UNITED STATES

The LSE is confident in its $2.2 billion bid for Borsa Italiana, despite some objections.

Walgreen Co., one of the largest U.S. drugstore chains, posted a higher quarterly profit on Monday, boosted by new stores and an inventory credit.

Oil prices fell by more than $1 to near $70 on Monday after Royal Dutch Shell said it was preparing to resume exports from a Nigerian oilfield abandoned over a year ago because of militant attacks.

Nintendo Co Ltd zipped past Sony Corp. in market value on Monday and became one of Japan's top 10 issues for the first time ever as it elbowed the PlayStation maker out of its decade-long dominance in the game industry.

Japan's Honda Motor Co. has denied it is looking to buy Harley-Davidson Inc., rumors of which had sent the U.S. motorcycle maker's shares surging in New York on Friday.

Fears of rising borrowing costs hit global stocks on Monday with investors nervous about higher government interest rates and a blow-out in credit spreads.

GLG Partners, one of Europe's largest hedge fund firms, has lined up a U.S. stock market listing to help it expand and hire top managers, using a reverse acquisition with a shell company that values it at $3.4 billion.

Japanese and U.S. experts will meet on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss technical issues relating to American beef trade, Japan's Farm Ministry said in a news release on Monday.

Asian stock markets mostly fell on Monday following a steep slide on Wall Street, but investors bought some Japanese exporters such as Canon Inc. on the back of a downtrodden yen.

Yahoo Inc. is merging the two main parts of its U.S. advertising business after veteran sales executive Wenda Harris Millard resigned, the latest in a string of executive departures.

Sweating, panting and some groaning, 400 Japanese worked out on Sunday with U.S. fitness guru Billy Blanks, whose military-style exercises have become a huge hit in a country where waistlines are bulging.

Goldman Sachs is selling its 30.48 percent stake in South Korean cable TV operator C&M, valued at $970 million, a newspaper said on Monday, in the latest sale of Korean assets by foreign investment firms.

Utah mining prospector Kyle Kimmerle has more than a hunch that uranium will make him rich. It is a conviction so strong he has bet his house on it.

U.S. private equity fund Lone Star is in talks with several strategic investors to sell Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), Lone Star chairman John Grayken said in an interview with a local newspaper on Monday.

Investment banks helping Cerberus Capital Management LP finance its buyout of Chrysler, the U.S. arm of automaker DaimlerChrysler, will launch a road show in the next week to raise funds for the deal, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, citing a source familiar with the matter.

A $12 billion debt sale announced by Home Depot on Tuesday would be the biggest test of demand for U.S. corporate bonds in four years but will likely find ample buyers, analysts said.

Raytheon Co. on Saturday filed a protest with the U.S. government over its award of a U.S. cargo contract to rival contractors, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition.

Global real estate investment is still buoyant but a few cracks are starting to show as higher borrowing costs begin to bite, making 2007 a pivotal year after an extended bull run in property prices.

Central banks around the world should raise interest rates further to curb inflation pressures, the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday.

Wagering on the outcome of the Conrad Black fraud trial is a risky proposition, as lawyers representing the former media baron and three co-defendants present widely divergent versions of events in their final statements to the jury.

Iran sees no need to hold the U.S. currency, the country's central bank vice-governor said