The OPEC oil cartel said Thursday that it has appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general.

Oil prices were flat in early Asian trading Thursday as investors awaited the outcome of an OPEC meeting later in the day in Vienna.

Traditionally the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps around a third of the world's oil, has cut production to boost prices.

The yen rallied Thursday on worries about the Japanese economy and uncertainty over Britain's future in the European Union, while investors awaited the release of US jobs data.

The Mediterranean holiday island of Cyprus recorded a 24-percent hike in key tourism revenues in March, its highest monthly percentage rise this year, official data showed Wednesday.

The world's longest tunnel officially opened on Wednesday, with the trailblazing rail passage under the Swiss Alps aiming to ease transit through the heart of Europe.

World oil markets have seen no negative impact from a doubling of Iranian exports following the lifting of international sanctions, the country's oil minister said Wednesday.

The market is returning to a "balanced state", Bijan Zanganeh said Wednesday before leaving for an OPEC oil cartel meeting in Vienna.

The head of the world's biggest bank by assets, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), is retiring, according to a statement, amid flat profit growth for the massive lender.

Oil prices dipped in Asia Wednesday despite official China data showing factory activity expanded in May, as traders treaded cautiously before an OPEC meeting in Vienna this week.

Crude prices have rebounded from their January lows of under $30 and last week briefly pushed past $50 a barrel for the first time this year as the market gained support from production outages in Canada and Nigeria.

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries has received the green light for a near 3.0 billion restructuring programme -- including asset sales and job cuts -- to keep the world's largest shipbuilder afloat.

His Excellency Minister of Energy and Water Arthur Nazarian inaugurated Project Lebanon 2016, the 21st International Trade Exhibition for Construction Materials and Equipment for Lebanon and the Middle East, and Energy Lebanon 2016, the 6th International Trade Exhibition for Power, Electrical Engineering, Alternative Energy, Lighting, HVAC, Water and Environmental Technologies, in the presence of the ambassadors of the participating countries and a number of officials, diplomats, and dignitaries. The exhibition will continue from May 31 to June 3, 2016.