EU and Chinese trade officials will meet informally on Monday amid a series of tit-for-tat disputes, the European Commission said, after news of yet another row, this time over chemicals, surfaced.

The meeting comes as Brussels prepares on June 5 to impose hefty anti-dumping tariffs on imports of Chinese solar panels, just one area of discord that this month alone has included telecoms and steel tubes.

Oil-rich Kuwait will finance development projects in Oman worth $2.5 billion as part of pledges made two years ago by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the non-OPEC sultanate announced on Monday.

Based on the framework agreement signed by representatives from both countries' governments in Muscat, Oman will receive the funds in 10 years with $250 million to be granted annually, Oman's state news agency ONA reported.

Bikes are outselling cars in cash-strapped Italy but while cyclists in Milan say their city is ready for a two-wheel lifestyle, there are daily nuisances for riders on Rome's trafficked streets.

Some cities in Italy have bike-sharing initiatives, bike paths and public awareness schemes, while cyclists are still barely tolerated in others.

Japan is close to signing an agreement to supply amphibious planes to India, a report said Monday, in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the military since a weapons export ban was imposed.

During a four-day visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, starting later Monday, the two sides are set firm up plans for Delhi to purchase the U.S.-2, a domestically-developed aircraft used by Japan's armed forces.

Japan's premier on Saturday pledged "all possible assistance" to kick-start Myanmar's ailing economy, hailing a major industrial zone near Yangon as a symbol of development for the impoverished nation.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is touting the potential of Japanese businesses to boost the once junta-ruled nation's economy, visited the Thilawa project -- a 2,400 hectare (6,000 acre) site which will include a port and industrial park.

The European Commission is set to rap Belgium this week for failing to do enough to trim its budget deficit but is unlikely to go as far as imposing a fine, according to a press report Saturday.

"Belgium can breath easy," said business daily L'Echo ahead of the release Wednesday of the European Commission's recommendations to EU countries on how to remain on track with the bloc's economic and budgetary targets.

Cypriot authorities have lifted restrictions on money withdrawals and transfers for international clients of another two foreign banks active in the crisis-hit country.

The Finance Ministry said Friday that limits no longer apply to Lebanon's Byblos Bank SAL and Jordan's Arab Jordan Investment Bank SA.

China has signed an agreement with the United States to share company audit files, it said Friday, paving the way for more probes into accounting scandals involving Chinese firms listed in the U.S.

The China affiliates of five top accounting firms were charged by U.S. market regulators in December with violating securities laws for refusing to provide audit data related to investigations into some China-based but U.S.-listed companies.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde's future was at stake Friday as French prosecutors grilled her for a second day to decide if she should be charged over a state payout to a disgraced tycoon when she was finance minister.

Lagarde was questioned for 12 hours on Thursday over her 2007 handling of a row that resulted in 400 million euros ($515 million) being paid to controversial business figure Bernard Tapie.

An increase in spending by consumers and households offset sagging exports and falling investment in Germany in the first quarter, allowing Europe's biggest economy to narrowly avoid recession, official data showed Friday.

The federal statistics office Destatis calculated in final data that Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1 percent in the period from January to March following a contraction of 0.7 percent in the preceding quarter.