Saudi Arabia scrambled Monday to prepare for an investment summit after a string of cancellations from global business titans, with Turkey's threat to reveal the "naked truth" over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder casting a fresh shadow.

Starting on Tuesday, the three-day Future Investment Initiative (FII) was meant to project the historically insular petro-state as a lucrative business destination as it seeks to diversify and set the stage for new ventures and multi-billion dollar contracts.

The head of German conglomerate Siemens on Monday joined a slew of corporate chiefs and politicians in pulling out of an investment conference this week in Saudi Arabia, over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Croatia's former premier Ivo Sanader was convicted on Monday of war profiteering, in a re-trial that found him guilty of taking a bribe from an Austrian bank during the country's 1990s conflict.

Saudi Arabia said Monday it had no plans to repeat its harsh 1973 oil embargo, even as relations with the West sour following the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has dismissed ratings agency Moody's decision to downgrade Italy's credit standing because of the government's controversial budget plans and said the country's outlook was "stable."

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in an interview for publication Sunday he backed a global minimum fiscal regime for multinationals as Europe looks to levy tax notably on U.S. tech giants.

"We need a minimum tax rate valid globally which no state can get out of (applying)," Scholz,  a social democrat in conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government, told the "Welt am Sonntag" weekly. 

They tidy the baggage carts in airports, they sell clothes or work as cashiers in supermarkets at an age when their peers have long ago retired. 

Emmanuel Macron has watched his approval ratings plunge as voters wait for his pro-business reforms to pay off -- but for company leaders like Pierre Loustric, that's not a problem.

By reopening a key land crossing with Jordan this month, the Syrian regime is inching towards a return to trade with the wider region as it looks to boost its war-ravaged economy.

Moody's has cut Italy's credit rating by a notch over concerns about plans for larger deficits and the high public debt load as the country's populist government clashes with Brussels over its budget.