Morgan Stanley's adjusted quarterly earnings fell short of market estimates as unexpected market swings in December hit its division that trades bonds, currencies and commodities and the Wall Street bank deferred fewer bonus payments.

Twitter Inc on Tuesday said it will buy Indian mobile phone marketing start-up ZipDial, reportedly for $30 million to $40 million, as the U.S. microblogging service looks to expand in the world's second-biggest mobile market.

Japanese trading house Itochu Corp and Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) said on Tuesday that they plan to jointly invest $10 billion in Citic Ltd, part of China's oldest and biggest conglomerate.

Brent crude oil prices fell towards $48 a barrel on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2015 implying lower demand for fuel.

Brent crude oil prices fell below $49 a barrel and U.S. crude also fell more than $1 on Monday after the global economic outlook darkened and Iraq announced record oil production.

Sounding more like the economics professor he once was than the dangerous far-right firebrand some say he has become, Bernd Lucke spoke at length about the perils of the euro zone and unfettered immigration at a campaign rally last week.

A small but heavily subscribed pipeline that transports 42,000 barrels a day of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region is expected to remain closed on Tuesday after a weekend breach that spilled 1,200 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc has begun a round of layoffs, a labor union said on Monday, while media reports indicated that up to 400 employees could be cut from the studio's workforce.

The international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres urged drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer on Tuesday to slash the price of their pneumococcal vaccines to $5 per child in poor countries.

World leaders meeting in Davos this week are likely to agree that inequality is a problem but unlikely to do anything about it, the head of the International Labour Organization said.

Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari said on Tuesday he wants to hear what the Bank of Japan thinks about a sharp decline in oil prices and its impact on consumer prices, as the BOJ's 2 percent inflation goal becomes ever more difficult to reach.

No clear majority has so far emerged among EU states for a free-trade agreement between the European Union and the United States and both sides need to explain the benefits of such a deal, the EU's health chief said.

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is considering a stock split, a company executive said on Tuesday, as sliding profits put pressure on the firm to keep investors happy.

China is likely to post its weakest growth since the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter as its property market cooled, reinforcing expectations the government will have to roll out more stimulus measures to avoid a sharper slowdown.

Iran sees no sign of a shift within OPEC toward action to support oil prices, its oil minister said, adding its oil industry could ride out a further price slump to $25 a barrel.

Chinese internet heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd apologized on Monday for rewarding WeChat app users who sent a message with the English phrase "civil rights" with a screen full of fluttering U.S. flags.

For China's shipyards, the oil rig market that was supposed to be a blessing is in danger of becoming a curse. As crude prices slide, oil producers are slashing new project spending.

The World Trade Organization on Thursday rejected Argentina's bid to overturn a ruling in favor of the United States, the European Union and Japan against the South American country's licensing rules used to restrict imports.

Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue.

Oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Monday, with markets expecting gloomy Chinese economic data to be published this week.

Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK), owner of Britain's fourth-largest mobile operator Three, is in talks with Telefonica (TEF.MC) about buying its O2 network, the Sunday Times reported, citing unnamed city sources.

Virtual reality goggles, drones and data centers are all driving a hiring spree at Facebook Inc (FB.O) that is set to swell its ranks as much as 14 percent in the near term, according to a review of job listings on the company's website.

The chief executive of controversial online ride-sharing company Uber stuck a newly conciliatory tone on Sunday, promising to create 50,000 new jobs this year across Europe in cities that are willing to reach deals to help his firm operate.

China's Xiaomi Inc [XTC.UL] has agreed to buy about 3 percent of software firm Kingsoft Corp Ltd from Tencent Holdings Ltd for HK$527 million ($67.99 million), according to a Kingsoft filing on Monday.

Argentines have been complaining for a while now about the country's product shortages. And, until recently, the government has managed to brush aside such protests, which have centered around Argentina's import restrictions.

Mashreq, Dubai's third-biggest lender by assets, is interested in acquiring Citigroup's Egyptian retail business, Mashreq's chief executive said on Sunday.

British police said on Friday they had arrested a man in northwest England following the 2014 cyber attacks on Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox systems.

Ride-sharing company Uber has been ordered by South Carolina regulators to cease operations in the state while it remains in the process of seeking permission to legally do business there.

Exterion Media Group, the European outdoor advertising company owned by private equity firm Platinum Equity LLC, is exploring strategic alternatives, including a major acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter.

Activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital disclosed a 5.1 percent stake in Baker Hughes Inc (BHI.N), the world's No. 3 oilfield services company that has agreed to be bought by bigger rival Halliburton Co (HAL.N) for $35 billion in cash and stock.