The Obama administration on Friday proposed a plan to move most doctors, hospitals and their patients to national standards for handling electronic clinical data by the end of 2017.

McDonald's Corp. (MCD.N) will open fewer new restaurants in Russia this year than last because a fall in the rouble has increased expansion costs and is hurting consumers, its Russian chief executive Khamzat Khasbulatov told Reuters.

A U.S. Treasury official and a director at the New York Federal Reserve are among those who have been considered to replace two hawkish Fed policymakers, according to people familiar with the searches.

A lavish payout to public employees ordered by Saudi Arabia's new King Salman will help to sustain the kingdom's consumer boom and reassure financial markets that the government is not slashing expenditure in the face of low oil prices.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out a debt writedown for Greece on Saturday, and a European Central Bank policymaker threatened to cut off funding to Greek banks if Athens does not agree to renew its bailout package.

Budget airline AirAsia Bhd resumed online promotions and advertising this week, a month after a plane operated by its Indonesia affiliate crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board.

New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, striking a conciliatory note on debt talks after a turbulent start to office, has called the European Central Bank chief to assure him that Athens was seeking an agreement.

The auto industry’s air bag troubles deepened on Saturday as U.S. federal safety regulators said three big automakers will recall about 2.1 million older vehicles to fix defects that could cause air bags to deploy when they are not supposed to.

Russia's central bank unexpectedly cut its main interest rate on Friday as fears of recession mount in the country following the fall in global oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

OPEC's oil supply has risen this month due to more Angolan exports and steady to higher output in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers, a Reuters survey showed, a sign key members are standing firm in refusing to prop up prices.

Japan began deliberating its 2030 targets for power generation on Friday, a process likely to turn contentious when nuclear restarts are considered even as the much delayed cleanup at Fukushima continues four years after the meltdowns there.

U.S. hedge fund Elliott has obtained the right to take a stake in German machine-tool maker DMG Mori Seiki AG (GILG.DE), for which Japanese partner DMG Mori Seiki Co Ltd (6141.T) made a takeover offer last week, the German company said on Friday.

German luxury carmaker Audi could reach its goal of 2 million sales a year before its 2020 target, helped by revamped models and new sport-utility vehicles, its chief executive told Reuters.

Panasonic Corp (6752.T) has stopped making TVs in China and plans to liquidate its joint venture in Shandong, a company source said on Saturday, the latest in a string of Japanese electronics companies exiting overseas TV markets amid strong pricing pressure.

Chevron Corp (CVX.N), the second-largest U.S. oil producer, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as sales of chemicals, lubricants and other refined products helped offset plunging crude prices CLc1.

Sharp gains in the U.S. dollar are good for the U.S. labor market, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday, downplaying a crescendo of complaints from top executives over the dent to their profits.

Australian gaming mogul James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd. (CWN.AX) has scrapped a proposed $400 million luxury hotel and resort development in Sri Lanka after Colombo's new government withdrew approvals for casinos.

The surging Swiss franc has dealt a double blow to homeowners in Austria, home of the trend for borrowing in the Swiss currency that has devastated mortgage holders across eastern Europe.

U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter as weak business spending and a wider trade deficit offset the fastest pace of consumer spending since 2006.

AT&T Inc (T.N) spent close to half the total in the record-setting U.S. sale of airwaves for mobile data, with Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) spending heavily to manage a surprise win at No.2 ahead of Verizon, results showed on Friday.

Oil prices roared back from six-year lows on Friday, rocketing more than 8 percent as a record weekly decline in U.S. oil drilling fueled a frenzy of short-covering.

The dollar traded mixed on Friday after weaker-than-expected headline U.S. fourth-quarter gross domestic product data, which included the fastest pace of consumer spending since 2006 and left intact market expectations of long-term greenback gains.

Ride service Uber, which is trying to enhance its image after several controversies, on Friday released the findings of a report on its handling of passenger data and said it would act on all the report's recommendations for improvements.

U.S. stocks closed down on Friday after a volatile session as investors worried at the end of a rough month for the market about weak U.S. growth data and whether instability in Europe could hurt corporate earnings in the United States.

Greece should not undermine EU policy on Russia at a time when it is seeking support from its partners over its economic problems, European parliament President Martin Schulz told Greek newspapers on Friday.

Russia has handed a multi-billion dollar contract to build a bridge to the Crimea peninsula to an ally and former judo partner of Vladimir Putin who is under Western sanctions.

As Japan's Honda Motor Co (7267.T) pays hundreds of millions of dollars to replace potentially deadly air bags, hitting earnings, a new headache lies around the bend - cheaper U.S. petrol could lure buyers away from its fuel-efficient cars.

Sunac China Holdings Ltd has agreed to buy a 49.3 percent stake in troubled Chinese property developer Kaisa Group, a report in financial news magazine Caixin said on Friday, citing an unidentified senior company executive.

Qatar Airways has bought a 9.99 percent stake in International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) worth around 1.15 billion pounds ($1.7 billion), building closer ties with the owner of its partners British Airways and Iberia in the oneworld alliance.

Germany's newly installed onshore wind power capacity rose by a record 4,750 megawatts (MW) in 2014, industry groups said on Thursday, marking what is likely to be a peak annual gain as the country gears up for a nuclear-free future.