Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, said Tuesday it has hired Thomas Piquemal, the former finance chief of French power supplier EDF, as head of its global mergers and acquisitions department.

Piquemal, 47, "will join the bank effective May 17," Deutsche Bank said in a statement.

Brent crude pushed towards $50 a barrel in Asia Tuesday, boosted by supply disruptions from the escalating Canadian wildfires and armed attacks against oil facilities in Nigeria.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has taken a $1 billion stake in Apple, whose stock has been in an extended slump.

The stake was revealed in a regulatory filing by Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway after Apple shares skidded last week to their lowest level in two years.

More than 300 business chiefs on Monday urged Britain to vote to leave the EU in June's referendum, arguing in a joint letter that its bureaucracy stifled companies' ability to grow.

Russia's second largest bank VTB on Monday announced a return to profit in the first quarter, saying "stabilisation" in the Russian economy had boosted revenues, although by less than analysts had expected.

Between January and March, state-controlled VTB posted a net profit of 600 million rubles ($9.24 million), after a 18.3-billion-ruble loss in the same period last year.

Chedid Capital Holding the multi-awarded insurance and reinsurance regional group, in collaboration with prominent investors in Dubai, announced the acquisition of 75 percent of Al Manara Insurance Services Co Ltd Sharjah, an insurance brokerage firm operating in the United Arab Emirates.

This move is part of the company’s expansion and consolidation plan in countries of the EMEA region by 2017.

Bringing a 110-year old French legacy to Lebanon, Angelina, the world- renowned Parisian concept that embraces a tea house, patisserie and a restaurant celebrated the opening of its tearoom in Beirut gathering officials, social figures and media representative.

With an international presence in France, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan and over 30 tea houses and boutiques across the world, Angelina pursues its expansion with its fifth tearoom in the Middle East in the heart of Lebanon’s Capital, Beirut.

French oil and gas company Total officially launched a project off Britain's remote Shetland Islands on Monday, hailed by London as a "vote of confidence" in the flagging Scottish North Sea oil and gas industry.

The Laggan-Tormore fields are located 600 meters (1,970 feet) under water off Britain's northernmost outpost. They began production on February 7 and have since ramped up to 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Oil rose to fresh 2016 highs in Asia Monday as a slowdown in U.S. drilling and increase in Chinese crude refinery processing bolstered hopes a supply glut would ease sooner than expected.

Cross-border trade between Tunisia and Libya resumes on Monday after the two countries reached a deal to lift a trade blockade at the main frontier crossing following angry street protests.