About 20,000 civil servants in the Gaza Strip went on strike Tuesday to protest the Palestinian unity government's refusal to pay military and security employees of the Islamist movement Hamas.

All ministries and other institutions run by Hamas in Gaza were shut and gated, except for schools, after the walkout by mostly administrative workers, an AFP correspondent said.

Kuwaiti telecoms giant Zain reported a 13.2 percent fall in third quarter net profit Tuesday, blaming rising competition and exchange rate fluctuations.

The company posted net profit of 46 million dinars ($159 million) in the three months to September 30, compared to 53 million dinars ($183.4 million) in the same quarter last year.

Oil prices extended losses in Asia Tuesday after leading global producer Saudi Arabia slashed its export prices for the U.S. market while hiking them for Asia. 

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery fell 59 cents to $78.19 in afternoon trade, below its lowest settlement point since June 2012.

Dubai said Monday it has repaid $1.93 billion raised from Islamic bonds known as "sukuk" and renewed its commitment to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt on time.

Dubai repaid 2.5 billion dirhams ($68 million, 54 million euros) in dirham sukuks and $1.25 billion in dollar sukuks, the official WAM news agency reported, citing a government statement.

The troubled Bank of Cyprus, the largest lender on the recession-hit island, said Monday it has sold its UK loan portfolio for 361 million euros ($451 million) as part of its restructuring.

The loan portfolio -- largely composed of residential and commercial real estate-backed facilities – was sold to Mars Capital Finance and Camael Mortgages, said BoC.

HSBC bank on Monday took a $378 million (302 million euro) charge linked to allegations of foreign exchange market rigging, and posted mixed earnings for the third quarter.

The Asia-focused lender added in a results statement that talks were ongoing with Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulator over the allegations and warned that a "significant" fine was likely.

President Francois Hollande began the first visit to Canada by a French leader in a quarter of a century on Sunday, flying in to the country's oil-rich west to drum up trans-Atlantic trade.

A new trade pact between Canada and the European Union is due to come into effect in coming years, eliminating 98 percent of tariffs on goods and services and potentially boosting commerce by a fifth.

Australian banking giant Westpac on Monday posted a 12 percent jump in full-year net profit to Aus$7.56 billion (US$6.60 billion), driven by growth in lending volumes and customer deposits.

The result in the 12 months to September 30 compared to Aus$6.82 billion the previous year, with chief executive Gail Kelly hailing it as "high quality" at a time of slower global growth.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are locked in a new energy row, this time over a jointly operated offshore natural gas field also shared with Iran, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Citing Kuwaiti sources, Al-Rai newspaper said work at the Dorra field had been halted due to differences between the two countries over the routing of the gas they extract.

Chinese manufacturing growth slowed in October, the government said Saturday, as the world's second-largest economy expands at its weakest pace in five years.

China's official purchasing managers index (PMI), a measure of activity in the sector, came in at 50.8 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said.