if the single currency area was "finally experiencing a robust recovery... after nearly a decade of stagnation", it "remains fragile."

Germany and France are currently trying to inject new momentum into stalled EU reform efforts.

And the economists' "blueprint for reform" is intended to bridge German demands for more fiscal discipline and France's insistence on more risk-sharing.

The paper, entitled "Reconciling risk-sharing with market discipline: A constructive approach to eurozone reform", is authored by top economists from institutes such as Bruegel, Ifo and DIW, as well as Sciences Po in Paris.

Despite the ongoing economic recovery, the case "for a reform of the eurozone architecture is strong", the economists said, calling for "a shift in the fiscal and financial governance of the eurozone."

The fiscal rules laid out in the EU's Stability and Growth Pact -- notably the rule that member states are not allowed to run up deficits in excess of 3.0 percent of their economies -- "have not worked well," the economists wrote.

- 'Transparent and simple' -

"Excessive public debts have accumulated because of banking crises and the Great Recession (of 2008), but also because either countries did not abide by European fiscal rules or the rules were not sufficiently stringent in good times."

The poor functioning of the current fiscal rules was due both to their design and the way in which they are monitored and enforced, the economists argued.

"Deficit targets give rise to pro-cyclical fiscal policy -– for example, higher expenditures in good times and lower expenditure in bad times," they complained.

Fiscal rules should be "as transparent and simple as possible," the economists wrote.

Monitoring should occur both at a national level -– by an independent national fiscal council –- and "under the oversight of a eurozone fiscal watchdog," the economists suggested.

And enforcement "cannot rely solely on the threat of penalties that are unlikely to be credible," the economists wrote.

"We are drawing the lessons from the eurozone crisis, saying that there was a lack of solidarity, but also a lack of responsibility before the crisis," one of the authors, Philippe Martin, professor at Sciences Po Paris, told AFP.

China's sole operational aircraft carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait Wednesday, the island's defence ministry said, as Beijing steps up pressure on its democratic rival.

It comes weeks after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen warned against what she called China's "military expansion" -- the increase of air and naval drills around the island since she came to power in May 2016.Beijing views the self-ruling island as part of its territory, to be reunified at some point.

Cross-strait relations have become increasingly frosty as Tsai refuses to acknowledge Taiwan is part of "one China".

The aircraft carrier -- a second-hand Soviet ship -- caused a stir in Taiwan when it first entered the strait in January last year, viewed as a symbolic show of strength by Beijing.

The defence ministry said the Liaoning carrier and accompanying vessels entered Taiwan's air defence zone early Wednesday morning and left by noon.

The fleet, which earlier this month had sailed south through the strait that separates Taiwan and China, was seen again heading north, it said.

As in the past two crossings, the ship did not enter Taiwanese waters, the ministry added.

"The military conducted surveillance and took responsive measures during the whole process," the ministry said in a statement.

"There were no unusual activities during the time the fleet passed through the Taiwan Strait. We urge people not to worry," it added.

Built nearly 30 years ago, the carrier was commissioned in 2012 after extensive refits.

According to Taiwan's defence ministry, Chinese warplanes conducted 25 drills around Taiwan between August 2016 and mid-December last year.

The latest Liaoning appearance also comes after tensions were further fuelled by China starting new flight routes in the Taiwan Strait without consulting Taiwan.

Taipei questioned the move as politically motivated and called it reckless, saying it threatened the island's security and could compromise flight safety.

Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson on Tuesday said it would write down 14.2 billion kronor (1.4 billion euros, $1.8bn) in assets as the troubled company struggles to compete in a rapidly changing sector.

The writedowns, which will be booked in the fourth quarter of 2017 and which were expected, originate mainly from goodwill from “investments made 10 years ago or more, and has limited relevance for Ericsson’s business going forward,” the company said in a statement.

The depreciation has no impact on cash flow, it said.Ericsson is trying to divest the two business areas mainly responsible for the writedowns, digital services and media, where the company provides services for television channels, telecom operators, content providers as well as cloud and physical devices for the Internet of Things.

