South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries said it had signed Wednesday a $1.94 billion deal to build offshore oil and gas processing platforms in the United Arab Emirates.

Under the deal with Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co. -- a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.-- the world's top shipbuilder will build four giant platforms and underwater power cables as part of a new offshore oil and gas production complex.

Global regulators announced Wednesday $3.2 billion (2.5 billion euros) in fines against five major US and European banks for attempting to manipulate foreign exchange markets.

The hefty fines centered on London, the world's biggest hub for the $5.3-trillion-per-day forex market, and the British government hailed a move to "clean up corruption" in the City.

Britain will impose curbs on so-called "payday lending" firms from January after a boom in the short-term loans industry characterized by "bad behavior", the Financial Conduct Authority regulator said on Tuesday.

The government body said in a report that default fees would be capped at £15 (19 euros, $24) and there would be a limit of 0.8 percent per day on interest on unpaid balances.

Kuwait plans more than $40 billion of investment to significantly increase its capacity to produce oil and gas, a top industry official was quoted as saying Tuesday.

The Gulf nation aims to raise the amount of crude oil it can pump by one-quarter, to 4.0 million barrels per day, by 2020, according to the head of planning at state-owned Kuwait Oil Co.

Global aviation firms flocked to China on Tuesday to show off their wares as economic development and an expanding middle class promise a bonanza in one of the world's fastest-growing aircraft markets.

Chinese defence companies and the People's Liberation Army's air force are also putting the latest weaponry on parade at the country's premier Zhuhai airshow this week, including the new J-31 stealth fighter and its biggest-ever military transport plane.

Alibaba said $2 billion of goods were sold in the first hour of its Singles Day shopping bonanza in China Tuesday, maintaining the day's dominance as the world's biggest retail event as it went global for the first time.

The ecommerce giant said that amount was more than a third of the $5.8 billion full-day sales recorded on the same day last year.

Crude prices extended losses in Asia Tuesday as the prospects of a production cut by the OPEC oil cartel dimmed, despite a global supply glut, analysts said.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery fell 34 cents to $77.06 while Brent crude for December eased 30 cents to $82.04 in afternoon trade.

The world's biggest economies must tackle rising inequality, aid agency Oxfam warned Tuesday, saying ignoring the issue would leave millions trapped in poverty and risk economic growth.

In a report ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Oxfam said the wealth of G20 nations had risen by U.S.$17 trillion since December but the richest one percent of people took more than one-third of this with U.S.$6.2 trillion.

Russia' central bank announced Monday that it would intervene to support the ruble only if there was a threat to the "financial stability" of the Russian currency, which has lost 10 percent of its value last week.

The Bank of Russia said in a statement it would allow the ruble to evolve freely in the market, and that it would only intervene in the currency exchange "in case a threat appears to financial stability."

French motor manufacturer Renault inaugurated a multi-million-euro plant in Algeria Monday, Paris's former colony owning 51 percent of the factory with an initial production capacity of 25,000 cars annually.

The factory is to produce the Symbol, a saloon based on Renault's Clio compact sold mainly in markets where hatchbacks are not traditionally favored.