The world's political and business elite gather in the snow-covered resort of Davos from Wednesday, aiming to instill some confidence in the global economy amid tentative signs of recovery.

Some 45 world leaders will rub shoulders with around 2,500 lobbyists, journalists, captains of industry and economists in the picture-postcard Swiss ski resort for the five-day annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Google eked out slightly higher earnings in the fourth quarter, despite a financial drag caused by the Internet search leader's expansion into device manufacturing and a decline in digital ad prices as more people gaze into the smaller screens of smartphones.

The results announced Tuesday pleased investors, helping to lift Google's stock by nearly 5 percent in extended trading.

Arab leaders pledged to remove obstacles to finalizing a free trade zone this year and agreed to facilitate capital flows, as they wrapped up an economic summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.

"We stress our determination to complete all the prerequisites of (forming) the free trade area before the end of this year," Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said at the end of the third Arab Economic and Social Summit.

Kuwait MPs Tuesday overwhelmingly ratified a settlement deal between the Kuwaiti and Iraqi national carriers under which Baghdad will pay $500 million in compensation, ending a 22-year-old dispute.

Under the deal reached in July, Iraqi Airways agreed to pay the said compensation to state-owned Kuwait Airways Corp. (KAC) for damages caused by the then Iraqi troops of Saddam Hussein during the 1990-91 invasion of Kuwait.

Portugal has asked eurozone finance ministers to extend the life of bailout loans to help it to borrow normally, Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar was reported as saying by media in Lisbon.

Gaspar said after a meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers in Brussels on Monday that Portugal had shown it was carrying out bailout conditions and that it was "ready to launch issues on the primary bond market," the reports said.

The British government said on Tuesday that it was continuing to explore the sale of its one-third stake in British-based uranium enrichment specialist Urenco.

"Work is continuing ... on a possible sale but no final decision has been made on the future of the government's one-third stake in Urenco," said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Arab leaders began a two-day economic summit in Riyadh on Monday, calling for the strengthening of mutual trade and cooperation in order to face challenges brought on by the Arab Spring uprisings.

"We should achieve an Arab common market," said Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the opening of the third Arab Economic and Social Development summit, urging Arab nations to "catch up" in the realm of free trade.

French President Francois Hollande is to join German Chancellor Angela Merkel later on Monday to kick off events marking 50 years since the two countries inked a treaty sealing their post-war reconciliation.

Throughout a packed pomp-filled agenda of symbolic and business get-togethers which continue through Tuesday, Europe's power couple will seek to mask tensions that have strained Franco-German efforts to battle the euro crisis.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed optimism on Monday that the worst of the eurozone debt crisis was over, but trimmed its 2013 growth forecast for the ex-Soviet bloc.

The EBRD cut the growth forecast for the countries where it operates to 3.1 percent this year, the London-based institution announced in its latest economic outlook.

No additional measures would be necessary for Greece if it carries out the reforms under its bailout program, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said in an interview with the Sunday edition of Kathimerini.

"But if the structural reforms are not carried out... then more cuts would be necessary," the head of the International Monetary Fund told the Greek newspaper.