Ukraine moved a step further closer to visa-free travel to the EU on Tuesday when the EU's executive ruled it had put in place the required legislative reforms.

Ukraine "meets the first-phase requirements," a European Commission statement said. "The second phase where the Commission will be checking the implementation of these rules can therefore be launched."

The IMF declared Tuesday that Spain's economic recovery is here to stay, hailing a return to growth and job-creation despite the nation's 26-percent unemployment rate.

"Spain has turned the corner," the International Monetary Fund said in a report on the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, which emerged in mid-2013 from five years of stop-start recession.

Workers in developing countries are increasingly moving to better jobs and joining the middle class, but 839 million workers still earn less than $2.00 a day, the International Labour Organization said. 

"The developing countries are generally in a process of catching up with the advanced economies," ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters in Geneva ahead of the release of the agency's annual World of Work Report on Tuesday.

The euro rallied in Asia Tuesday after taking a tumble on weak German business data that had boosted speculation of further monetary easing measures by the European Central Bank (ECB).

In afternoon Tokyo trading, the euro rose to $1.3657 and 139.24 yen from $1.3618 and 138.80 yen in Tokyo on Monday. U.S. financial markets were closed Monday for a public holiday. 

India's new finance minister Arun Jaitley said restoring growth and containing inflation are the key challenges facing the country's government, shortly after being handed the critical portfolio on Tuesday.

Jaitley, a top corporate lawyer, said the government was given a strong mandate for reforming the slumping economy, which has been growing at below five percent, its slowest pace in a decade. 

General Motors' Australian subsidiary Holden recalled more than 45,000 Commodores Monday over a potential seatbelt fault, following withdrawals by rivals Toyota and Hyundai due to various issues last week.

The recall, which affects 41,933 cars in Australia and another 3,744 in New Zealand -- almost all of the new model Commodores that went on sale last year -- was precautionary, Holden said.

France's prime minister on Monday called for Europe to boost support for growth and employment policies after euroskeptic far-right parties triumphed in EU parliament elections.

"I am convinced that Europe could be re-oriented to increase support for growth and employment, which it hasn't done in years," Manuel Valls told French radio.

The first shipment of liquefied natural gas from a landmark U.S.$19 billion project in Papua New Guinea has left for Japan, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil said Monday.

The project is the largest development ever undertaken in the Pacific country and ExxonMobil managing director Peter Graham called the shipment, which comes four years after construction began, "an historic moment".

South Korea's top messaging service provider, Kakao Corp., and its second largest Internet portal, Daum, announced a merger Monday to create a one of the country's largest IT companies worth around $3 billion.

Daum Communications, the operator of portal Daum.net, said the merger with Kakao, which runs the hugely popular mobile chat app Kakao Talk, would be completed in October through share swaps.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called on the European Union to back efforts for new gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine, warning against "radicals" in Kiev blocking supplies.

Speaking at an economic forum in his hometown Saint Petersburg, Putin said Moscow has been a reliable gas supplier to Europe but could not count on transit countries like Ukraine.