Emirates airlines, the largest Middle East carrier, said Thursday it posted a 43 percent surge in profit to $887 million last year as fuel costs dropped and passenger numbers rose.

Net profit in 2013 hit 3.3 billion dirhams ($887 million) compared to 2.3 billion dirhams ($622 million) the previous year, the company announced.

China's biggest bank ICBC has banned activities related to trading in Bitcoin, it said Thursday, joining at least 10 other Chinese banks participating in a government crackdown on virtual currencies.

Bitcoin, invented in the wake of the global financial crisis by a mysterious computer guru, is a form of cryptography-based e-money that can be stored either virtually or on a user's hard drive, and offers a largely anonymous payment system.

Ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Egyptians on Tuesday they will have to be patient and work hard to salvage their economy after three years of unrest.

The retired field marshal, who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, said foreign debt and subsidies costs ate away much of the budget, but ruled out drastic subsidy cuts.

Japanese videogame giant Nintendo said Wednesday it logged a $229 million loss for its fiscal year to March as sales of its Wii U console disappointed.

The company said its net loss came in at 23.2 billion yen ($229 million) -- reversing a net profit of 7.1 billion yen a year ago -- on sales of 571.7 billion yen, which were down 10.0 percent on the year.

A delegation from the troika of international lenders Tuesday began its fourth assessment of Cyprus's economy and troubled banking system to see whether Nicosia is meeting its obligations under the bailout.

Cyprus has completed three similar reviews by the troika, which is made up of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

International creditors are back in Cyprus to measure the country's progress in implementing the terms of its 10 billion euro ($13.87 billion) rescue.

Officials from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund began talks with Cypriot authorities on Tuesday. Three earlier reviews found that the country's bailout program remained on track.

Solid returns from its wealth management and investment banking divisions helped Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS AG, post a 7 percent profit advance in the first quarter.

But the bank, based in Zurich, sounded a cautionary note Tuesday about the global economy.

The International Monetary Fund called Tuesday on Dubai to take "stronger measures" to avert another property bubble, after prices rocketed at a rate reminiscent of the 2009 crisis.

Authorities in the Gulf emirate have already doubled sales duties to four percent, and the central bank of the United Arab Emirates has tightened lending facilities.

Iran's annual oil and gas fair opens in Tehran on Tuesday, with 600 foreign companies seeking to position themselves for a return to large-scale operations if international sanctions are lifted.

With some of the world's biggest oil and gas reserves, the industry is the cornerstone of Iran's economy, but it was heavily hit by an American and European embargo on the energy and banking sectors in 2012.

Syria's tourism minister has forecast a "prosperous tourist season" for the central province of Homs, despite three years of raging conflict that has flattened much of the provincial capital.

In remarks carried by the state news agency SANA, Bisher Yazigi pledged help for the area, predicting a prosperous tourism season because "various activities are planned... during the summer".