Tesla is speeding the timeline for building half a million cars annually as it steps up production to meet growing demand for its electric vehicles.

Hot demand for a new, more affordable Model 3 led the company to shave two years off its timeline for building a combined total of 500,000 vehicles, combining Model S, Model X, and Model 3, each year and make the new target date 2018.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi visited Sudan on Wednesday promising increased investment in a major fillip for the impoverished African nation after its tilt from Tehran towards Riyadh.

For years, the Islamist regime in Khartoum maintained close relations with Iran, whose warships made repeated calls in Sudanese ports and allegedly delivered arms for onward delivery to the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

The European Central Bank is set to decide on Wednesday the fate of the 500-euro banknote, which many people associate with money laundering, the black market and terrorist financing.

But its possible abolition is raising hackles in countries such as Germany.

Seven big banks, including Bank of America, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, have agreed to pay a total of $324 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of market manipulation of interest rates.

The settlement Tuesday followed a federal judge's ruling in March admitting the class action lawsuit brought by investors and pension funds against the banks.

Air France-KLM said Wednesday it cut its losses in the first quarter of 2016 but passenger traffic to Paris was affected by terror attacks and the airline also warned of a difficult year ahead as it moved to cut wages of French pilots.

The Franco-Dutch group enjoyed lower fuel prices but said this was likely to be offset over the rest of the year by pressure on revenue and by the negative impact of currency swings.

For more than 10 years Dubai property prices have been on a roller coaster, creating and wiping out fortunes, but recently they appear to have run out of steam.

The Gulf emirate shot to prominence as an attractive real estate market after opening up special freehold zones for foreign buyers in 2002.

The Saudi labor minister vowed Tuesday to ensure the Binladin Group keeps a promise to resolve wage issues, amid reports of thousands at the building firm facing unpaid salaries and layoffs.

Labor Minister Mufarrej al-Haqbani's comments followed a Saudi newspaper report on Monday that Binladin Group, one of the world's largest construction companies, was laying off 77,000 foreign workers.

HSBC on Tuesday said its net profit fell almost a fifth in the first quarter, with Europe's biggest bank hit by "extreme levels" of markets volatility, while bad loans doubled.

Equity and currency markets from Asia to the Americas were sent into meltdown at the start of the year as a growth slowdown in China and plunging oil prices fanned concerns about the world economy.

Iran and South Korea have decided to triple their annual trade volume to $18 billion, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Monday after meeting his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye.

Australian banking heavyweight Westpac posted a three percent rise in interim net profit Monday as it battles regulatory changes and rising bad loans, disappointing investors who savaged the share price.