Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a major natural gas deal Thursday aimed at tapping large deposits in the Mediterranean, but a court challenge was expected over the contentious agreement.

Netanyahu has pushed hard for the framework deal setting out parameters for developing natural gas resources offshore with a consortium that includes U.S. firm Noble Energy.

Markets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates rallied Thursday after their countries followed the U.S. Federal Reserve by hiking interest rates, but other Gulf bourses showed little response.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain hiked their interest rates by 25 basis points after the Fed announced its first rate increase in more than nine years on Wednesday. Qatar and Oman have yet to act.

Energy-rich Qatar has forecast a budget deficit of more than $12 billion in 2016, citing a sharp drop in oil and gas prices, local media reported Tuesday.

The host of the 2022 World Cup said it expected to be short of 46.5 billion riyals ($12.77 billion) next year and that revenues were likely to fall to 156 billion riyals (42.85 billion), compared with 226 billion riyals in 2015.

German business confidence fell slightly in December, but still remains at high levels, reflecting the ongoing resilience of Europe's biggest economy in the face of numerous challenges, the Ifo economic institute said on Thursday. 

The Ifo institute's closely-watched business climate index slipped to 108.7 points in December from 109.0 points in November, Ifo said in a statement, a fractionally steeper drop than analysts had been expecting. 

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Russia was prepared to face any economic situation as the country's energy-dependent economy reels from lower oil prices. 

"The government, of course, is preparing scenarios for any development of the situation," Putin said at his annual press conference in Moscow. 

Kuwait has said it will establish a free economic zone on five islands close to the shorelines of regional heavyweights Iraq and Iran with large investments open to the private sector.

The decision was taken by the Gulf state's supreme planning council which met late Wednesday, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Asian stock markets rallied for a second day Thursday and the dollar clocked up advances against most other currencies after the Federal Reserve finally lifted interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

The widely expected move was met with a surge in shares in New York and Europe as well as Latin America as the US central bank reiterated its view that the world's number-one economy is in rude health.

Lebanon’s 2nd international startup conference, Banque du Liban Accelerate 2015, took place on Thursday, December 10 and Friday, December 11 at the Forum de Beyrouth.

Under the leadership of Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s startup ecosystem has greatly advanced in the past few years and the successful Banque du Liban Accelerate 2015 aided in developing it further. The conference, under the theme “Emerging Startup Ecosystems,” was host to over 7,000 attendees, 100 speakers, 200 exhibitors, 100 startups from around the world, with 2 stages, 2 competitions, 2 hackathons, and 2 workshop spaces.

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday its first interest rate increase in more than nine years in a landmark move signaling the U.S. has finally moved beyond the 2008 crisis.

The Fed raised the benchmark federal funds rate, locked near zero since the Great Recession, by a quarter point to 0.25-0.50 percent, saying the economy is growing at a moderate pace and should accelerate next year.

The U.S. Congress is expected to lift a four-decade-old oil export ban this week, amid record high crude American production, as part of a massive spending measure unveiled early Wednesday.

Republican and Democratic negotiators struck a deal on the $1.146 trillion package that sets federal expenditures through September 30, 2016.