UNITED STATES

Oil rose above $72 a barrel on Monday, extending last week's rally, on optimism about the pace of global economic recovery and indications of stronger oil demand.

U.S. President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said on Monday the United States is on the path toward economic recovery, conditions in financial markets are steadier and there have been initial signs of stabilization in the housing market.

European shares followed Wall Street higher on Monday on optimism about the third-quarter earnings season, while the dollar gained for the second session in a row.

Oil topped $72 a barrel on Monday, extending last week's gains, thanks to growing optimism about the pace of the global economic recovery and a positive demand forecast from the International Energy Agency.

The dollar edged further away from 14-month lows on Monday as investors trimmed bets against the beleaguered U.S. currency, while South Korean stocks dragged down other Asian markets on worries third-quarter earnings may not live up to expectations.

Several U.S. companies have awarded stock options to top executives while engaged in merger negotiations, the Wall Street Journal said, citing an academic research paper and its own review of company filings.

Tengzhong, a little-known Chinese machinery maker that has agreed to buy GM's Hummer brand, aims to close the deal by early 2010 and has begun to seek regulatory approval for the purchase.

Sometimes, much weirder things happen at the MTV Video Music Awards than Kanye West interrupting an acceptance speech.

The critically maligned Vince Vaughn comedy Couples Retreat easily took the top spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, helped by the absence of any other new releases.

Director Roman Polanski is feeling depressed two weeks after his arrest in Switzerland to face U.S. extradition for a 1977 case involving the rape of a 13-year-old girl, his lawyer was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Credit Tight for Small Biz; Inflation Underestimation; Citi's Tax Charge?

Citigroup Inc is expected to be fined $600,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over derivatives transactions that helped foreign clients avoid taxes on dividends, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Small companies create more than half of America's jobs, but the entrepreneurs who drive this part of the economy continue to complain that access to credit two years into the recession remains scarce.

Comments by U.S Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke relating to interest rates and inflation kept a lid on the Aussie dollar heading into the weekend and it opens this morning relatively unchanged from Friday''s Asian close at 0.9035.

There may not be as much slack in the U.S. economy as many forecasters believe, which means medium-term inflation risks could be higher, a Federal Reserve official said on Sunday.

Tyson Foods Inc. said Sunday that Japan had blocked beef shipments from one of its plants because they did not comply with safety standards designed to guard against mad cow disease.

The stock market is set to continue its winning ways in the coming week as momentum builds during earnings season.

The Philippines shifted its efforts on Sunday to sending relief in northern provinces devastated by floods and cut off by landslides as the death toll and damages from two typhoons this month rose to art least 530.

Pakistani commandos stormed an office building Sunday and rescued 39 people taken hostage by suspected Taliban militants after a brazen attack on the army's headquarters.

President Barack Obama, speaking on the eve of a major gay-rights march, told gay supporters on Saturday he would fight for their causes and renewed a pledge to end restrictions on their service in the U.S. military.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that international powers would not wait forever for Iran to prove it was not developing nuclear bombs.