A U.S. judge on Friday gave final approval to Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) agreement to pay $450 million to resolve claims it harmed consumers by conspiring with five publishers to raise e-book prices.

A planned merger by Switzerland's Holcim Ltd and France's Lafarge to create the world's biggest cement maker might hurt competition in India, the country's antitrust regulator said on Saturday, asking the firms for more details.

Swiss authorities have given Darwin Airline until the end of January to answer more questions about Etihad Airways' plans to buy a third of the Swiss airline before it gives the deal the green light.

SGL Group, the materials supplier for carbon fiber reinforced parts in BMW's electric cars, is in talks with several other carmakers to supply carbon fiber for a wider range of automotive components, its chief executive said.

ThyssenKrupp would consider a sale of the group's military submarine business under certain conditions, the German steel maker's chief executive told daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Australia said on Sunday it would list state-owned health insurer Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX) with a market capitalization of A$5.679 billion ($4.9 billion), exceeding the top end of a range indicated in its IPO filing a month earlier.

Mergers and acquisition deals announced so far this year have topped $3 trillion, the highest since 2007, helped by mega deals in the healthcare, energy and power sectors.

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc will release a new ad-supported video streaming service early next year, the New York Post reported, citing sources.

Halliburton Co's $35 billion takeover of Baker Hughes Inc will create an oilfield services powerhouse in North Dakota with more than half the cementing market and a leading position in fracking, according to data seen by Reuters.

A panel of national representatives reviewed OPEC's oil market outlook for 2015 this week, OPEC sources said, preparing the ground for a policy-setting meeting next week that will decide how to address a looming oversupply of crude.

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will recall 422,509 of its luxury brand Lexus vehicles in the United States because of a possible fuel leak that increases the risk of fire, U.S. regulators said on Friday.

Europe is not at risk of sliding into "full deflation" but the current rate of inflation is dangerously low, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Saturday.

Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's largest beef exporter, said on Friday its $1.25 billion purchase of Australian processed foods producer Primo Smallgoods would increase its presence in Asia.

The Chinese government and banks will finance Chinese companies to build $45.6 billion worth of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan over the next six years, according to new details of the deal seen by Reuters on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama will attend India's Republic Day celebrations in January as chief guest, a sign of steadily expanding ties between two countries that share concerns about China's growing power in Asia.

China's latest interest rate cut is set to dent the profitability of domestic lenders, especially mid-sized banks, which are already suffering from higher bad loans and a slowdown in profit growth.

A flurry of private Chinese investment into Hollywood should prompt Beijing to loosen its restrictions on U.S. film imports, the mayor of Los Angeles said in China on Friday as he urged officials to raise the country's annual cap on foreign films.

A 1914 watercolour by Adolf Hitler fetched 130,000 euros ($161,000) at auction in the German city of Nuremberg on Saturday, the auctioneers said.

China's Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC) signed a pact with the Los Angeles city government to promote cross-border yuan trade and set up an offshore renminbi center in California, the bank said on Saturday.

Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) will examine a possible tie-up between its Brazilian unit Tim Participacoes (TIMP3.SA) and local group Oi (OIBR3.SA), it said as it announced the sale of mobile phone masts for more than 900 million euros ($1.1 billion).

Boeing Co (BA.N) on Friday welcomed a decision by Japan to buy V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that it builds together with Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc (TXT.N).

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi threw the door wide open on Friday for more drastic measures to prevent the euro zone from sliding into deflation, promising to use whatever means necessary as China also acted to boost its sagging economic growth.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for "new growth engines" to counter slowing growth in the world's second largest economy, Xinhua reported late on Friday.

Bank of America has hired two U.S. government officials to join its financial crimes team, according to three people familiar with the matter, as banks are under increasing pressure to police their transactions for suspicious activity.

The Canadian government will decide before Dec. 25 on whether to approve the takeover by U.S.-based Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW.N) of Canada's iconic coffee-and-donut Tim Hortons Inc (THI.TO), Industry Minister James Moore said on Friday.

American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) subsidiary Envoy Air plans to transfer at least 50 Embraer 145 (EMBR3.SA) aircraft to other regional carriers beginning in early 2015 in a move that will lead to job cuts, according to an internal letter reviewed by Reuters.

Aereo Inc, the online video streaming company backed by media mogul Barry Diller, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Chapter 11 filing on Thursday night came five months after the U.S. Supreme Court said Aereo violated broadcasters' copyrights by capturing live and recorded programs on miniature antennas and transmitting them to subscribers who paid $8 to $12 a month.

World stock markets and oil prices rallied on Friday, fueled by hopes for global growth after China rolled out a surprise interest rate cut and the European Central Bank indicated it would step up asset purchases to boost the euro zone economy.

The European Parliament is preparing a non-binding resolution that proposes splitting Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) search engine operations in Europe from the rest of its business as one possible option to rein in the Internet company’s dominance in the search market.

Jean-Claude Juncker will unveil a much anticipated 300-billion-euro ($370 billion) investment plan on Wednesday that is meant to trigger economic growth in the European Union.