Eurozone business activity hit its highest rate since May 2011 in December but the outlook remains hostage to political developments, a closely watched survey showed Wednesday.

As tech industry leaders gather for an annual extravaganza showcasing hot new products, political uncertainty is casting a cloud over the sector.

The election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum are among the factors weighing on the outlook. And a strong U.S. dollar may cut into spending for many consumers around the world.

Morocco has become the latest Muslim-majority country to authorize Islamic banks, amid growing market demand for Sharia-compliant banking.

The Moroccan central bank announced this week it has approved five Islamic banks, fulfilling a long-standing promise of the Islamist party leading a coalition government since 2011.

Hit by a severe crisis several years ago, Spain's banking sector has recovered but at a cost as thousands are laid off and it struggles to get rid of toxic assets.

"The system is closer to putting most of the crisis legacies behind it," analysts at the International Monetary Fund in charge of Spain said in a recent report.

The Indian owner of a Dubai-based foreign exchange trading firm who had promised to double investors' money has been arrested in the emirate for suspected fraud, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Iran has published a list of 29 major companies from Europe and Asia approved to bid for oil and gas projects after the lifting of sanctions over its nuclear program.

China's manufacturing activity expanded at its quickest pace in nearly four years in December, an independent research firm said on Tuesday, in a sign of improving health for the world's second-largest economy.

Worldwide passenger air traffic grew again last year, albeit at a slightly slower pace, led by the dynamic growth of low-cost air carriers, the International Civil Aviation Organization reported Monday.

A total of 3.7 billion passengers were transported by the world's airlines last year, a 6 percent increase from 2015. That was just under the previous year's 7.1 percent rise, the United Nations agency said. 

Ukraine on Monday reported a one-third drop in its use of natural gas and general energy savings that will be cheered by its financial backers from the International Monetary Fund.

South Korea's largest automakers Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia have forecast sales of 8.25 million vehicles this year amid hopes that new factories will tap into emerging markets.