Spanish inflation slowed to zero in October, official data showed, in line with falling rates around Europe which have raised the risk of deflation that could threaten economic recovery.

Spain's inflation rate, a measure of the rise in consumer prices, slowed by half a percentage point from the previous month to zero in October, the National Statistics Institute said.

Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday grilled the head of one of the country's biggest banks over a mob loans scandal, as another major lender admitted it may have been involved in shady dealings with gangsters.

Mizuho Financial Group President Yasuhiro Sato apologized for his firm's role in the widening scandal as lawmakers questioned him about Mizuho's surveillance and his future at the bank, after he earlier refused to step down.

The economies of Arab countries rocked by the uprisings that swept the region two years ago, remain sluggish because of unfinished political transitions, a top IMF official told Agence France Presse.

Others are suffering from the financial and social burdens imposed on them by a huge influx of refugees from the civil war in Syria, International Monetary Fund director for the Middle East and Central Asia Masood Ahmed said in an interview.

Reducing the gender wage gap could generate extra GDP of $1 trillion in a decade in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) region, the IMF said on Tuesday.

"The gap (in the region) is three times the gap in emerging markets as a whole," said Masood Ahmed, the International Monetary Fund's Middle East and Central Asia director.

Express delivery and freight company Deutsche Post DHL saw its net profit rise 6 percent in the third quarter as its parcel business in Germany benefited from growth in online retailing.

The company said Tuesday that its net profit reached 399 million euros ($534 million), up from 377 million in the same quarter last year. The figure was just short of the average analyst estimate of 403 million euros compiled by financial information provider FactSet.

The vice president of the European Commission has said that taxpayer-funded bank bailouts remain a possibility if the current round of stress tests of Europe's biggest banks reveal significant capital shortfalls — or if Europe's debt crisis were to really flare up again.

However, Joaquin Almunia repeated that the governments' preferred method remains to force investors such as shareholders, bondholders and ultimately depositors, to pay first.

Five years after a global financial crisis erupted, the world's biggest economies still need to be propped up.

They're growing and hiring a little faster and creating more jobs, but only with extraordinary aid from central banks or government spending. And economists say major countries may need help for years more.

The United States and the European Union, which already enjoy the world's biggest business relationship, are resuming talks on a deal to further grow two-way trade and investment.

The negotiations take place against the backdrop of European pique over reported U.S. electronic espionage, and were delayed due to the U.S. government shutdown. But officials for both sides say the benefits of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are too great for the talks to be affected.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said Sunday that Venezuela's economy appears stressed and that the country likely will face "difficult policy choices" soon.

"I don't think that the economy is doing well at the moment and we certainly understand that they are using reserves in a very significant amount," the IMF managing director said in an interview with CNN's Spanish-language network.

Oil prices rose in Asian trade Monday after marathon talks in Geneva aimed at convincing Iran to halt its disputed nuclear program ended without an agreement, analysts said.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery, was up 15 cents to $94.75 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for December rose 42 cents to $105.54.