Russia has given its preliminary agreement to attend EU-brokered gas negotiations in Kiev on Saturday aimed at averting an imminent halt in deliveries, Ukraine's energy minister told AFP.

"We are hoping that these negotiations take place today in Kiev. The Russian side has given its preliminary agreement to attend," Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said by telephone.

Pope Francis launched a sweeping attack on the world's economic system in an interview released Friday, saying it discards the young, puts money ahead of people and survives on the profits of war.

The 77-year-old leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics said some countries had a youth unemployment rate of more than 50 percent, with many millions in Europe seeking work in vain.

China, whose presence in Latin America until now was largely based on an appetite for raw materials, is diversifying investments by financing much needed development projects, analysts say.

At a summit, opening Saturday in Santa Cruz, the G77 + China group of developing nations meets on its 50th anniversary to promote economic development.

Morocco has raised one billion euros ($0.7 billion) on the international market in a 10-year bond at 3.5 percent, Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid said on Friday.

The bond marks the kingdom's "return" to the Euro market and involves British, French, German, Gulf Arab and other investors, Boussaid told Agence France Presse.

The board of struggling Italian airline Alitalia has approved a tie-up proposal with the Emirati carrier Etihad Airways, a company statement said on Friday.

Alitalia chairman Roberto Colaninno and chief executive Gabriele Del Torchio are charged with negotiating details of the deal with the Abu Dhabi airline, said the statement issued after a marathon meeting.

Qatar is stepping in temporarily to help the new Palestinian unity government pay former employees of Islamist movement Hamas' disbanded Gaza government, an official said Friday.

The Gulf state said it would contribute a total of $60 million (44 million euros) while the Palestinian Authority grapples with a pay row, the first challenge for a government formed to try to end years of Palestinian rivalry.

Russia's energy ministry said on Friday it intends to hold no new talks with either the European Union or Ukraine before Moscow's deadline to cut off energy supplies unless Kiev pays its gas debt.

"We are not planning any meetings so far," energy ministry spokeswoman Olga Golant told Agenec France Presse. Russian officials had no plans to discuss the matter over the phone either before the cutoff early Monday, she added.

Spain will include revenues from prostitution, drug trafficking, tobacco smuggling and other illegal activities when calculating its economic output, its statistics office Thursday.

The measure, which comes into force in September, complies with new European Union rules meant to ensure that all member states use the same methodology to estimate the size of their economy.

Airbus's chief executive said Thursday that if Britain voted to leave the European Union that would not be a reason for the European planemaker to quit the country where it employs 10,000 people.

The comments by Fabrice Bregier run counter to those by many British business leaders who have begun a campaign against their country leaving the EU as could happen in possible 2017 referendum.

Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, slowed to its lowest rate in four years in May, weighed down by falling energy prices, data showed on Friday. 

According to final data compiled by the federal statistics office Destatis, German inflation slowed to 0.9 percent last month, its lowest level since February 2010.