UNITED STATES

Japan raised its economic outlook for the first time in three years on Monday, and an important measure of German business sentiment rose in May in further signs the worst of the global recession may be over.

Asia's largest oil and gas producer PetroChina is buying Keppel Corp's 45.5 percent stake in Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) for S$1.47 billion ($1.02 billion) and plans to make a general offer to buy the rest of the firm.

New vehicle emission standards will likely be a boon for everything from aluminum to new plastics, but the producers of lithium -- a mineral used in batteries that power new generation vehicles -- could be the big winners.

Asian and European foreign ministers held talks in Vietnam on Monday that were quickly overshadowed by North Korea's nuclear test and outrage at the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Iran has no missile or nuclear cooperation with North Korea, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday, after North Korea conducted a second and far more powerful nuclear test.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday rejected a Western proposal for it to freeze its nuclear work in return for no new sanctions and ruled out any talks with major powers on the issue.

Italy would be willing to help the United States take some prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison but it will act in harmony with other European Union countries, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.

Pakistani soldiers were moving from house to house on Monday as they battled militants in the main town in the Swat valley and were expected to take at least a week to secure it, the military said.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) chief urged the United States and India to start talks as soon as possible to tackle protectionism and called on Gulf Arabs to open up to international business.

President Barack Obama said on Monday that nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea were a grave concern to all nations and a legal violation that warranted action by the international community.

Germany will decide on a preferred bidder for General Motors unit Opel by the middle of the week, after holding a final round of talks with suitors Fiat, Magna and RHJ.

Top emitters of greenhouse gases tried on Monday to break a deadlock about sharing the burden of cuts in a U.N. climate pact, and Washington rejected charges that it was lagging Europe in fighting global warming.

World leaders condemned North Korea for carrying out nuclear and missile tests and U.S. President Barack Obama said Pyongyang's actions were a reckless challenge warranting action from the international community.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said there was no sign of a problem with U.S. inflation at the moment, and revealed that Chinese officials had quizzed him on the Fed's purchases of U.S. government bonds.

A key measure of German business sentiment rose in May and Japan raised its economic outlook for the first time in three years in further signs the worst of the global recession may be over, with stability seen later in 2009.

Oil prices fell toward $61 a barrel on Monday, giving away some of last week's gains, ahead of OPEC's meeting in Vienna, where the group was widely expected to agree not to cut oil output further.

North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Monday, stoking tension across the regional economic powerhouse of East Asia and prompting U.N. Security Council members to call an emergency meeting.

China's official foreign exchange manager is still buying record amounts of U.S. government bonds, in spite of Beijing's increasingly vocal fear of a dollar collapse, the Financial Times reported.

Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scottish spinster whose amazing voice has become a global YouTube sensation, stunned audiences again on Sunday as she was voted through to the final of Britain's Got Talent.

Oil prices fell toward $61 a barrel on Monday, shedding some of the previous session's gains, on risk aversion after North Korea said it had conducted an underground nuclear test.

North Korea said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, a move certain to further isolate the prickly state, which argues it has no choice but to build an atomic arsenal to protect itself in a hostile world.