DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - Bad debts in the Chinese banking system are four or five times higher than officially admitted and pose a mounting risk to the country's financial stability, the world's leading expert on debt has warned.

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - The European Central Bank has ample ammunition to fight a fresh global downturn and is ready to act decisively to stave off deflation if necessary, Mario Draghi has assured nervous investors in Davos.

FRANCE - France is going to assist in lifting sanctions imposed by the West on Russia by summer this year, Emmanuel Macron, France’s Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs, has announced. "The objective we all share is to provide the lifting of sanctions by the summer, as far as the [peace] process [in southeastern Ukraine] is respected," the French senior official said on Sunday while addressing French businessmen in Moscow, as cited by AFP. US Secretary of State John Kerry has also pointed out that the sanctions are to be removed when the package of Minsk peace deal measures is fulfilled. "It is possible in these next months to find those Minsk agreements implemented," Kerry said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos.

NORWAY - Norway’s largest bank, DNB, has said that cash has fallen out of favour with everyday Norwegians and is instead primarily used on the black market and in laundering schemes.

SPAIN - Tourist hotspot Malaga has been hit by a major earthquake after a 6.3 magnitude tremor struck in the middle of the sea. Dramatic images from the aftermath showed rubble strewn across the street as hundreds of households reeled from the damage caused to their properties.

The earthquake hit about 100 miles south-east of the Spanish coast with a depth of 20 miles, the US Geological Survey said. But the reverberations would have been felt inland in Southern Spain and Morocco, according to official charts. The shallow quake hit at 4:22am UK time almost 40 miles north of the Moroccan city of Al Hoceima and 100 miles south of Gibraltar. It was followed by a 5.3-magnitude tremor. The earthquake comes just one day after a 7.1 magnitude quake struck southern Alaska.

SWEDEN - The Vatican says that Pope Francis will visit Sweden in October to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation at celebrations planned in the southern city of Lund. The Vatican on Monday announced the one-day trip on October 31, the first papal visit to Sweden since 1989 when Pope John Paul II visited. The Lutheran World Church said in a separate release that the event, being held ahead of the Reformation anniversary in 2017, was meant to highlight "the solid ecumenical developments between Catholics and Lutherans." Celebrations will include a common worship based on a recently published Catholic Lutheran liturgical guide. Martin Luther's challenge to the Catholic doctrine of indulgences in 1517 is remembered as the start of the Reformation.

SPAIN - Vegetables fried in the oil increased in their anti-oxidant capacity and chemicals which prevent long-term diseases. Frying vegetables is healthier than boiling them and the way we perceive healthy cooking is about to be majorly re-shaped, a study by a Spanish university has shown.

USA - Hidden menus in a recent beta version of the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp have indicated the company is preparing to start sharing the details of its users with parent company Facebook. Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014. The two firms have remained largely separate until now. Facebook has allowed WhatsApp to do its own thing when updating its app and adding new features, keeping WhatsApp's 900 million users separate from the billion on its core social network.

VATICAN - Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday in a brief get-together. The two spoke for about 15 minutes surrounded by their personal teams and Vatican cameras. The meeting took place a week after the Catholic leader spent time with Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL, Tech30). Silicon Valley wasn't on the Pope's agenda when he visited the United States in September, so visits from these key figures are prompting numerous theories. An Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the nature of the meeting. Is the Vatican preparing to partner with Big Tech somehow? Or are the meetings largely a symbolic extension of the Pope's tech-friendly image?

USA - A travel ban in New York City has ended as the eastern US begins digging out from the weekend's massive snowstorm. New York, the most populated city in the US, saw its second-highest snowfall since records began in 1869, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

GERMANY - Even on its own, the refugee and migrant crisis is stirring such discord among governments as to threaten EU unity. Now, however, this threat is intensifying because of tensions over EU policy towards Russia and the actions of a conservative nationalist government in Poland that is aligned with Hungary’s self-styled illiberal democracy. At stake is the EU’s biggest achievement since the demise of communism in 1989-91: the healing of the post-second world war division between western and east-central Europe.

GERMANY - Germany's interior minister said on Thursday that he could see no end to the temporary border checks with Austria to regulate the flow of asylum seekers, delivering a further blow to Europe’s passport-free zone. Thomas de Maiziere suggested Germany could extend the controls, first introduced in September as the migrant crisis worsened, for up to two years – the maximum that is allowed under the Schengen agreement – and a move that could permanently fracture the EU's open-border policy. "I don't foresee a moment when we can end it," Mr de Maiziere said of the border controls, as a new surge of migrants is expected to enter Europe through Turkey and Greece in the next few weeks.

GERMANY - Germany's southern states are confiscating cash and valuables from refugees after they arrive, authorities in Bavaria confirmed on Thursday. "The practice in Bavaria and the federal rules set out in law correspond in substance with the process in Switzerland," Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild on Thursday. "Cash holdings and valuables can be secured [by the authorities] if they are over €750 and if the person has an outstanding bill, or is expected to have one." Authorities in Baden-Württemberg have a tougher regime, where police confiscate cash and valuables above €350. The average amount per person confiscated by authorities in the southern states was "in the four figures," Bild reported.

USA - A MAJOR earthquake that struck Alaska on Sunday and was felt up to 170 miles away has fuelled fears that a super quake is imminent. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.3 quake struck 30 miles south east of Pedro Bay and was recorded at a depth of 124.8 km, being felt by people in Anchorage. Twitter users reported feeling shaking, but there were no reports of serious casualties in the region. Express.co.uk has previously revealed that scientists were attempting to allay fears after it was reported a quake could send tsunami waves crashing over the coast of Washington and Oregon, and even trigger the eruption of volcano Mount Hood. Locals feared it could be on the cards following a "seismic shift".

CHINA - Remember when Bitcoin and its digital currency cohorts were slammed by authorities and written off by the elite as worthless? Well now, as the war on cash escalates, officials from The IMF to China are seeing the opportunity to control the world's money through virtual (cash-less) currencies.