Market pressures that slashed the price of oil to below $50 per barrel appear to be easing, the OPEC oil cartel said Monday, tweaking upwards its 2015 forecast for crude demand.

"Fundamentals factors (of supply and demand) that have weighed on the market for more than a year have persisted, but are starting to show signs of alleviation," the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its October monthly report.

Oil prices are likely to rise early next year amid signs of a decline in production of high-cost crude and improved economic growth, Kuwait's Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said Monday.

"There are signs that much of the high-cost oil has started to exit the market and this will help improve prices," Omair told reporters on the sidelines of the Kuwait Oil and Gas Conference.

A former HSBC employee has been put on trial in absentia in Switzerland for leaking bank data, which led to a worldwide wave of tax evasion probes against prominent clients.

Herve Falciani refused to travel from his native France to appear before the Swiss Federal Tribunal in Bellinzona on Monday, prompting the court to suspend proceedings until Nov. 9.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Monday it had resumed gas supplies to Ukraine, adding that Moscow had received prepayment of $234 million from Kiev ahead of the winter heating season.

"Gazprom began supplying gas to Ukraine at 10:00 am (0700 GMT) today," Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said in a statement.

Four Air France employees were arrested Monday as part of the investigation into the violent scenes which saw one of the struggling airline's executives have his shirt ripped off and scale a fence to escape an angry mob, police sources said.

The four men arrested work for the Cargo Air France division but are not elected union officials, one of the sources said.

Germany's Volkswagen on Monday announced a recall of nearly 2,000 vehicles in China -- the world's biggest auto market, where it is the top foreign brand -- in a global scandal over emissions cheating.

The German auto giant is facing accusations that it installed software on millions of diesel cars worldwide to cheat emissions tests and evade limits on nitrogen oxide and other pollutants.

Comments from the Federal Reserve's vice president that he expects a US interest rate hike this year pushed up the dollar against most emerging market currencies Monday after seeing big losses last week.

The greenback has seen heavy selling pressure since data at the beginning of the month showed jobs growth slowed in September, raising concerns about the recovery in the world's number one economy.

Qatar's oil minister said on Sunday he saw signs of an oil price rise in 2016 because of a recovery in the global economy and growth in demand.

In a statement, Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada -- who is also acting president of OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries -- said the oil price has "bottomed out" and he sees signs of recovery next year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday her government had no plans to impose a tax hike to cope with a record influx of asylum seekers, firmly denying reports that Berlin and the European Commission were mulling a special refugee solidarity levy.

In an interview to be published by Bild newspaper on Monday, the German leader was asked to confirm that there would be no tax hikes over the refugee crisis.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates by the end of the year is not guaranteed, although it remains the expected course of action, the central bank's vice chairman said Sunday.

Last month, the Fed said it plans to raise rates later in 2015, assuming further improvement in the U.S. labor market and continued economic growth.