IBT Staff Reporter

An opposition leader criticised Iran's hardline rulers on Monday for killing innocent people during a religious festival, a reformist website reported.

China needs to keep its economic policies flexible to fight against excessive surges in asset prices and hot money inflows, a central bank adviser said over the weekend.

Asian stocks rose on Monday on increasing optimism about the global economy, with Tokyo shares hitting their highest in four months, while the U.S. dollar gained against the yen and held firm against the euro.

Shares in state utility KEPCO and other South Korean nuclear power-related stocks jumped on Monday as a $40 billion deal from the United Arab Emirates boosted prospects for future nuclear plant deals.

U.S. federal authorities are investigating millions of dollars contributed by fraud suspect Allen Stanford and his staff to U.S. lawmakers in the past decade, the Miami Herald reported on Sunday.

Believe it or not - the tech specs of the rumoured Google Chrome OS-based netbook are already out and by the sound of it, the netbook looks to me like a high performance machine.

Tighter security measures at U.S. airports following an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound jet could dampen enthusiasm for air travel, hurting the airline industry just as it seemed poised to recover from a period of bruising losses, some industry experts say.

Data storage company 3PAR Inc is setting itself up as an attractive takeover target for larger tech companies, according to a report in the Dec 28 edition of Barron's.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp have significant room for growth and merit trading at a higher multiple, financial weekly Barron's said in its Sunday edition.

A key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG has asked a federal court in Florida to postpone the scheduled January 8 start of his prison term so that he can cooperate further with the U.S. government to uncover tax cheats.

A key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG has asked a Florida court to postpone the scheduled January 8 start of his prison term, saying he is ready to cooperate further with the U.S. government in the case.

Earnings estimates for Berkshire Hathaway's Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp railroad acquisition could signal weaker-than-anticipated U.S. industrial activity in 2010, according to a report in the December 28 issue of Barron's.

Dubai Properties Group, owned by the ruler of Dubai's holding company, replaced several executives including its chief financial officer on Sunday and pledged better corporate governance to improve operations.

Italian chocolate giant Ferrero is still examining its options on a possible bid for Britain's Cadbury PLC.

Wall Street is likely to make a strong showing in the final week of 2009 as the bulls gear up to toast the first annual advance for U.S. stocks in two years on hopes of more economic stability in 2010.

A South Korean group won a landmark deal to build and operate four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, beating more favored U.S. and French rivals to one of the Middle East's biggest ever energy contracts.

Al Qaeda involvement is a subject of investigation in Friday's incident in which a Nigerian man has been charged with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet bound from Amsterdam to Detroit, U.S. homeland security chief Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.

Rescue teams searched the waters off the central Philippines on Sunday for at least 21 people still missing from a ferry that sank, the second such accident in less than a week, officials said.

A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday outside a Shi'ite Muslim prayer hall in the main city in the Pakistani part of the disputed Kashmir region, killing at least 2 people, police said.

A reformist website said a nephew of Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi was killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in Tehran on Sunday.

A South Korean group won a landmark deal to build and operate four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, beating more favoured U.S. and French rivals to one of the Middle East's biggest ever energy contracts.

U.S. authorities on Saturday charged a Nigerian man with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet with high explosives and were investigating his claim that he had links to al Qaeda.

Italian chocolate giant Ferrero said it is still examining its options on a possible bid for Britain's Cadbury PLC , daily La Stampa reported on Sunday.

A South Korean consortium won a $40 billion deal to build and operate four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, beating U.S. and French rivals to one of the Middle East's biggest ever energy contracts.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday struck a defiant note about the country's controversial exchange rate policy, saying the government would not give into foreign demands to let the yuan rise.

South Korea said on Sunday it had won a $20 billion deal from the United Arab Emirates to build four nuclear reactors, one of the world's biggest nuclear power contracts.

A South Korean consortium has won a $40 billion contract to build several nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said on Sunday.

It would be better if lending by Chinese banks was not on such a large scale, Premier Wen Jiabao said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

A group of financiers is trying to put a U.S. mattress maker now under bankruptcy court protection into play by encouraging Chinese bidders to top an already arranged offer for Simmons Bedding Co. , the Wall Street Journal reported late on Saturday.