Sliding oil prices are deepening the budget crisis facing the Venezuelan government, which is already struggling to fund its lavish subsidies and rigid exchange-rate controls, analysts say.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest proven crude reserves, relies on oil sales for 96 percent of its budget.

In Brazil, women primarily wear their hair long, and need to tackle the country's generally hot, humid climate when they style it. They also demand a wide range of sun protection creams.

Beauty industry giants such as L'Oreal, Unilever and Procter & Gamble that are looking to crack key emerging markets like Brazil are quickly adapting their product lines to suit local tastes.

Total, left without a leader after the death in a Moscow air accident of chief executive Christophe de Margerie, is a top global oil group and the biggest company in France in terms of sales and profits.

A major player on global oil and gas markets, the group moved quickly on Tuesday to announce that its board would meet on finding a successor, and that it would press ahead with its goals.

The European Commission called on Tuesday for public comment on measures by Air France, KLM and Delta Airlines to meet concerns about possible overcharging on key international routes.

"Extensive cooperation between Air France/KLM, Alitalia and Delta in the framework of the SkyTeam alliance ... may result in higher prices," said the Commission, which polices European Union fair competition rules.

The Federal Reserve delivered a stark warning to the largest U.S. banks Monday that they could be forcibly broken up if they do not reform their ways.

New York Federal Reserve chief William Dudley said that after paying well over $100 billion in fines in the past six years for bad behavior, banks should recognize the imperative to reform.

Sealing a global free trade deal would add $11 trillion to the world economy and pull 160 million people out of poverty by 2030, economists said in a study published Tuesday.

Member states of the World Trade Organization launched negotiations in 2001 in the Qatari capital Doha for a global deal on slashing trade tariffs and removing subsidies, but have failed to reach an agreement.

Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, whose gaffe advising women to trust "karma" for pay raises sparked a firestorm, earned $84.3 million this year, according to an SEC filing Monday.

That amount, for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, included a base salary of $919,000, along with a bonus of $3.6 million, as well as stock options worth $79.8 million -- though he can't exercise those options until 2019, the filing reported.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded in the third quarter at its slowest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, official data showed Tuesday, but analysts said the world's second-largest economy may have bottomed out.

The 7.3 percent year-on-year increase in July-September was lower than the 7.5 percent expansion in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, and the slowest since the 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund said Monday it had bought a 19.9 percent stake in Hong Kong-based retail operator Lifestyle International Holdings for $600 million (470 million euros).

The Qatar Investment Authority said the acquisition was part of its strategy in "diversifying" its investments and "expanding into new markets in Asia", according to a statement published on the official QNA news agency.

French and German ministers met in Berlin on Monday, amid calls on Germany to do more to boost growth in Europe, while France faces a battle in Brussels over its budget.

The meeting comes at a crucial time for Paris, which is at loggerheads with Brussels over its 2015 budget as it is likely to overshoot targets once again.