IBT Staff Reporter

The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index for China's services sector fell to 52.5 from 54.1 in November, signalling its slowest rate of growth in three months and the latest in a series of data points portraying a quickly cooling economy in need of policy support.

Shares in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd rose more than 2 percent on Monday after Apple Inc's bid to halt U.S. sales of its Galaxy line of products was rejected, easing concern of slowing growth in its telecom business, which generates revenue of $13 billion per quarter.

Rafael Nadal emerged victorious over Juan Martin del Potro in an enthralling Davis Cup final, powering Spain to their fifth title.

China's new bank loans in 2012 may increase slightly from this year's quota of 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.18 trillion), but the government will maintain lending curbs on the property sector, the China Business News reported on Monday, citing an official from the China Banking Regulatory Commission .

China's services sector contracted in November, mirroring similar weakness in the country's giant manufacturing sector and underlining expectations that Beijing can ease monetary policy further to cushion the blows of the global economy.

At the age of 23, British rapper Tinie Tempah has already sold a million records with his debut album Disc-Overy.

Amy Winehouse's posthumous new album Lioness: Hidden Treasures hits stores on Monday, but the one fan who will find it hardest to listen is her father.

The missing five-year-old son of country singer Mindy McCready was found hiding in a closet with his mother in Arkansas, Deputy U.S. Marshall David Rahbany said on Saturday.

Brooke Mueller, the ex-wife of actor Charlie Sheen, was arrested for cocaine possession and assault in Aspen, Colorado, the ski resort town where Sheen was arrested for assaulting Mueller in December 2009.

Movie actor and director Dev Anand, known for his joie de vivre as Bollywood's evergreen hero, has died aged 88, an aide said, bringing the end to an era of Indian cinema.

The newest Twilight vampire movie ruled the domestic box office for a third time with $16.9 million in ticket sales over one of the slowest movie-going weekends of the year, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.

Lars von Trier's apocalyptic drama Melancholia walked away with the top award, European Film 2011, at the 24th European Film Awards in Berlin on Saturday.

Sony Pictures is steaming over the New Yorker's plan to review David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on Monday. That will be eight days in advance of the December 13 embargo that the studio imposed on all critics and journalists who attended early screenings of the long-awaited film.

Paddy Considine's wrenching character study Tyrannosaur has been named the year's best feature at the Moet British Independent Film Awards, which took place on Sunday night in London.

Nostalgia for the Light, Chilean director Patricio Guzman's documentary that mixes celestial exploration with families searching for the remains of victims of the Pinochet regime, has been named Best Feature of 2011 by the International Documentary Association.

Tens of thousands of Southern California residents remained without power on Sunday as officials warned that dangerously high winds would return to the region in the evening.

High winds returned to the Los Angeles area early on Saturday as over 100,000 homes and businesses lost power, due to fallen trees and other damage from an ongoing windstorm.

For Harley-Davidson, Michael Adams is a godsend.

Some big Japanese shareholders in disgraced firm Olympus Corp may support ex-CEO Michael Woodford's campaign to return to the helm -- a once-unthinkable step for investors that are more usually known for their discreet, hands-off approach.

Syrian authorities arrested a blogger on Sunday who was traveling to Jordan to attend a conference on freedom of the press in the region, her friends said.

Failure by European leaders at their summit this week to fix the fatal flaw in the euro zone, its lack of political union, would risk tremendous market upheaval, a rupture of the common currency and global economic fallout.

The euro faces a decisive week as European Union leaders, urged on anxiously by the United States, seek agreement on a convincing rescue plan that has eluded them for two years.

JPMorgan Chase & Co is arranging the 1-billion-euro ($1.34 billion) loan that SAP AG is taking on to help pay for its $3.4 billion takeover of SuccessFactors, SAP co-Chief Executive Bill McDermott told Reuters.

Citigroup Inc is discussing a plan to shuffle Asian managers to reassure Japanese regulators as they prepare to sanction the bank for alleged lapses in disclosure related to the sale of financial products, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Germany is prepared to soften language in the euro zone's permanent bailout mechanism compelling bondholders to accept losses in exchange for much stricter budget rules, four sources have told Reuters.

Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled a 30-billion-euro package of austerity measures on Sunday -- increasing value added tax, reintroducing a property tax, and raising the pension age -- in a drive to gain control of Italy's strained public finances.

Prime Minister Mario Monti accelerated plans on Sunday to approve a 20 billion-euro austerity package aimed at shoring up Italy's strained finances and stemming a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

The euro faces a decisive week as European Union leaders, urged on anxiously by the United States, seek agreement on the definitive rescue plan that has eluded them for two years.

An expert panel appointed by Japan's Olympus Corp. to look into an accounting scandal at the disgraced firm will release its findings on Tuesday, the Kyodo news agency said in a weekend report. The findings could pave the way for possible criminal complaints.