Asian stocks put on solid gains on Monday, with Tokyo getting a boost from better-than-expected GDP figures that showed the country is on the road to recovery after its devastating tsunami.

Asia followed a positive end to Wall Street's week with green screens all over the region giving dealers hope after a turbulent few days during which they were battered by Eurozone debt fears and a U.S. credit downgrade.

The world is facing a crisis of confidence, the finance ministers of Britain and four other countries warned Monday, calling for a global response to reassure jittery markets and support a sustainable recovery.

"The world faces a crisis of confidence," British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in a joint statement with Australia's Wayne Swan, Canada's Jim Flaherty, Singapore's Tharman Shanmugaratnam and South Africa's Pravin Gordhan.

As Germany emerged from the destruction of World War II, it rebuilt its economy on a system of strong rules governing virtually every aspect of business, from auto manufacturing to competition among regional newspapers.

Today, the German economy is Europe's strongest, a regional powerhouse that its indebted neighbors depend on for billions of euros they need to cope their staggering indebtedness. Germany is insisting that they, too, adopt strict rules before it's prepared to release its money.

World stocks started the week solidly amid hopes that the recent sharp volatility in the markets may have run its course following a run of stronger than anticipated economic data.

Though concerns remain over the state of the global economy and Europe's debt crisis, many investors think the recent sell-off has been overdone and are snapping up potential bargains.

George Soros, the U.S. speculator turned billionaire philanthropist, has suggested both Greece and Portugal quit the European Union and the euro-zone because of their massive debts.

"One has so mishandled the Greek problem that the best way forward at present might be an orderly exit" with Greece leaving both the EU and the euro common currency, he said in an interview published Sunday by the German magazine Spiegel.

Stock markets in the Gulf, except Saudi Arabia, opened up on Sunday after a volatile week trailing the behavior of global markets hit by uncertainty over European and U.S. economic woes.

The Dubai Financial Market index continued its rise on Sunday after returning to the green in the latter part of last week.

Madrid is laying on a lavish party for Pope Benedict XVI and more than a million faithful for the Catholic Church's youth festival this week -- as Spain suffers its worst economic crisis in decades.

The irony has not been lost on the country's 15-M "indignant" movement, launched on May 15 against the management of the economic crisis, soaring unemployment and political corruption.

Luxury automaker BMW said Saturday it had agreed to a contract extension for employees at a California warehouse following a union dispute that had threatened to go national.

"We had a good discussion with the Teamsters and we intend to extend the contract for six months to provide the time to address the substantive issues," said company spokesman Tom Kowaleski.

The issuance of Eurobonds, something the EU is considering, would have prevented the current debt crisis enveloping the Eurozone, Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said Saturday.

Tremonti told a press conference in Rome that there is now "a fundamental need for greater consolidation of public finances in Europe."

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick on Saturday warned of a "new and more dangerous" time in the global economy, with little breathing space in most developed countries as a debt crisis hits Europe.

Zoellick said the Eurozone's sovereign debt issues were more troubling than the "medium and long-term" problems which saw the United States downgraded by Standard and Poor's last week, sending global markets into panic.