Sri Lanka will bring legal reforms to encourage much needed foreign investment, as the cash-strapped island tries to turn its $8 billion Chinese debt into equity, the prime minister said Sunday.

A fuel scarcity reached a climax this week with cars in lengthy queues clogging traffic, stoking tempers and dampening investor confidence in a top oil producing country.

French carmaker Renault has signed agreements with Morocco to invest more than $1 billion and create 50,000 jobs in the North African country, the Moroccan industry minister said.

"This strategic project alone will give Morocco 50,000 new jobs and combine investment of more than 10 billion Moroccan dirhams" (more than $1 billion/912 million euros ), Moulay Hafid Elalamy said, after the deal was signed on Friday in the presence of King Mohamed VI.

Vivendi will acquire Mediaset's pay TV arm and take a stake in the Italian broadcaster as part of French tycoon Vincent Bollore's plan to build a European media giant to rival U.S. streaming powerhouse Netflix.

The partnership will see the companies swap 3.5 percent stakes in a "strategic alliance" aimed at "capturing new opportunities across the international competitive landscape," Mediaset said in a statement Friday.

At least 2,500 European employees of General Electric (GE) protested in Paris on Friday against the U.S. industrial conglomerate's restructuring plans, which include 6,500 job losses throughout the continent.

The demonstrators came to the French capital from throughout Europe with 700 from Germany and hundreds more from Italy, Poland, Belgium and France itself.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Europe's powerful competition commissioner that the EU review of tax breaks given to multinationals could have an "outsized" impact on U.S. companies.

In a meeting Thursday, Lew expressed concerns to Margrethe Vestager, who is leading the campaign to end excessive tax breaks by EU members to huge multinational firms, that U.S. companies would be disproportionately hurt by the move, according to a Treasury account of the meeting Friday.

Saudi King Salman on Friday announced plans to build a bridge over the Red Sea to Egypt, in a lavish show of support for the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The 80-year-old monarch is on a rare five-day trip to Egypt, a country that Riyadh views as a cornerstone to its ambitions in the changing region.

The number of foreign visitors to France grew in 2015 despite jihadist attacks in Paris thanks to a sharp rise in tourists from Asia, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday.

France retained its crown as the world's top tourist destination with a total of 84.5 million visitors last year, an increase of 0.9 percent on 2014.

World stock markets mostly rose Friday as oil prices advanced and investors hoped for more financial support for the global economy.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, with Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.8 percent to 6,185.54 and France's CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent to 4,291.27. Germany's DAX added 1.2 percent to 9,641.62. U.S. stocks were poised to open higher, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both up 0.5 percent.

Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica says its board has unanimously voted in Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete as chief executive and chairman of the board.

Telefonica SA said in a statement Friday that Alvarez-Pallete replaces Cesar Alierta, who is stepping down after 16 years but will retain a seat on the company's board.