Greece on Monday said it expected a 2.7-percent growth spurt in 2017 after years of almost unbroken recession in a budget draft also predicting a better-than-expected primary surplus of 1.8 percent.

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel headed a large business delegation to Iran on Monday, seeking to rebuild trade ties and support the country's opening to the world despite political differences.

Ethiopia began three days of national mourning Monday for 52 people who were killed in a stampede at a religious festival after police clashed with anti-government protesters, according to state-controlled media.

The country's Oromo community had gathered Sunday in the town of Bishoftu near the capital Addis Ababa for their Irreecha (thanksgiving) ceremony to mark the end of the rainy season.

Jordan on Monday defended its deal to buy Israeli natural gas that has stirred public opposition, insisting the accord would not leave the Arab country reliant on the Jewish state.

Information Minister Mohamed Momani, who is also government spokesman, told Jordanian television that the deal would cut $600 million a year from the state's energy bill.

Saudi government workers will be paid according to the Gregorian calendar instead of the Islamic Hijri calendar, making the working month longer as part of cost-cutting measures, newspapers reported Monday.

The change, approved by cabinet last week, brings civil service pay in line with the government's January-December fiscal year, the Arab News and Saudi Gazette reported.

Britain's economy faces "turbulence" as it negotiates its EU exit and consumer and business confidence could go up and down like a "rollercoaster", finance minister Philip Hammond warned on Monday.

"We must expect some turbulence as we go through this negotiating process," the chancellor of the Exchequer told the BBC ahead of a keynote speech at the ruling Conservative party's annual conference.

Iran offered up to 13 years of tax holidays to hoteliers at an international tourism summit on Sunday as it seeks to boost visitor numbers and revamp its dilapidated hotels.

Thirteen top officials from Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS), Deutsche Bank and Nomura are to go on trial in Milan for their alleged role in a long-running derivatives scandal, Italian newspapers reported Sunday.

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's company has sold the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Toronto for $170 million, it said on Sunday.

Afghanistan's president will meet world powers at a major conference in Brussels next week in a bid to secure financial aid from the international community up to 2020 to rebuild the war-ravaged nation.