French car giant Renault on Tuesday reported first-half net profits nearly 20 times better than during the slump of last year as European sales offset weaker growth in emerging markets.

Renault reported net profits of 749 million euros ($1 billion) in the first six months of the year, compared to a meager 39 million euros it achieved in the first half of 2013 when its figures were hit by the ending of its business in Iran.

Oil giant BP warned on Tuesday that more sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could "adversely impact" its activities, and posted a quarterly profit leap aided by its stake in Rosneft.

BP said that it had been unaffected so far by U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia, reporting a two-thirds boost to second-quarter net profits from the equivalent figure last year.

Interest on Spanish and Italian debt fell to record low on Monday while Portugal's continued to drop as investor concerns about the eurozone's former laggards eased.

Borrowing costs for southern European countries have fallen since the European Central Bank brought in unprecedented measures in June to help boost weak inflation in the bloc.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Monday that the future stability of the world depends on African nations achieving prosperity and self-reliance, in an address to youth leaders from the continent.

"The security and prosperity and justice that we seek in the world cannot be achieved without a strong and prosperous and self-reliant Africa," he said, kicking off a major African diplomatic push.

Russia could soon block some fruit imports from the EU and chickens from the United States, reports said Monday, as Brussels considered slapping tighter sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

An adviser to the chief of Russia's food and agricultural inspection service Rosselkhoznadzor said oriental fruit moths had been detected in some European imports.

South African striking engineering and metals workers have accepted an improved wage offer to end the country's largest-ever labor stoppage, their union said Monday.

Representatives for the roughly 200,000 workers who downed tools on July 1 said the lowest-paid worker will get a 10 percent pay increase each year for the next three years.

French oil giant Total on Monday said it had inked a deal to sell its South African coal assets to mining company Exxaro Resources for $472 million (350 million euros).

Exxaro is South Africa's second-largest coal producer, with seven coal mines that produce about 40 million tonnes annually.

The arbitration court in The Hague has ordered Russia to pay shareholders of Yukos $50 billion in compensation over its seizure of the one-time oil giant, main shareholder GML Ltd said in London on Monday.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled on July 18 that Russia pay the claimants "in excess of $50 billion" after finding it had forced Yukos into bankruptcy and sold its assets to state-owned businesses for political purposes, the claimant's lawyer Emmanuel Gaillard said.

Japanese carmaker Nissan said Saturday it was recalling 226,326 additional vehicles in the United States due to faulty airbags.

The move brings the total number of vehicles recalled for this reason to 664,628, the company said in a statement, adding that the defective airbags were made by Japan's Takata Corp.  

In a world still struggling to shake off the worst financial crisis for a generation, many economists are worrying that new asset bubbles are already threatening to derail the tepid global recovery.

Concern has been rising that investors are paying too much for securities in a search for good returns when interest rates are hovering near record lows, creating the bubble conditions for a new market crash.