IBT Staff Reporter

Russia said it is considering selling off the diamonds it bought last year for $1 billion from state-owned Alrosa, the world's largest rough diamond producer.

India's gold demand is on a makeover shift as the yellow metal is seen turning paper with rising demand of Gold ETFs in the country. According to an industry estimate, the gold holding by ETFs in India has surged to 11-12 tonnes, almost double against last year.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion offered the Indian government a few solutions to access BlackBerry data, avoiding an immediate ban as the government studies those solutions, India's home ministry said on Monday.

In Europe, the philosophy is Buyer Be Aware. But in the U.S., it's Buyer Beware. American food labels have loads of nutritional information, but little that you can trust to tell you how it was produced.

Pressure mounted on Genzyme as its shares rose 6 percent in Frankfurt a day after French drugmaker Sanofi made public its month-old proposal to buy the U.S. biotech group for $18.5 billion (11.8 billion pounds).

The Bank of Japan expanded its cheap loan scheme on Monday, heeding government calls for action to curb a rise in the yen that threatens a fragile economic recovery and leaving the door open to more policy easing.

Ireland should consider shutting down nationalised Anglo Irish Bank over a period of about five years, the Green Party, the smaller member in the governing coalition said on Monday.

Intel will buy German chipmaker Infineon's wireless unit for $1.4 billion (900 million pounds), enabling the U.S. chipmaker to boost its presence in the smartphone market.

Russia's paramount leader, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, hinted on Monday he would return to the presidency in 2012 for six more years and said democracy protesters marching without permission deserved to be beaten.

Stock index futures were flat on Monday as investors awaited data on personal spending for a signal the economy can avoid a double-dip recession and after a flurry of mergers-and-acquisition activity.

Indian officials began a meeting on Monday to decide whether to ban some of Research In Motion's BlackBerry services, a day before the deadline runs out for the firm to give security agencies access to its secure data.

Stock index futures were slightly lower on Monday as investors awaited data on personal spending for a signal the economy can avoid a double-dip recession and after a fresh batch of merger-and-acquisition activity.

Canada's Agrium Inc said it would be interested in Potash Corp's nitrogen and phosphates business, worth an estimated $12 billion (7.7 billion pounds), if miner BHP Billiton secures its $39 billion Potash takeover and decides to sell the assets.

China's state media on Monday sang the praises of relations with North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-il and youngest son have reportedly been on a visit to the ostracised country's only powerful ally.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hinted that he would return to the Kremlin in 2012 for another six years, saying in an interview published Monday he was more interested than everyone else in the election.

An Indonesian volcano, inactive for four centuries, erupted again on Monday, pitching ash two km (1.5 miles) into the air and sending nearby residents scurrying from their homes.

A former Taiwanese diplomat who says he wants to save American International Group's Taiwan unit from being bought by a Chinese firm is lining up a $2.5 billion bid with Japanese and Middle Eastern money.

The yen rose and Japanese shares gave up some of their strong early gains on Monday after the Bank of Japan made only minor tweaks in policy, disappointing markets looking for more aggressive action against deflation.

Global miner BHP Billiton could look to divest the nitrogen and phosphates business of fertilizer maker Potash Corp if its $39 billion bid goes through, the company has told analysts.

Platinum miners are on a song this year with their profits scaling new heights. This week, Impala Platinum announced that production of platinum, palladium, rhodium and other associated metals rose from 3.43 million ounces to 3.69 million ounces this year.

World oil prices continued to move upwards in Asian trade Monday as regional stocks also took advantage of US Fed chief Bernanke's speech last week. Light sweet crude for October delivery was seen trading at $75.37 a barrel at 12.00 noon Singapore time while Brent crude was at $76.83 a barrel in London.

Anticipating excessive palm oil production this year, Thailand is considering increasing palm oil use in fuel. According to Thai Oil Palm and Palm Oil Association, palm production in the country this year is forecast at 1.5 million tones, and the industry has an additional 200,000 tones in producers' stockpiles.

After last year's drought that led to fall in food production, India's kharif crop acreage has shown tremendous improvement in 2010 on the back of good monsoon rains. So far kharif sowing has taken place in 950.22 lakh ha area which is 78.93 lakh ha more than the acreage on this date last year (871.29 lakh ha).

Gold eased in Asian trade Monday as positive trends ignited by Fed moves were offset by speculation of profit selling. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1235.34 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time while US gold futures for December delivery was at $1,237.40 an ounce.

The Bank of Japan bowed to government pressure and eased monetary policy after an emergency meeting on Monday to try to curb a rise in the yen that is threatening a fragile economic recovery.

Japan's Nikkei average pared gains to close near its day's lows on Monday after rising more than 3 percent at one point, with investors disappointed by a Bank of Japan decision that contained no surprises and was seen as lackluster at best.

Oil prices recovered some lost ground Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed stands ready to do whatever it takes to support economic recovery.

Indian officials meet on Monday to decide whether to ban some of Research In Motion's BlackBerry services, a day before the deadline runs out for the firm to give security agencies access to its secure data.

Japan's Nikkei average ended up but near its day's lows on Monday after rising over 3 percent at one point, with investors disappointed by a Bank of Japan decision that contained no surprises and was seen as lackluster at best.