Egypt floated the country's pound Thursday as part of a raft of reforms, after a dollar crunch and exorbitant black market trade threatened to grind some imports to a halt.

The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is rolling out an austerity program and seeking billions in support from abroad in order to meet conditions for a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

A French prosecutor has called for British banking giant HSBC to stand trial for enabling French clients to hide more than 180 billion euros from the taxman, a source close to the probe said Thursday.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, said Thursday it defied market expectations by posting a profit amid a vast cost cutting program.

Net earnings came in at 41 million Swiss francs (38 million euros, $42 million), a massive decline of 95 percent from the same quarter last year.  

Pakistani business leaders complained Wednesday of losing millions of dollars to the government's novel way of containing protesters: by confiscating thousands of shipping containers, many still full of goods, to block roads.

With less than one week to go until Election Day, a national poll showing Donald Trump with a narrow lead over Hillary Clinton sent global financial markets tumbling Wednesday, as both candidates focused on scrapping for votes in battleground states.

Iran boosted its oil exports to 2.44 million barrels per day in late October as it regains market share lost during years of international sanctions, its oil minister said Wednesday.

"Oil exports reached 2.44 million bpd in late October, one of the highest levels ever," the Mehr news agency quoted Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying.

Qatar said it expects "100 percent compliance" from businesses by the end of 2016 on a labor reform introduced to ensure the country's vast migrant workforce receive their salaries on time.

Government figures released in Doha on Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the Wage Protection System (WPS) show that 1.8 million -- around 85 percent -- of Qatar's 2.1 million workforce are now paid electronically.

UN-Habitat Lebanon hosted an “Urban Crisis Response Conference” to examine and discuss the plethora of challenges facing Lebanon’s urban population.

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Social Affairs, and on the occasion of the World Cities Day 2016, the Conference focused on building a platform for exchange between various stakeholders engaged in urban response.

Qatar's emir said Tuesday that the super-rich Gulf state must tackle its "culture of consumption" as it deals with the sharp decline in world energy prices.

In a speech to mark the opening session of Qatar's Advisory Council, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani also called for the elimination of "extravagance and waste" as the emirate faces its first budget deficit in 15 years.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday called for more investment to revive the economy of Tunisia, home country of the Arab Spring, calling it a "strategic priority".