Australian flag carrier Qantas is still considering Singapore as the base for a premium carrier in Asia, chief executive Alan Joyce said in a report published Monday.

Qantas' Asian plans, which it sees as key to its strategy of revitalizing its loss-making international business, were dealt a blow when talks with Malaysian Airlines over the premium joint-venture collapsed last month.

Egypt has scrapped a 2005 gas export deal with Israel, which relies on Egyptian natural gas for 40 percent of its supplies to produce electricity, the chairman of a government holding firm said on Sunday.

The accord was "annulled on Thursday with the East Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG) which exports gas to Israel because the company failed to respect conditions stipulated in the contract," Mohamed Shoeib told Agence France Presse.

Luciano Benetton, who founded his clothing company with his siblings 47 years ago, said Sunday that he plans to hand over the reins to his son Alessandro, already the firm's vice chairman.

"The rudder passes to my son Alessandro, who will become chairman," Benneton told Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera in an interview. "After a run that has lasted 47 years, I will resign Tuesday from my duties in the company founded with my brothers and sister."

The International Monetary Fund said Saturday it had several loan programs for Arab countries in the works, not giving names but pointing to "Arab Spring" countries as likely recipients.

"We have a commitment to the Arab countries in transition," IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said, referring to those countries rebuilding after major revolts in the past year.

The International Monetary Fund has wrapped up meetings here with its coffers to fight the eurozone crisis $430 billion richer.

But it also collected a message from the emerging economies that contributed that it should not easily throw more money into Europe, and that they want more say in how the IMF is run.

Italy launched Europe's first private high-speed train service this week, as the country looks towards the more liberal economy that Prime Minister Mario Monti wants to put on the rails.

The dark-red bullet-shaped "Italo" trains are run by NTV, a company headed by Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo who wants to take a quarter of the market from state rail network Trenitalia, the biggest employer in the country.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon made a call on Friday to double global consumption of renewable energy over the next two decades in order to ensure sustainable economic development.

"It's possible if we show political leadership," Ban said about the goal that falls under a sustainable energy initiative aiming to have universal access to power by 2030. Currently, renewable energy accounts for about 16 percent of world consumption.

Leaders and officials attending the third World Investment Forum on Saturday called for channeling more investments to poor nations and for introducing regulatory guidelines to help foster investments.

"The structure of world investments and its distribution has not witnessed a fundamental change after the global financial crisis," Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki told the forum, which opened in Doha.

The United States pressed China Saturday to make progress on its recently announced currency reform to make the yuan more flexible, calling it key to healthy global economic growth.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that despite global trade imbalances being lower than levels before the 2008 financial crisis, further action was needed to guard against renewed unsustainable imbalances.

Gas-rich Qatar has bought three percent of French energy giant Total, a move welcomed by the company's chief executive Christophe de Margerie, a Qatari daily reported on Saturday.

If confirmed, this would be the first time Total has confirmed that Qatar has raised its stake in the company.