Russia's telecom operator on Friday said that it had blocked a series of cyber attacks on the country's leading banks this week, the latest to target the country's financial sector.

Rostelecom said in a statement that it "successfully thwarted DDoS (distributed denial of service) on the five biggest banks and financial organisations in Russia" on December 5.

France's central bank trimmed its growth forecasts for 2016 and 2017 on Friday, citing a deterioration in the global economy and Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, whose brief in government was to crack down on tax dodgers, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for tax fraud and money laundering.

Greece's leading unions launched Thursday a general strike that shut down several key sectors in protest over planned new pay cuts and taxes called for by international creditors. 

Shares in Russian oil giant Rosneft leapt over five percent Thursday after the Kremlin announced the 10.5 billion euro ($11.3 billion) sale of a stake to commodities trader Glencore and Qatar's sovereign fund.

The Kremlin on Wednesday said that Russia had finalized a deal to privatize 19.5 percent of state-owned oil giant Rosneft.

Ahead of the Curve, in partnership with the Makhzoumi Foundation, IE University - Spain, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ, RIBH MENA by GIZ, Shekra, MBC Al Amal and Pepsico organized the IMPACT Social Entrepreneurship Competition event to announce the winner at Beirut Digital District 1075, on November 27, 2016.

The EU's top anti-trust regulator on Wednesday slapped fines on banks HSBC, JP Morgan and Credit Agricole for rigging the Euribor interest rate benchmark used for a wide range of financial instruments.

Iran was set to sign a preliminary agreement with Shell on Wednesday to develop major oil and gas fields as it seeks to boost its output, an oil official said.

The deals include a $10-12 billion expansion of the South Azadegan oil field and another project at the Yadavaran oil field, both in southwestern Iran, as well as an offshore gas field near Kish Island in the Gulf.

SoftBank shares soared Wednesday after US President-elect Donald Trump said the Japanese telecoms giant would invest $50 billion in business and job-creation in the United States.

The Tokyo-listed firm jumped more than five percent after the opening bell, hours after the tycoon announced the deal, while wrapping an arm around SoftBank's flamboyant billionaire founder Masayoshi Son.