Russia on Monday scrapped the South Stream pipeline project to supply gas to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine, citing EU objections, and instead named Turkey as its preferred partner for an alternative pipeline, with a promise of hefty discounts.

Crude oil markets jumped as much as 5 percent on Monday, rebounding from five-year lows with their biggest daily gain since 2012, on fears that the high U.S. shale output blamed for the global oil glut may be shrinking.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) shares tumbled in early trading on Monday, briefly suffering their largest price drop in at least three months on an unusual spike in volume.

Intel Corp said on Monday it has acquired PasswordBox, a Montreal-based identity management service that gives users a convenient way to log into websites and applications from any device without having to type or remember passwords.

Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang is set to sweeten his bid for the struggling French holiday group Club Mediterranee (CMIP.PA) to trump Italian tycoon Andrea Bonomi's offer in France's longest-running takeover battle.

Amazon.com Inc has installed more than 15,000 robots across 10 U.S. warehouses, a move that promises to cut operating costs by one-fifth and get packages out the door more quickly in the run-up to Christmas.

Telecoms group Altice SA (ATCE.AS) has agreed to buy the Portuguese operations of Brazil's Grupo Oi (OIBR3.SA) for about 7.4 billion euros ($9.2 billion), in what will be its third large acquisition this year.

IBM has signed a 10-year, multi-billion dollar deal to provide computer infrastructure services to Dutch bank ABN Amro [ABRGPA.UL] running on its cloud systems, the U.S. information technology firm said on Monday.

British manufacturing activity unexpectedly picked up a little speed in November as domestic demand offset falling exports due to sluggish orders from the euro zone and emerging markets, a survey showed on Monday.

Oil prices fell to their lowest in five years on Monday, hit by slowing factory activity in China and Europe and hammering emerging market stocks and commodity-linked currencies.

Japan's top government spokesman said on Monday the nation's capital spending is on a rising trend on the back of improving corporate earnings, and it will likely continue to increase.

Mihoko Asaka wants to know how candidates in this month's election in Japan will create jobs and halt the drastic population decline that is bleeding her home region of youth and vitality, but has little hope they will offer real solutions.

China plans to tender again for Mexico's $3.75 billion high-speed rail project after the Latin American nation abruptly canceled its earlier win, one of the firms in a Chinese-led consortium that had bid and a source close to the bid said.

U.S. drugmaker AbbVie has added two HIV medicines for children to a shared patent pool in an initiative that should speed the development of cheap new pediatric formulations for use in poor countries.

Novartis AG said on Monday its drug Gilenya failed to meet its main goal in a late-stage study as a treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).

Realty brokers in battered Ferguson, Missouri, are predicting many homes could go up for sale early next year after rioting over the August police shooting of a black teenager appeared to put a chill on the number of active listings.

Early holiday promotions and rising online shopping took a toll on in-store U.S. sales during the Thanksgiving weekend as shoppers on average spent 6.4 percent less than they did a year earlier, according to data released Sunday by an industry group.

Mainland listed shares in China's big five banks jumped on Monday but later pared gains, after the country issued draft regulations to introduce a bank deposit insurance scheme for the first time.

The ECB's monthly rate meeting will focus minds this week on the debate over quantitative easing in the euro zone, as a series of data releases on both sides of the Atlantic sheds more light on European woes and U.S. strength.

Japan's fall into recession between July-September could turn out to be less severe than feared, with new capital expenditure figures out on Monday suggesting revisions will put the third quarter in a slightly more positive light.

Gold prices tumbled on Monday after Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected proposals to boost gold reserves in a referendum, joining the broad rout in commodities that sent oil prices to five-year lows and copper to four-year lows.

Growth in China's manufacturing sector slowed in November, suggesting the world's second-largest economy is still losing momentum and adding pressure on authorities to ramp up stimulus measures after unexpectedly cutting interest rates last month.

Vodafone Qatar VQFS.QA has scrapped its bid to buy state-owned wholesale Internet provider Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN), the country's No.2 mobile operator by subscribers said on Sunday.

GlaxoSmithKline will this week inform U.S. staff of hundreds of job cuts in its biggest market as the drugmaker starts implementing a major cost-saving program, sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

A European satellite beamed images to earth using new laser-based communications technology on Friday, opening the way for uninterrupted and near instantaneous viewing of natural disasters being sent to governments and relief agencies.

Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) aims to keep hold of its consumer healthcare unit, it said on Friday, pledging to develop a business that is expected to generate 2014 sales of $1 billion for the German drugs and chemicals company.

Kellogg Co raised its bid on Sunday for Egyptian cake and biscuit maker Bisco Misr, intensifying a bidding war with the UAE's Abraaj Investment Management that has pushed up the offer price by more than 12 percent.

Brazil's efforts to bring down its debt will translate into renewed investor confidence and additional room to continue poverty-reduction policies for the years to come, incoming Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Saturday.

Britain's Merlin Entertainments is to open a Legoland theme park in South Korea, as part of its long term expansion plans to generate more of its income from overseas markets.

British boy band One Direction became the only group to score four consecutive No. 1 debuts on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, ousting Taylor Swift from her chart-topping reign.