CHINA

Ratings agency Moody's has cut its outlook for the European steel industry to negative and said it expects demand to weaken by up to 4 percent in the next 12 months, as the industry faces economic strain and weak construction and auto markets.

A slide in iron ore prices has driven miners to alter costly quarterly contracts to please Chinese clients, but spot pricing, which magnifies the impact of price swings, is still distant.

Banks led European shares lower on Monday, giving up some of last week's hefty gains as demand for detail on the recent euro zone debt deal teed up a weak end to a bumper month, with the broader market on course to snap a five-month losing streak.

Banks led European shares lower on Monday, giving up some of last week's hefty gains as demand for detail on the recent euro zone debt deal teed up a weak end to a bumper month, with the broader market on course to snap a five-month losing streak.

China has shut 50 microblogs for distributing pornography and carrying vulgar content, state media said on Monday, as the government steps up monitoring of the internet.

Dressed in hues of red, golden and off-white, models donned exclusive wedding dresses, as they walked the ramp at the China Fashion Week in Beijing on Sunday.

Beijing on Monday denied a U.S. commission's claim that China may have been responsible for hacking incidents on U.S. environment-monitoring satellites, saying that the committee had ulterior motives in writing such a draft report.

The China unit of investment bank JP Morgan has won approval to become a trading member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the eighth foreign financial institute to obtain such membership, said the exchange on its Web stie (www.sge.com.cn).

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp said on Monday it sees slightly lower revenue and shipments in the fourth quarter than in the third, citing uncertainties from new models going to be launched by the company and competitors, as well as global economic invisibility.

Fueled by wider Eurozone summit rally, industry-specific news out of Germany and a trader-driven assessment that share prices might have reached technical bottoms, shares in various solar panel manufacturers surged Thursday and Friday. Disappointing industry developments, the possibility of negative surprises coming out of China, and the increasingly unforgiving economics of the business, however, mean the industry could face a very stormy fourth quarter.

Markets have over-interpreted comments by incoming European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on the bank's readiness to go on buying the bonds of troubled euro zone states, outgoing ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said.

Honda Motor Co. withdrew its annual earnings guidance in an unusual move on Monday due to uncertainty surrounding currency markets and Thailand's floods just as it was starting to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami.

British government and industry computer systems are facing a disturbing number of cyber attacks, including a recent serious assault on the Foreign Office's network, the head of Britain's communications spy agency said on Monday.

The top after market NYSE gainers on Friday were: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Nabors Industries, Canadian Pacific Railway, 3D Systems and Carter's, Inc. The top after market NYSE Losers were: Freescale Semiconductor, China New Borun, Mindray Medical International, Swift Transportation and Jones Lang LaSalle.

The world's seven billionth baby was born Monday in the Philippines.

Stock index futures pointed to a weaker open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 down by between 0.6 and 0.9 percent.

World equities fell on Monday with commodities retreating as the dollar rose to a three-month high against the yen after Japan intervened to weaken its currency, spurring some profit-taking after last week's rally.

Asian shares fell Monday and commodities slipped as the dollar spiked to a three-month high against the yen following Japan's intervention, prompting investors to book profits after last week's rally.

Honda Motor Co withdrew its annual earnings guidance in an unusual move on Monday due to uncertainties including currency markets and Thailand's floods just as it was starting to recover from the March earthquake and tsunami.

France's opposition Socialists have attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy for seeking Chinese help in solving the euro zone debt crisis.

The head of Europe's bailout fund, in Asia on a tour for potential investors, said on Monday he had been reassured by Japan's top currency official that Tokyo would continue to buy its bonds.