Migrant workers in Qatar are facing discrimination because of their nationality, racial identity, stereotyping and the "prevalence" of profiling, an independent U.N. expert warned on Sunday. 

A French-Lebanese engineer has been chosen as secretary general of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi auto alliance, part of a new business framework announced a year after former boss Carlos Ghosn was arrested.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said Thursday it was exiting the semiconductor business, selling its loss-making subsidiary to a Taiwanese firm as it struggles with intense competition from China and South Korea.

The U.S. holiday shopping season officially opened with a deluge of "Black Friday" promotions but the frenzied crowds of the past have thinned out with the rise of e-commerce.

Before the discovery of oil transformed the Gulf into one of the world's wealthiest regions, the fortunes of its people depended on pearling -- a tradition that Abdullah al-Suwaidi hopes to revive.

Asian markets fell on Friday as investors wound down for the end of the month, while awaiting news of progress on China-US trade talks but with optimism tainted by the row over Hong Kong.

South Korean appliance giant LG Electronics replaced its CEO and a raft of other top leaders Thursday after net profits slumped more than 30 percent in the third quarter and its smartphone division struggles.

Germany's economy ministry on Thursday said it planned to tighten rules on non-EU takeovers of hi-tech firms, against a backdrop of growing alarm about Chinese firms buying up German know-how.

German inflation remained stuck at the low level of 1.1 percent in November, preliminary data showed Thursday, despite fresh stimulus from the European Central Bank to stoke price growth.

Stock markets mostly fell Thursday as China-US trade talks took a jolt from a US law backing Hong Kong protests that has angered Beijing.