A ministerial committee on Monday agreed to grant civil servants financial incentives aimed at putting an end to a public sector strike that has paralyzed state administrations.

The committee also decided to revoke a salary hike that had been recently granted to judges in an exclusive manner.

The Finance Parliamentary Committee on Monday “approved the amendments of the banking secrecy law in a manner that serves preventing tax evasion and combating corruption, terror funding and illicit enrichment,” Committee head MP Ibrahim Kanaan said.

“Our concern is transparency and preventing selectivity,” Kanaan added.

Stock markets rallied and the dollar slid against the euro and pound on Monday on returning risk appetite as recession fears eased slightly.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the European Union is seeking to double gas imports from Azerbaijan as it seeks non-Russian suppliers after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

U.S.-European carmaker Stellantis said on Monday it was ending production in China of its Jeep SUV after failing to acquire a majority stake in its joint venture with local firm GAC.

Across Europe, signs of distress are multiplying as Russia's war in Ukraine drags on. Food banks in Italy are feeding more people. German officials are turning down the air conditioning as they prepare plans to ration natural gas and restart coal plants.

A giant utility is asking for a taxpayer bailout, and more may be coming. Dairies wonder how they will pasteurize milk. The euro has sagged to a 20-year low against the dollar, and recession predictions are on the rise.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosted United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for lunch in Paris on Monday, with increased diesel supplies on the menu for their official talks.

The European Union will target Russian gold exports in an update to its sanctions packages due to be announced on Friday, an EU commissioner said.

The EU has so far approved six packages of sanctions on Russia. The last one passed in June imposed a ban on most Russian oil imports.

China's economy contracted in the three months ending in June compared with the previous quarter after Shanghai and other cities shut down to fight coronavirus outbreaks, but the government said a "stable recovery" is under way after businesses reopened.

The world's second-largest economy shrank by 2.6%, down from the January-March period's already weak 1.4%, official data showed Friday. Compared with a year earlier, which can hide recent fluctuations, growth slid to 0.4% from the earlier quarter's 4.8%.

Top financial officials from the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations met on the Indonesian island of Bali on Friday seeking strategies to counter the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, inflation and other global crises.

Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati opened the two-day meeting by urging fellow finance ministers, central bank chiefs and other leaders to find ways to "build bridges, not walls." She said the consequences of failure, especially for less wealthy nations, would be "catastrophic."