But unlike other countries, China has the flexibility to beat off sharp economic decline as it restructures its economy toward consumption and services, according to the agency.

Statistics showed China's GDP witnessed a 6.7 percent increase in all three quarters of 2016. The country's industrial development, consumption, and investment maintained stable growth in October- November, with a rapid rise in the service industry.

Despite experts’ concerns, Chinese officials are confident in the country’s economy, saying the positive trends of this year will continue into next year.

This month Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced his confidence the country will achieve its major economic targets.

If China's GDP growth comes in line with the government's official full-year target, it will account for 1.2 percentage points of global GDP growth, economist Stephen Roach told the China Daily.

According to the IMF which expects only a 3.1 percent global growth this year, China would contribute over a third of the world's growth. The IMF says China is the primary source of export demand for over 100 economies, which account for about 80 percent of global GDP.

The Chinese media has warned that at times of growing protectionist sentiment around the world trading partners would only have access to China's home market if similar access was given by them.

Analysts say the future of Chinese trade will become more apparent when US President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The presidency of Trump, who’s known for his protectionist views, may hit US-China trade which brought Beijing $367.11 billion last year.

Trump has warned China about possible sanctions for depreciating its currency, and thus hitting American manufacturers. Last week he appointed economist Peter Navarro, an outspoken critic of China, as the head of a new US trade body.

Earlier this month, the natural resource trader Glencore International and a Qatari sovereign wealth fund acquired 19.5 percent of the company for €10.5 billion ($11.3 billion).

The partners became the third-largest stakeholder in the business with over 50 per cent still belonging to the state-owned oil transportation agency Rosneftegaz, while another 19.75 percent is owned by BP.

Rosneft negotiated with more than 30 companies, sovereign wealth funds and financial institutions from Europe, Americas, Middle East and Asia before selling the stake to the Glencore-Qatar consortium, according to the company’s CEO Igor Sechin.

Rosneft stock has become very attractive to investors, according to the newspaper's sources. The oil major has recently changed its dividend policy. The company has promised to disburse 35 percent of net profit in dividend to its shareholders instead of 25 percent.

Moreover, oil prices continue to rise after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and non-OPEC oil producers reached a deal to cap output.

The package owned by the consortium may go up in price due to the changed market environment, the sources told Vedomosti. Although Rosneftegaz won’t make any money from the re-sale of the stake, the deal could reportedly boost the capitalization of Rosneft.

Investors have expressed interest in Russian energy firms, particularly in Rosneft and Gazprom, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. The bank said that apart from attractive prices for crude and high dividends, the results of the US presidential election have stoked investor interest. Some experts believe the sanctions against Russia could be eased after Donald Trump enters office.

Japan's Panasonic, which has been retreating from low-margin consumer electronics to focus more on automotive components and other businesses targeting corporate clients, will make the investment in Tesla's factory in Buffalo, New York.

The U.S. electric car maker is making a long-term purchase commitment from Panasonic as part of the deal, besides providing factory buildings and infrastructure.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the two companies said they plan to start production of PV modules in the summer of 2017 and increase to one gigawatt of module production by 2019.

The plan is part of the solar partnership that the two companies first announced in October, but which did not disclose investment details.

Tesla is working exclusively with longtime partner Panasonic to supply batteries for its upcoming Model 3, the company's first mass-market car. Panasonic is also the exclusive supplier of batteries to Tesla's Model S and Model X.

(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Sources close to the matter say the loss came to light after Toshiba reviewed the value of the assets held by CB&I Stone & Webster, which its nuclear power subsidiary, Westinghouse, acquired in 2015.

They say the loss to the Toshiba group could reach 500 billion yen, or over 4.2 billion dollars.

The electronics giant has recently suffered a series of huge losses from its nuclear business in the US.

The company booked a loss of about 260 billion yen, or around 2.2 billion dollars, in fiscal 2015, after reviewing the value of Westinghouse's assets.

Toshiba has been concentrating its resources on its nuclear and semiconductor businesses as part of its turnaround efforts following an accounting scandal in 2015.

The latest development is likely to prompt Toshiba to take some radical steps, including raising capital.

The South Korean carrier also said on Tuesday it will beef up security training of crew members.

Last week, Marx said on Facebook and Twitter that he helped initially subdue "a psycho passenger attacking crew members and other passengers," accusing crew members of being "ill-trained" and "ill-equipped" to handle the "chaotic and dangerous event".

Marx's wife, Daisy Fuentes, who was with the singer during the flight from Vietnam to South Korea, said on Instagram that crew members "didn't know how to use the taser & they didn't know how to secure the rope around him (he got loose from their rope restraints 3 times)."

Korean Air Lines said on Tuesday its crew members are "hesitant" to use taser guns, because they are permitted for use on only "grave" situations which jeopardize the life of a passenger or crew member or the safety of a flight.

"We have decided to improve our conditions and procedure on using Taser guns to cope with violent acts and disturbances on board in a fast and efficient manner," it said in a statement, without elaborating on how it would revise the rules.

However, a spokesman said the changes would ease conditions on using Taser guns so that crew can "readily use stun guns".

In South Korea, the number of unlawful acts committed aboard airplanes has more than tripled over the past five years, according to government data.

Video footage of the recent incident posted on YouTube showed a young man in a business class seat spat and swore at crew members trying to restrain him with a rope.

On Monday, the passenger appeared for questioning by police, wearing a mask, thick-rimmed glasses and a hat. He apologized for his behavior but said he could not remember what had happened, according to video shown by broadcaster SBS.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Michael Perry)

Construction officially started on Saturday after 28 years of negotiations between Russia and China. The new cross-border road bridge and its corresponding infrastructure will cost around $355 million and will be 19.9 km long. Some 6.5km of the bridge and road junctions will lie in China, and the remaining 13.5km in Russia, according to China's CNS agency. The length of the main suspension bridge will be roughly 1,300 meters and its width 14.5 meters.

“The bridge is an important link and part of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. It will strengthen cooperation between the two regions, it will break the bottleneck of local development,” Qin Enting, Heihe Communist Party Chief, said at the ceremony.

The territorial principle dominates the construction agreement, each country will construct the respective part of the bridge. Russian companies will make the connection between the two parts. When the construction is completed, the Russian side of the bridge will become the property of the Amur region, while the Chinese part will be owned by Heilongjiang Province. The bridge will contribute greatly to modernization of the transport system of the two regions, according to Heilongjiang Province Governor Lu Hao.

“Infrastructure projects are a priority and top leaders of our two countries are very supportive of such projects in the border area. Once completed the bridge will not only benefit the economy, but all aspects of exchange,” governor of the Amur region, Alexander Kozlov said.

The bridge is expected to be built in three years and will open late 2019. The bridge will greatly facilitate trade between the two countries, since the route will be roughly 3,500km shorter. By 2020,cargo turnover is expected to increase 10-fold, from 300,000 to 3 million metric tons.

The agreement on the bridge's construction was signed in September last year. Works were scheduled to start in July, but were postponed. After the completion of the road bridge, a railroad bridge will be erected next to it.

The new Amur bridge will be an impressive engineering masterpiece, comparable in several aspects with the under construction Crimea bridge, which is expected to be opened late in 2018.