The company wants to sell the two units to focus on its core business, which is network infrastructure.

In addition to the writedowns, Ericsson also announced a 1.0 billion kronor non-cash tax charge due to US tax rates being cut from 35 percent to 21 percent this month.

Once a global leader in equipment making, Ericsson is facing intense competition from the likes of Finland’s Nokia and China’s Huawei, coupled with sagging investment in networks.

In the third quarter, Ericsson posted a net loss of 4.4 billion kronor and registered its fourth straight operating loss, after being hit by a range of factors including higher development and hardware costs.

The company is to publish its annual results on January 31.

Rolls-Royce, the British maker of engines, announced further restructuring Wednesday that could result in the sale of its commercial marine business.

"Building on our actions over the past two years, this further simplification of our business means Rolls-Royce will be tightly focused into three operating businesses," chief executive Warren East said in a statement.

The company that makes power systems for use on land, at sea and in the air said it would study strategic options for its commercial marine operation, while reducing Rolls' businesses from five to three core units based around civil aerospace, defence and power systems.

East added: "This is the right time to be evaluating the strategic options for our commercial marine operation.

"The team there has responded admirably to a significant downturn in the offshore oil and gas market to reduce its cost base," said East, adding that the time was right to "consider whether its future may be better served under new ownership".

Rolls has shown signs of recovery since slumping to a record loss in 2016, when it was ravaged by a Brexit-fuelled collapse in the pound and a corruption fine.

But it powered back into profit during the first half of last year, propelled by strong deliveries for its Trent aircraft engines.

East is meanwhile shedding thousands of jobs as part of a restructuring programme that he implemented since becoming chief executive in 2015.

Investors welcomed Wednesday's announcement, with Rolls-Royce shares jumping almost six percent to 904 pence in late London trading.

On Monday, Rolls said it was considering whether to sell L'Orange, its German subsidiary.

US industry surged back to life in 2017, posting the biggest increase in output in seven years, with the largest gain in the mining sector, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Industrial production rose 3.6 percent for the year on an 11.5 percent surge in mining activity, the biggest gain for that sector since 2014.

The vital manufacturing sector posted its largest increase in six years, rising 2.4 percent, the Fed said in the monthly report.

For the final month of the year, total output rebounded 0.9 percent compared to November, on a large jump in utilities, far stronger than even the most optimistic analysts were expecting.

But the December increase came after the November result was revised to show a slight decline instead of a slight increase, according to the Fed data.

The monthly rise included a 1.6 gain in mining, attributed primarily to oil and gas extraction, and a 0.1 percent rise in manufacturing output, its fourth consecutive increase.

The fourth quarter was particularly strong, jumping 8.2 percent, after back-to-back Hurricanes Harvey and Irma disrupted industrial activity in the prior quarter.

For all of 2017, the gains were broad-based, with only a few categories showing declines.

The biggest gains were in machinery, plastics and metal products, with a tepid 0.4 percent rise in motor vehicles and part.

The largest declines were in clothing, paper products, appliances and furniture.

Total industrial capacity in use in the final month of the year was at 77.9 percent, which is an increase of 1.1 points over December 2016, the report said.

But the manufacturing sector still shows a higher rate of idle capacity and at 76.4 percent it is running two points below its long-run average.

Economic growth in Africa picked up steam last year and is set to accelerate strongly in 2018, but "massive investments" are needed in infrastructure, the African Development Bank (ADB) said Wednesday.

Growth in Africa rose from 2.2 percent in 2016 to 3.6 percent in 2017 and is likely to rise to 4.1 percent in 2018 and 2019, the ADB said in its annual report, African Economic Outlook.

"Overall, the recovery in growth has been faster than envisaged, especially among non-resource–intensive economies, underscoring Africa’s resilience," it said.

"The recovery in growth could mark a turning point in net commodity-exporting countries," it added.

