The opening of Istanbul's third airport, a controversial multi-billion-dollar project expected to become one of the world's busiest air hubs, has been delayed until 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

The facility had been scheduled to open on October 29, 2017 -- the 94th anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey.

The head of India's central bank on Monday called for the International Monetary Fund to stop "applauding" the monetary easing policies of many developed countries. 

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said in a speech that the IMF should be doing more to assess the knock-on effects of stimulus measures on the global economy. 

The Scottish oil city of Aberdeen, long used to the energy industry's ups and downs, is gritting its teeth and praying for the price of black gold to rise once more.

"The situation is critical, 65,000 jobs from the industry and the supply chain are already gone. Some companies say 2016 is a black hole," said Jake Molloy, responsible for offshore workers in the RMT trade union.

The fast-growing Islamic finance industry is set to slow down next year over the sharp fall in oil revenues and rapid regulatory changes, Standard and Poor's Ratings Services said on Monday.

"We think Islamic finance growth will drop to single digits in 2016 from between 10 percent and 15 percent over the past decade," S&P said in a report.

French President Francois Hollande said Monday the social turbulence currently gripping Air France, which was rocked by violent protests over job cuts, was not a reflection of the state of the country.

The struggling airline's restructuring plan made headlines around the world earlier this month when executives were manhandled by furious workers, sparking concerns that the violence was just one of the symptoms of France's overall economic and social malaise.

Shanghai stocks retreated Monday after China released data showing growth at its slowest rate for six years in July-September, although losses were tempered by hopes of fresh stimulus measures.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.14 percent, or 4.65 points, to 3,386.70. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, edged up 0.14 percent, or 2.68 points, to 1,969.64.

At least 70 hotels have closed in Tunisia since September after two deadly jihadist attacks on foreign tourists, and more are expected to follow suit, an industry official said Sunday.

"The situation is very sluggish," Radhouane Ben Salah, the head the Tunisian Federation of Hotels, told private Mosaique FM radio.

Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC, the Middle East's largest listed company, said Sunday its net profit in the third quarter dropped 9.4 percent due to a decline in the price of its products. 

SABIC posted a net profit of 5.6 billion riyals ($1.49 billion) in the July to September period this year compared with 6.18 billion riyals in the same period of 2014, the firm said in a statement.

Police have raided Volkswagen's French headquarters over an investigation into the massive pollution-cheating scandal that has engulfed the German auto giant, a judicial source said Sunday.

Investigators searched the company's main office in Villers-Cotterets in northern France Friday, as well as another office near Paris, seizing documents and computer hardware in the process, the source added.

Germany's real estate sector is riding a wave of mergers and acquisitions, as market players seek to take advantage of low interest rates and the relative lag in property prices compared with those in neighboring countries.

This week, the sector's number one Vonovia threw its hat into the ring, announcing it was prepared to stump up as much as 14 billion euros ($16 billion) for rival Deutsche Wohnen if it failed to tie the knot with the number three, LEG Immobilien.