OPEC production fell to a four-year low in January as the cartel applied a new pact to boost global oil prices, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday, but Russia and other ex-Soviet states failed to cut back output as much as promised.

Belgium slowed to a standstill on Wednesday as a national strike closed airports, shuttered businesses and caused major disruption to railways.

British annual inflation hit a two-year low point in January, undershooting the Bank of England's 2.0 percent target on falling oil and other energy costs, official data showed on Wednesday.

Detained former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said on Wednesday that shaking up his legal team was the beginning of the process of "establishing my innocence" as his trial nears.

Belgian airspace was to be closed to all flights below 8,000 meters on Wednesday as a national strike threatened to bring the European country to a standstill. 

Samsung Electronics has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over 2.8 million "exploding" washing machines recalled in the U.S., the South Korean company said Tuesday.

Germany put on a show of unity with the United States Tuesday in talks on importing natural gas, as Berlin battles accusations an under-construction pipeline deepens European energy dependence on Russia.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was "looking forward" to crunch negotiations with China as he emerged in Beijing on Tuesday with global attention focused on whether the two sides can reach a trade deal.

Japanese automaker Nissan, rocked by the arrest of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, on Tuesday revised downward its full-year forecast as nine-month net profit dropped more than 45 percent.

It was Nissan's first earnings report since Ghosn was arrested on November 19 and then sacked as chairman. He is in detention facing charges of financial misconduct.

U.S. negotiators met with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing Monday for a new round of high-stakes trade talks, hoping to reach a deal before the March 1 deadline set by Donald Trump as the IMF warned of a possible global economic "storm".