Britain's economy has for months defied the cataclysmic predictions made by campaigners for staying in the EU ahead of last year's referendum but its smooth run shows signs of hitting the skids.

As Britain begins the delicate process of extracting itself from the European Union, headwinds are expected for the economy even though the forecast financial storm has so far failed to materialise.

German business confidence rose to its highest level in more than five and a half years in March, a regular survey showed Monday, beating analysts' forecasts for a slight decline. 

Britain will take an unprecedented step into the unknown on Wednesday with the first formal move towards leaving the European Union, starting a two-year process that has already divided the country.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers began meetings in Kuwait on Sunday to assess the impact of a milestone production cuts deal and to decide on whether to recommend they be extended.  

Iran's central bank said Sunday it will appeal Luxembourg's decision to freeze $1.6 billion of its assets, which the U.S. is claiming as compensation for victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The euro -- and her fervent wish to withdraw from it -- is a central theme of every stump speech by French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, topping her list of 144 election pledges.

One in five youths in several North African countries and Lebanon would like to emigrate in search of better prospects, including those with university degrees, according to a survey conducted for the European Commission.

Russia's central bank cut its key rate Friday for the first time in six months and said more cuts were coming, offering a welcome boost to the country's struggling economy.

France's private sector growth accelerated in March to reach its highest level in nearly six years, a key survey showed Friday.

The Trump family is launching a new hotel chain in a bold expansion of a company that critics say is already too big and opaque for an enterprise whose owner sits in the Oval Office.

The chain, called Scion, will feature the first Trump-run hotels not to bear the family's gilded name. The hotels will feature modern, sleek interiors and communal areas, and offer rooms at $200 to $300 a night, about half what it costs at some hotels in Trump's luxury chain.