Blistering sales this week of Latin American art set auction records for 31 artists spanning three centuries, ranging from creators in the Spanish colonial period to living artists like Colombia's Fernando Botero.

Essar Group, a $39 billion Indian conglomerate, is looking to tap frozen Iranian oil revenues to pay for its steel exports to Tehran, in a novel attempt to work around Western financial sanctions against the OPEC member state.

The chief executive of Commerzbank is predicting a wave of mergers among Germany's cooperative and savings banks. Martin Blessing, who heads Germany's second biggest bank, noted that there were still almost 2,000 banks in Germany, in contrast to about 20 in Spain.

The European Commission postponed until March its decisions on whether the 2015 budgets of France, Italy and Belgium break EU rules, saying it needed more information to be sure.

Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) is working with Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to explore the sale of its Wella hair care business that could be worth around $7 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the world's largest consumer products company streamlines its business.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is backing loss-making Air Berlin in a dispute over whether its Abu Dhabi-based partner Etihad is exercising too much control, Focus magazine reported on Saturday.

German pilots' union VC said late on Friday that talks with carrier Deutsche Lufthansa over early retirement benefits have broken down and new strikes are possible at any time, although not at Christmas.

President Barack Obama and his teenaged daughters, Sasha and Malia, went to an independent book store in Washington to buy books as a way to promote Small Business Saturday, an event aimed at boosting small businesses.

U.S. shoppers spent slightly less money at brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday than across the same two days in 2013, while online sales surged to record highs, data showed on Saturday.

Technology startups in Canada are seeking to lure back expatriates from Silicon Valley with the promise of executive roles, generous stakes and the chance to stamp their mark on a nascent industry.

Leading U.S. CEOs, angered by the Obama administration's challenge to certain "workplace wellness" programs, are threatening to side with anti-Obamacare forces unless the government backs off, according to people familiar with the matter.

France wants to gradually phase out the use of diesel fuel for private passenger transport and will put in place a system to identify the most polluting vehicles, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.

ECB Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger said on Saturday she saw little room for further easing of monetary policy despite a further fall in euro zone inflation.

China has drafted a policy on the emergency use of diagnostic products for the Ebola virus disease and clinical trials, the country's drug regulator said on Friday, as the number of people affected globally by the epidemic nears 16,000.

Japan's annual core consumer inflation slowed for a third straight month in October due to falling oil prices, highlighting the economic gloom facing Premier Shinzo Abe as he campaigns for a new mandate to implement his stalled recovery plan.

Russia's most powerful oil official Igor Sechin said in an interview with an Austrian newspaper that oil prices could fall below $60 by mid-way through next year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Turkey on Monday will have trade and energy issues at its heart, but is not expected to bridge deep differences over Syria and Crimea.

Wanda Cinema Line Co. Ltd., a movie theater company controlled by Chinese real estate mogul Wang Jianlin, has received approval for a share-offering in China in which it hopes to raise up to 2 billion yuan (US$325.6 million).

Barack Obama last year told a cheering crowd in Cape Town that a $7 billion plan to "Power Africa" would double electricity output on the world's poorest continent and bring "light where currently there is darkness".

The European Commission should be able to veto national budgets if they breach the European Union's common fiscal rules, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday.

The Federal Reserve's latest market proposal could help it smoothly raise interest rates and bring far more banks into direct contact with the U.S. central bank in a way that another tool, unveiled last year, could not.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members they must combat the U.S. shale oil boom, arguing against cutting crude output in order to depress prices and undermine the profitability of North American producers.

Mall crowds were relatively thin on Black Friday in a sign of what has become the new normal in U.S. holiday shopping: the mad rush is happening the night of Thanksgiving and more consumers are picking up deals online.

Shale stocks have been hard-hit as investors see margins all but evaporating following the slide in crude oil prices, but the U.S. shale energy boom is not over.

Twitter Inc will begin tracking what third-party apps are installed on users' mobile devices so the social media company can deliver more tailored content, including ads, the company said late on Wednesday.

Insiders say staff at Samsung Electronics have never been so anxious ahead of the annual reshuffle, as a weak smartphone performance and its worst earnings in three years are expected to cost many jobs.

Germany has approved Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry's (BB.TO) planned acquisition of Secusmart, the encryption technology of which is used to protect the mobile devices of top politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE) agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in two wind farms in the United States to Canada's Enbridge (ENB.TO), as the group continues to rake in much-needed cash by building and selling pricey renewable assets.

Songbird Estates (SBDE.L), the majority owner of London's Canary Wharf, said an upturn in property markets means it is now worth 2.82 billion pounds ($4.42 billion), more than the takeover offer from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Brookfield Property Partners (BPY.N).

U.S. medical device maker Medtronic (MDT.N) gained European Union regulatory approval on Friday for its $43 billion takeover of Covidien Plc (COV.N) after agreeing to sell its Irish rival's drug-coated balloon catheter business.