UNITED STATES

After his efforts at diplomacy on the international stage last week, President Barack Obama faces some particularly daunting foreign policy decisions about the Afghan war, a nuclear Iran and an elusive Middle East peace.

U.S. stocks jumped on Monday as more merger and acquisition activity in the last days of the third quarter encouraged investors following three sessions of losses.

An experimental AIDS vaccine that appears to be the first to protect people was mired for years in controversy, and credit for its success must go to Thailand where the trial was conducted, experts said.

Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested a meeting with Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the country, her party said on Monday.

The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan planned to offer options for policymakers to try to stem Taliban gains, including sending up to 30,000 to 40,000 additional combat troops and trainers, according to defense and congressional officials.

Honduras' de facto government on Monday resisted pressure from opponents and the international community over ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who for a week has been holed up inside the Brazilian embassy seeking a return to power.

Iran test-fired missiles on Monday which a commander said could reach any regional target, flexing its military muscle ahead of this week's crucial talks with major powers worried about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Oil traded around $66 a barrel on Monday, steadying after an earlier decline which extended last week's 8.4 percent slide, as the U.S. dollar lost ground and stock markets moved higher.

Apple Inc said on Monday that downloads from its iTunes applications store had passed 2 billion and that it now has more than 85,000 apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Drugmaker Merck & Co has gained rights to sell and distribute CSL Ltd's seasonal flu vaccine in the United States under an agreement announced by the companies on Monday.

Film director Roman Polanski, arrested in Switzerland over a U.S. charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, will fight extradition to the United States, his lawyer said on Monday.

The mobile music landscape is very much a study in good news, bad news.

U.S. stocks were set for a higher open on Monday as more merger and acquisition activity and the last days of the third quarter encouraged investors following three sessions of losses.

U.S. diversified health care company Johnson & Johnson has bought an 18 percent stake in biotech firm Crucell for 302 million euros ($444 million) as part of a flu vaccine development deal, the Dutch company said on Monday.

U.S. healthcare companies Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson announced deals worth almost 5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) with European rivals on Monday aimed at securing vaccines and other products key to future growth.

Delegates at the start of marathon climate talks in Thailand on Monday were told to speed up painfully slow negotiations as they struggle to settle on the outline of a tougher pact to fight global warming.

Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening 7 to 15 points, or as much as 0.3 percent lower on Monday, according to financial bookmakers, tracking weaker showings in Asia after falls on Wall Street on Friday, with investors nervously looking ahead to this week U.S. jobs report.

Dutch investor Louis Reijtenbagh's family has reached a settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co over the family's art collection, a Dutch newspaper reported on Monday.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday after three days of losses on Wall Street as more mergers and the last days of the third quarter encouraged investors.

An Australian court has ruled that local governments can pursue financial claims against collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in Australia and elsewhere, a firm that is funding the litigation said on Monday.

Oil fell below $66 a barrel on Monday, extending last week's 8.4 percent drop, as investors focused on high inventories and sluggish demand, shrugging off tension between Iran and the West.