Last year's spurt has a range of explanations, including a recovery in prices for oil, which helped petroleum exporter Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

East Africa is the most dynamic region in terms of growth: 4.9 percent in 2016, which rose to 5.6 percent in 2017, and to a projected 5.9 percent in 2018 and 6.1 percent in 2019.

However, across the continent job creation did not rise in lockstep with growth, lagging by 1.4 percent.

Woman and young people, aged 15-25, are those who have been most affected by the slow growth in employment.

To generate jobs for the 12 million young people entering its workforce each year, Africa must take a fast-track to industrialisation, the ADB said.

But key obstacles in infrastructure remain, including energy, water and transport, as well as health, education, security and administrative capacity.

"The continent's infrastructure needs amount to $130–170 billion (106-139 billion euros) a year, with a financing gap in the range of $68–$108 billion," the report said.

By comparison, only $62 billion was mustered for infrastructure investment in 2016.

To those daunted by the funding gap, the ADB said African countries today had a wide range of options for tapping funds, and these lie "well beyond foreign aid."

One idea is to create an "infrastructure asset" class of investment, in which governments or development finance institutions offer guarantees, using flexible financial engineering, to lower the perception of risk for investors.

Tax reform is also essential, the ADB said.

Tax collection is improving in Africa -- it hauled in around $500 billion dollars last year, a figure that compares with $50 billion in foreign aid, $60 billion in remittances and $60 billion in foreign direct investment.

Despite this progress, tax revenue is still below the threshold of 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) deemed necessary to scale up infrastructure spending.

"There is an urgent need for better revenue regimes -- including progressive elimination of the vast array of exemptions and leakages that pepper tax systems -- to capture the gains from growth and rapid structural change that some countries are experiencing," the ADB said.

Making these changes will not be "straightforward" given the "intensely political" challenge, the report warned.

There will be no more bonus payments or severance payments to company directors of Carillion, a British government agency said Wednesday as it tries to deal with the fallout of the firm's collapse.

Payments were stopped after the construction-to-catering firm went bust on Monday, the government's Insolvency Service said.

"Any bonus payment to directors, beyond the liquidation date, have been stopped and this includes the severance payments which were being paid to some senior executives who left the company," a spokesman for the agency said.

The announcement followed a heated exchange in parliament over Carillion's collapse, as Prime Minister Theresa May sought to defend the government's decision to sign major deals with the company after it issued the first of several profit warnings last July.

"We're making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that workers in those public services are supported and taxpayers are protected," May told lawmakers.

Carillion has public sector and private partnership contracts worth £1.7 billion ($2.35 billion, 1.9 billion euros), including cleaning and catering at public hospitals, various construction works and maintaining 50,000 army base homes for the Ministry of Defence.

The government has said the company's 19,500 staff in public sector jobs will continue to be paid, at a potential cost to the taxpayer of hundreds of millions of pounds.

In the private sector 90 percent of the company's clients have said they will continue to honour Carillion contracts in the interim. But work has paused on construction sites, the Insolvency Service said.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the "costly racket" of having private firms run public services should end.

"These corporations need to be shown the door," he said in parliament.

"We need our public services provided by public employees with a public service ethos and a strong public oversight."

After months of talks the government denied Carillion's formal request for help, first made on December 31.

Interim chief executive Keith Cochrane said the company was struggling under £900 million of debt and a £587 million pension deficit when it went bust, with just £29 million in cash.

Europe’s major stock markets churned lower Wednesday as investors took their cue from broadly downbeat moves on Wall Street and in Asia.

Virtual currency bitcoin meanwhile dived, with some traders eyeing sub-$10,000 after what one analyst called a “cryptocalypse” that saw digital units take a hammering.

London stocks “opened on the back foot following downward trends in the US and Asia, signalling a shift in global sentiment as traders opt to lock in profits following the latest rally,” noted Russ Mould, investment director at online stockbroker AJ Bell.

Adding to the gloom, disappointing earnings eclipsed takeover activity in the British capital.Publisher and conference organiser Informa revealed it was in talks to buy rival UBM to create a giant worth more than £9.0 billion ($12.4 billion, 10.1 billion euros).

