IBT Staff Reporter

Asian stocks eased on Monday, pulling further away from 13-month highs hit last week, as investors worried prices may have raced too far ahead of economic fundamentals, with shares in China feeling supply pressures ahead of a string of IPOs.

The EURO continues to hold the advantage over the Greenback climbing to a near 12 month highs as neutral to positive data continues to roll out of Europe and investors continue to shy away from the once mighty Big Dollar if favour of risker assets.

A House of Representatives panel has told Bank of America Corp that it cannot use attorney-client privilege to withhold from Congress details on its purchase of Merrill Lynch, The New York Times reported on Monday.

While Australia may have avoided a technical recession of two successive quarters of negative real economic growth, business confidence still remains weak and many organisations and faced with some very tough decisions about the future.

Oil prices fell below $72 a barrel in thin trading on Monday, pressured by easing Asian stocks and comments by Asia's No. 1 refiner Sinopec that diesel demand China had not completely recovered.

Commodity prices are set to push the Australian dollar higher in the not so distant future, according to Dr Les Coleman.

Employers and employees may still be reeling from the global financial crisis (GFC), but it's not all doom and gloom. Tyrone Pitsis argues it's time to embrace the uncertainty and build a bright new future.

A world first study has shed fresh light on why people traumatised by the loss of a loved one are more susceptible to having a heart attack.

The portrayal of natural childbirth as dangerous and uncontrollable is one of the reasons behind Australia's rising rate of surgical delivery according UTS midwifery researcher Associate Professor Jennifer Fenwick.

Kevin Rudd's energies at this week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh are likely to focus on exit strategies from the GFC-fighting government interventions of the past year and the global financial regulation.

U.S. holiday spending is expected to be flat versus a year ago, as consumers remain cautious and the national unemployment rate hovers at nearly 10 percent, Deloitte said in a forecast released late on Sunday.

U.S. Agenda at G20; Tax Evaders' Last Chance; Stocks lower on higher dollar

An investment arm of Goldman Sachs Group is in talks with China's biggest privately-owned car maker Geely Automotive to buy about $250 million of the company's convertible bonds, two sources said.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday he would push world leaders this week for a reshaping of the global economy in response to the deepest financial crisis in decades.

An investment arm of Goldman Sachs Group is in talks with China's biggest privately-owned car maker Geely Automotive to buy about $250 million of the company's convertible bonds, two sources said.

Pay practices, such as excessive golden parachutes, golden coffins and multi-year employment agreements with generous severances, should be avoided, a report on compensation to be released on Monday said.

When Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest IT firm, hired paramilitary troops to protect its sprawling headquarters in Bangalore, some observers might have thought they had gone overboard.

When Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest IT firm, hired paramilitary troops to protect its sprawling headquarters in Bangalore, some observers might have thought they had gone overboard.

Reshaping the World's Economy; Business Leaders Cautious; Super-Cop Favored

Alec Baldwin and Australian actress Toni Collette were among early Emmy winners on Sunday as U.S. television handed out its highest honors.

Hundreds of thousands of people filled Havana's Revolution Square for a peace concert on Sunday in which Colombian singer Juanes and other musicians sought to bridge the political divide that has separated Cubans for 50 years.

The Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has launched the nation's first Longevity Index at the opening of the Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research (AIPAR) at the University of New South Wales.

The world should not assume that the financial sector has rebounded for good, despite stock market rallies, the head of the body that oversees global banking regulation said in the Financial Times on Monday.

An official in the New York Insurance Department says insurance regulators from across the country are expected to discuss dropping Moody's Investors Service from a list of acceptable rating organizations at a meeting later this week.

Environmental activists are taking to the Internet in a new bid to help save the world's rainforests with the help of major corporations including Starbucks Corp and Dell Inc.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday he would push world leaders this week for a reshaping of the global economy in response to the deepest financial crisis in decades.

The Aussie dollar bounced between 0.8650 and 0.8715 during Friday's offshore session weighed down by profit taking on the Euro to open this morning at 0.8670.

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Zaragoza north east Spain on Saturday to protest Canada's Magna's acquisition of 55 percent of General Motors' Opel, Spanish media reported.

Key business leaders expect slow and steady U.S. economic growth but say longer term recovery depends on reforming health care and tax policy, and improving access to credit for small business.