A top Japanese government official said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should delay a planned sales-tax increase, the strongest sign yet that economic weakness is causing concern among those close to the premier ahead of the difficult tax decision.

Gulf Arab oil exporters will have to reform their state spending and make cuts in some areas because of weak oil prices, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh said on Saturday.

Lantern, a technology startup that offers online and mobile coaching programs to support mental health, has won early backing for its service.

U.S. TV startup Roku Inc is working on plans to confidentially file for an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

South Korea's National Pension Service does not support the merger of two Samsung Group units and plans to ask them to buy back its holdings in the pair, an NPS spokeswoman said on Saturday.

Tanzania has held talks with France's Total (TOTF.PA) and Britain's BP (BP.L) over oil and gas exploration, its energy ministry said on Saturday, aiming to add to major companies active in its thriving energy sector.

Panasonic Corp (6752.T) plans to sell its Sanyo television unit in the U.S., which supplies sets to Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N), to Funai Electric (6839.T) as it steps back from unprofitable businesses, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.

Panasonic Corp plans to sell its Sanyo television unit in the U.S., which supplies sets to Wal-Mart Stores, to Funai Electric as it steps back from unprofitable businesses, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) has begun sounding out private-equity firms in China to buy its corporate-networking business in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Amgen Inc (AMGN.O), one of the world's largest biotechnology companies, will unveil next week its first strategy update since early 2013, but few expect a major shift like the split-up recently proposed by Daniel Loeb's Third Point hedge fund.

A proposal to prohibit the Swiss National Bank from selling any of its gold reserves has the support of 44 percent of the public, a closely watched survey showed on Friday, though that result falls short of the backing it needs to pass into law.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley favors a cut in interest rates to trigger demand in the construction sector, a newspaper report said on Saturday, but the central bank has signal it will not ease policy until it is confident of lower inflation.

The French-German consortium Areva-Siemens (AREVA.PA)(SIEGn.DE), the supplier of Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor, has increased its claim against Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), TVO said late on Friday.

Italian lawmakers have put forward a proposal for free Wi-Fi in thousands of public places to bridge a gap with other European countries in broadband penetration, e-government and other digital services that is dragging on the economy.

Jim Tully's hours-long walks to and from work in the Pocono Mountains, where he has been repeatedly stopped by police in a case of mistaken identity in the manhunt for a Pennsylvania cop killer, may be coming to an end.

Growth in China's auto market, the world's biggest, will halve to 7 percent this year weighed down by a slowing economy, the head of an industry body said on Saturday.

Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) once fairy-tale ride on Wall Street has hit its most jarring bump yet. The company that for years enthralled investors with improbable growth and earned one of the technology sector's highest valuations drew widespread ire after a spectacular results letdown on Thursday.

Japan's cabinet approved changes on Friday to a 66-year-old law that bans late-night dancing in clubs, a decision that will help businesses cash in on an expected influx of tourists ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

China said on Friday it would donate 500 million yuan ($82 million) to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to battle Ebola, its largest round of aid to help contain the spread of the deadly virus.

Islamic State is still extracting and selling oil in Syria and has adapted its trading techniques despite a month of strikes by U.S.-led forces aimed at cutting off this major source of income for the group, residents, oil executives and traders say.

An international financial watchdog said on Friday member states should take action to ward off risks emanating from Iran and North Korea, which it said had failed to tackle money-laundering and financing of terrorism.

European bank stress tests have found that Ireland's permanent tsb (PTSB) (IPM.I) had a capital shortfall of 800 million to 850 million euros at the end of 2013, a source familiar with the process said on Friday.

Rarely have a man and his hat been so linked in the collective imagination as Napoleon and his black, two-cornered hat. Next month, a "bicorne" felt hat thought to have belonged to the French emperor will be up for auction in Fontainebleau in what the auctioneer calls the "sale of a century" for fans of the legendary leader.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel thanked ECB President Mario Draghi for spelling out to leaders at an EU summit that governments must play a role in boosting the faltering euro zone economy, and said it was their firm intention to do so.

Google Inc Chief Executive Officer Larry Page has put Sundar Pichai, one of his key lieutenants, in charge of the Internet company's products.

Slumping energy shares drove the recent U.S. stock market selloff more than any other major group, so investors are turning to next week's slate of earnings to see if the sector can pull itself out of the pit.

Ford Motor Co's (F.N) new chief executive, Mark Fields, is giving the automaker's long-moribund Lincoln brand what his predecessor Alan Mulally never could: a little love and a lot of cash.

Mobile telecoms gear maker Ericsson said on Friday a slowdown in North America created uncertainty over fourth quarter sales as operators cut spending after big investments in high-speed networks.

Global stock markets were heading for their best week of the year on Friday following reassuring company results, encouraging data from the world's biggest economies and signs the ECB is upping its efforts to lift Europe.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday, putting the S&P 500 on track to trim its weekly advance, following disappointing earnings from Amazon and as the first diagnosed case of Ebola in New York City raised concerns about the spread of the virus.