The deal is aimed at accelerating growth and slashing costs, the companies said in a statement. But investors were unconvinced, sending Informa shares tumbling more than nine percent.

The FTSE 100 was also punished as poor results from luxury fashion giant Burberry and publisher Pearson sent the two companies’ share prices diving by seven and five percent respectively.

– ‘Cryptocalypse’ for bitcoin –

Bitcoin was down at $10,554.80 compared with $10,759.55 late on Tuesday, when it had slumped by around 15 percent.

The fierce selling also spread to other alternative digital units, with ethereum, ripple and litecoin all losing about a quarter of their value Tuesday.

Bitcoin is down from record highs approaching $20,000 in the week before Christmas, having rocketed 25-fold over the year before being hit by concerns about a bubble and worries about crackdowns on trading it.

“It’s been a Cryptocalypse overnight with BTC and other virtual currencies coming under heavy selling pressure,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

But Shane Chanel, equities and derivatives adviser at ASR Wealth Advisers, sounded a slightly positive note, saying:

“Not all hope is lost. The cryptocurrency market is privy to these wild swings and seasoned veterans in this space have seen this happen many times previously.

“Not saying that it couldn’t be different this time but every major correction has been followed up by a rally more powerful than the last.”

– Hong Kong stocks soar –

In Asia, Hong Kong stocks hit an all-time high to break a record that had been in place for more than 10 years.

However, most other regional markets fell into the red with energy firms rocked by lower oil prices.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index spent most of the day in negative territory after ending at a record high close on Tuesday. But late buying saw shares stage a recovery to finish up 0.3 percent at 31,983.41 — overtaking its previous high seen on October 30, 2007.

However, most other markets in the region tracked Tuesday’s losses on Wall Street, where investors returned from a long holiday weekend to political horse-trading as Washington lawmakers struggle to avert a crippling government shutdown.

However the dollar then rebounded to extend Tuesday’s recovery, but analysts say a global move towards tighter monetary policy could keep pressure on the greenback.

Watchmakers at the industry's major fair in Geneva this week said they are bringing themselves up to speed in the digital age following China's economic recovery. 

Through online stores, social networks, and brand new boutiques in China's central cities, manufacturers at the international luxury watchmakers show SIHH are hoping to reach up-and-coming affluent shoppers now that financial signals are positive again in Asia.

"China was the good surprise of the past year with a sharp increase in our exports," Swiss Watch Industry Federation President Jean-Daniel Pasche told AFP, adding the market still presents a "strong potential for growth".

While statistics for the whole of 2017 are yet to be published, Swiss watch exports to China have returned to double-digit growth, rising by 19.6 percent between January and the end of November.

Watch sales grew spectacularly with the expansion of the Chinese economy until Beijing banned extravagant gifts in an anti-corruption drive at the end of 2013.

"There was a big dip," said Pablo Mauron, a partner at Shanghai-based digital communications company DLG. "But the signals are once again very positive."

"For a long time, the Chinese loved to buy their watches in Europe, in the shops on the Rue du Rhone in Geneva or in Paris. They liked to come back from their travels with an experience to tell," he added.

But watch enthusiasts are now more inclined to buy directly in China -- both because of a reduction in taxes on foreign purchases and a greater hesitation to travel following the wave of attacks in Europe.

- Online shopping -

Among the developments, Chinese consumers are now much quicker to make purchases online, notably through China's main social network WeChat.

"Many brands have positioned themselves on this platform to reach a new clientele," said Mauron, citing German manufacturer Montblanc, which led a social media campaign to launch its interactive watch in China. 

Swiss brand H. Moser plans to unveil at the Geneva fair a partnership with JD.com, the Chinese online trading giant.

"A small factory like ours doesn't necessarily have the means to launch a big advertising campaign throughout China," its chief Edward Meylan told AFP, emphasising the effectiveness of online trade to gain a foothold in the market.

The brand, however, also plans to open its first high-street store in China because it believes buyers still want to see expensive products in the flesh before buying.

