European Council chief Herman Van Rompuy said Wednesday he had assured visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta that the European Union will remain "flexible" while debt-laden Rome pursues the goal of sound public finances.

"I reiterated that the EU will continue to stand by Italy in pursuing our common commitment to overcome the economic crisis and promoting growth and jobs, in making full use of the existing flexibility while keeping sound public finance as a key objective," Van Rompuy said after meeting with the new Italian leader.

Chinese home prices picked up in April in their fifth consecutive monthly rise, an independent survey showed on Thursday.

The cost of a new home in 100 major cities rose 5.3 percent year-on-year to an average 10,098 yuan ($1,638) per square metre, said the China Index Academy.

Thousands took to the streets of Rabat and Casablanca on Wednesday demanding jobs and higher pay during May Day demonstrations marked by tension, with a large security contingent deployed in the capital.

Several thousand people marched up Rabat's central boulevard around midday, waving Moroccan and Berber flags, holding placards and chanting slogans, some of them strongly critical of the government.

The world economy is still not growing fast enough to generate jobs for tens of millions who have become unemployed but it is strengthening gradually, a top IMF official said Wednesday.

While global growth is seen at 3.3 percent in 2013 and an even better four percent next year, this masks significant divergence in prospects, said Naoyuki Shinohara, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Kuwait plans to increase service charges on foreigners, media reports said Wednesday, triggering the ire of the main labor union which also blasted the government for deporting hundreds of expatriates.

State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah al-Sabah said in comments published Wednesday that the government has sent a draft law seeking to raise public services charges on expatriates.

A strike stopped ferry services to the Greek islands and disrupted public transport in the capital Athens ahead of May Day protests Wednesday against Greece's prolonged economic austerity policies.

Ferry services were expected to be halted the entire day as the Panhellenic Seamens' Union took part in the general strike called for by the country's two main unions.

Turkish riot police used water canon and tear gas on Wednesday in a bid to disperse hundreds of protesters who defied a Labor Day ban on demonstrations in a central part of Istanbul.

The ban was imposed to avoid trouble during renovation work taking place at the symbolic Taksim square, a traditional rallying point.

U.S. auto giant General Motors is withdrawing a global advertisement which refers to China as the land where people say "ching-ching, chop suey" after admitting it contains "offensive content", a report said Wednesday.

The television advert for the Chevrolet Trax SUV, one of GM's latest car models, had been running in Canada since early April and was also posted onto Chevrolet's European website, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

The building collapse in Bangladesh that killed hundreds of clothing factory workers last week put a spotlight on the sobering fact that people in poor countries often risk their lives working in unsafe conditions to make the cheap T-shirts and underwear that Westerners covet.

The disaster, which comes after a fire in another Bangladesh factory killed 112 people in November, also highlights something troubling for socially conscious shoppers: It's nearly impossible to make sure clothes come from factories with safe working conditions.

Apple Inc. sold $17 billion in bonds Tuesday in a record deal spurred by the company's plan to placate its frustrated shareholders.

The Cupertino, California-based company sold the bonds in its first debt issue since the 1990s to raise money to pass along to shareholders through dividend payments and stock buybacks. The payments are part of an effort to reverse a 37 percent drop in Apple's stock price during the past seven months amid intensifying concerns about the company's shrinking profit margins as it faces more competition in a mobile computing market that Apple revolutionized with its iPhone and iPad lines.