Europe's main stock markets ran out of steam Friday in an "uninspired" performance amid a dearth of economic data, dealers said.

Residents on a remote Scottish island of pristine beaches, lush hills and craggy coastlines celebrated on Friday after reaching an agreement to buy their home, fending off bids from tycoons.

Price rises in Brazil notched up ever so slightly in April with 0.22 percent inflation, but the rate for the first four months of the year hit its lowest since 1994, official statistics indicated Thursday.

The Bank of England on Thursday left its key interest rate at 0.50 percent as it slashed the growth forecast for the British economy less than one year before Brexit.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will invest 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in infrastructure projects in Jordan, according to a letter of intent signed Thursday in Amman.

Just a 10-minute drive from the International Labor Organization's new office in the Qatari capital, Nabin explains how his employer has not paid his wages in two months.

Leading Middle East airline Emirates said on Wednesday its net profits had more than doubled last year, mainly on improved cargo business.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has said it will take all necessary measures to prevent supply shortages following the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

Oil prices surged more than two percent in Asia on Wednesday after Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal, fuelling fresh geopolitical uncertainty.

Growth across sub-Saharan African will rise to 3.4 percent this year from 2.8 percent in 2017, but in the continent's poorest countries, debt is a major burden, the IMF said on Tuesday.