French company Hermes also plans to open an online store in China later this year, said one of its directors Guillaume de Seynes in an interview at SIHH.

He said Hermes will also open two new shops in the centre of the country where a wealthy class is emerging, to strengthen its network beyond China's megacities.

The Paris-based brand intends to set up in Changsha, in Hunan province, where Mao was born, and in Xi'an, a province of Shaanxi, known for its terracotta army.

"It remains a market on which we have a lot of hope," said Guillaume de Seynes.

Leading economists from France and Germany on Wednesday called for new fiscal rules for the eurozone and the creation of an independent watchdog to help to make the single currency more resilient against crises in the future.

In a 33-page paper, the economists warned that even if the single currency area was "finally experiencing a robust recovery... after nearly a decade of stagnation", it "remains fragile."

Germany and France are currently trying to inject new momentum into stalled EU reform efforts.

And the economists' "blueprint for reform" is intended to bridge German demands for more fiscal discipline and France's insistence on more risk-sharing.

The paper, entitled "Reconciling risk-sharing with market discipline: A constructive approach to eurozone reform", is authored by top economists from institutes such as Bruegel, Ifo and DIW, as well as Sciences Po in Paris.

Despite the ongoing economic recovery, the case "for a reform of the eurozone architecture is strong", the economists said, calling for "a shift in the fiscal and financial governance of the eurozone."

The fiscal rules laid out in the EU's Stability and Growth Pact -- notably the rule that member states are not allowed to run up deficits in excess of 3.0 percent of their economies -- "have not worked well," the economists wrote.

- 'Transparent and simple' -

"Excessive public debts have accumulated because of banking crises and the Great Recession (of 2008), but also because either countries did not abide by European fiscal rules or the rules were not sufficiently stringent in good times."

The poor functioning of the current fiscal rules was due both to their design and the way in which they are monitored and enforced, the economists argued.

"Deficit targets give rise to pro-cyclical fiscal policy -– for example, higher expenditures in good times and lower expenditure in bad times," they complained.

Fiscal rules should be "as transparent and simple as possible," the economists wrote.

Monitoring should occur both at a national level -– by an independent national fiscal council –- and "under the oversight of a eurozone fiscal watchdog," the economists suggested.

And enforcement "cannot rely solely on the threat of penalties that are unlikely to be credible," the economists wrote.

"We are drawing the lessons from the eurozone crisis, saying that there was a lack of solidarity, but also a lack of responsibility before the crisis," one of the authors, Philippe Martin, professor at Sciences Po Paris, told AFP.

Sudanese security agents arrested the leader of the opposition Communist Party on Wednesday after it organised a protest in the capital Khartoum against rising bread prices, its spokesman told AFP.

Sporadic protests have erupted in parts of Sudan, including Khartoum, after bread prices more than doubled earlier this month following a jump in the cost of flour.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Sudanese demonstrated near the presidential palace in response to a call by the Communist Party.

Anti-riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons to disperse the crowd.

Early on Wednesday, agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested the Communist Party's leader, spokesman Ali Saeed said.

"Today, at 3:00 am (0100 GMT), two trucks full of armed men from NISS came to the house of our general secretary Mokhtar al-Khatib and took him to an unknown location," Saeed told AFP.

"We don't know where he is but we do know that it was NISS that took him."

Several other senior Communist Party figures, student leaders and activists have already been arrested since the bread price protests began.

The Communist Party said its members would continue to mobilise people and organise demonstrations, while the country's main opposition Umma Party has called an anti-government demonstration for later on Wednesday.

The protests erupted after the cost of a 50 kilogramme (110 pound) sack of flour jumped from 167 Sudanese pounds to 450 ($9 to $25) as wheat supplies dwindled following the government's decision to leave grain imports to private companies.

So far they have been sporadic and quickly broken up by security forces. A student was killed during a protest in the western region of Darfur on January 7.

Similar protests were held in late 2016 after the government cut fuel subsidies.

The authorities cracked down on those protests to prevent a repeat of the deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed the 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.