Saudi state oil giant Aramco said Wednesday it is buying a majority stake in petrochemicals behemoth SABIC for $69.1 billion, a deal that gives the crown prince's ambitious reform programme a massive cash boost.

The 70-percent stake purchase effectively merges the kingdom's two largest companies, handing its top sovereign wealth fund around the same amount it had expected from a much-delayed Aramco IPO.

The United States and China open the latest round of their trade talks Thursday as the economic superpowers edge towards a deal to resolve a months-long spat that has rattled the global economy.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to resume talks in Beijing with China's top economic official Liu He, the first since China put into law new measures seen as an olive branch in their high-stakes stand-off.

US aviation authorities will defend their certification methods for new planes before lawmakers Wednesday, two weeks after grounding the Boeing 737 MAX over two deadly crashes in less than five months.

A U.S. trade judge ruled Tuesday that Apple had violated a Qualcomm chipmaker patent and said she would recommend banning imports of some iPhones.

American delivery giant UPS on Tuesday launched the first authorized use of unmanned drones to transport packages to recipients.

The company said the shipment of medical samples at the WakeMed hospital campus in Raleigh, North Carolina was the first of "numerous planned daily revenue flights."

Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest people, is planning to retire sometime in the next six years, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday.

German media and publishing group Bertelsmann reported net profits of over one billion euros for the fourth straight year on Tuesday, a figure boosted by sales of Michelle Obama's memoir.

France's budget deficit fell to a 12-year low of 2.5 percent in 2018, a greater-than-expected decline achieved despite falling growth and purchasing power, national statistics agency Insee said Tuesday.

The deficit was lower than the government's forecast of 2.6 percent, and came as Insee revised upwards the shortfall between spending and revenue for 2017 to 2.8 percent of GDP, from a previous estimate of 2.6 percent.

Ride-hailing service Uber announced on Tuesday it has acquired its Mideast competitor Careem for $3.1 billion, making it the largest-ever technology purchase in the region.

Uber said in a prepared statement that the $3.1 billion purchase consists of $1.7 billion in convertible notes and $1.4 billion in cash. Under the deal, Careem will keep its brand as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber, operating as an independent company led by its original founders.

Indonesia's capital inaugurated its first mass rapid transit system on Sunday, a $1.1 billion project seen as crucial to tackling some of the world's worst traffic congestion.