President Francois Hollande began the first visit to Canada by a French leader in a quarter of a century on Sunday, flying in to the country's oil-rich west to drum up trans-Atlantic trade.

A new trade pact between Canada and the European Union is due to come into effect in coming years, eliminating 98 percent of tariffs on goods and services and potentially boosting commerce by a fifth.

Australian banking giant Westpac on Monday posted a 12 percent jump in full-year net profit to Aus$7.56 billion (US$6.60 billion), driven by growth in lending volumes and customer deposits.

The result in the 12 months to September 30 compared to Aus$6.82 billion the previous year, with chief executive Gail Kelly hailing it as "high quality" at a time of slower global growth.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are locked in a new energy row, this time over a jointly operated offshore natural gas field also shared with Iran, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Citing Kuwaiti sources, Al-Rai newspaper said work at the Dorra field had been halted due to differences between the two countries over the routing of the gas they extract.

Chinese manufacturing growth slowed in October, the government said Saturday, as the world's second-largest economy expands at its weakest pace in five years.

China's official purchasing managers index (PMI), a measure of activity in the sector, came in at 50.8 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced a net 250 job cuts Thursday -- the first major job reductions under his reorganization plans at the bulked-up development bank.

Kim said in an internal memo obtained by Agence France Presse that the bank would eliminate about 500 positions in its Institutional, Governance and Administrative units -- including operations like finance and technology and oversight.

The European Union will "fully play its role" to implement the gas deal signed by Ukraine and Russia on Thursday, the French and German presidents said in a joint statement.

Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel said they had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko earlier in the evening, and all four "have welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine, achieved thanks to the mediation of the European Union".

Sony Corp. says losses for July-September ballooned to 136 billion yen ($1.2 billion) as the Japanese electronics and entertainment company's troubled mobile phone division reported huge red ink.

The Tokyo-based maker of the PlayStation 4 video game machines, Spider-Man movies and Xperia smartphones had reported a 19.6 billion yen loss for the same period a year earlier.

The Bank of Japan ramped up its vast monetary easing program Friday -- sending the yen plunging and stocks soaring -- in a surprise move aimed at reviving growth just as the Federal Reserve winds down its own stimulus spree.

After a one-day meeting, policymakers said they would add up to 20 trillion yen ($182 billion) to the central bank's current asset-buying scheme, bringing it to 80 trillion yen annually.

British bank Barclays has set aside £500 million ($800 million, 634 million euros) linked to global probes into allegations of price-rigging in foreign exchange markets, cutting quarterly net profits, it said on Thursday.

"A £500-million provision has been recognized relating to ongoing investigations into foreign exchange with certain regulatory authorities," the London-listed bank revealed in a statement.

Gazprom on Thursday said that the EU and Ukraine must agree a deal for Kiev to pay off its gas debts to Russia before talks on restarting deliveries to the strife-torn nation can restart.

"The European Commission must reach an agreement with Ukraine over the question of financing. Otherwise, negotiations make no sense," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov told AFP.