A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Monday:

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LONDON _ The international economy is still fragile and vulnerable to shocks despite recent improvements in financial markets, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn told business leaders he believes the worst of the economic crisis has passed _ but that problems remained.

Strauss-Kahn also said Asian countries needed to help drive international growth. American households have traditionally been the main drivers of international growth, consuming goods exported by other countries, but Strauss-Kahn said this model needs to change.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, also speaking at the same conference, agreed investment from China could help drive Britain's economic recovery.

Stocks rose in Europe. the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 2 percent, while Germany's DAX rose 2.4 percent and the CAC-40 was 2.3 percent higher.

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BEIJING _ Regulators ordered Chinese banks to control lending and manage risks better amid concern that a rapid, stimulus-fueled credit boom this year might affect the industry's health.

The credit boom began to ease in July, but economists have warned that reckless lending could leave banks saddled with bad loans. The government worries excess lending might be driving dangerous overexpansion in some industries.

Banks were told to maintain a "stable and sustainable pace" of lending through the end of the year, the China Banking Regulator Commission said on its Web site. It gave no financial targets.

Asian shares were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.4 percent, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.1 percent, Australia's index gained 0.7 percent and China's Shanghai benchmark rose 0.9 percent. Markets were lower in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand and the Philippines. Japan was closed for a public holiday.

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BRUSSELS _ Close to 45 percent of Europe's unemployed stay out of work for at least a year, said the EU's executive commission, compared to about 10 percent in the U.S.

Some 4 million people have lost their jobs since last year's financial crisis triggered an economic downturn across the 27-nation bloc, which is not expected to fully recover until 2011.

On average, workers over the age of 55 are out of work for nearly 15 months, people between 25-54 are jobless for 12 months while younger people under 25 take around 10 months to find another job.

The EU warned that strict employment protection legislation tends to increase long-term unemployment

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