IBT Staff Reporter

France's Carrefour, the world's second-biggest retailer, plans to set up a wholesale business in India on it own after failing to get local partners, the Economic Times said on Monday, quoting unidentified sources.

Consumers would vote with their feet and switch current accounts if their bank started to charge for its services, research shows.

The former head of UK bank Abbey and veteran troubleshooter Luqman Arnold is preparing a move for Northern Rock which could avoid a sale or breakup, sending shares in the battered lender up as much as 11 percent.

E*Trade Financial Corp told customers on Monday it can absorb a writedown of as much as $1 billion and it is well capitalized, after a Citigroup analyst said credit woes put the online brokerage is at risk of bankruptcy.

Shares in Standard Life rose more than 14 percent on Monday after the former mutual insurance firm pulled out of the battle for Resolution, handing victory to rival suitor Pearl.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) faces a federal patent infringement lawsuit by Northeastern University over technology used in its core Web search system, according to legal papers filed last week. The complaint was filed on Nov. 6 in Marshall, in the Eastern District of Texas -- the U.S. court with a history of decisions that are highly favorable to plaintiffs in patent cases -- but the case only came to light over the weekend.

World stocks hit 8-week lows while the yen raced to 18-month peaks versus the dollar on Monday as fears about credit-related losses at financial firms prompted investors to reduce bets on risky trades.

Gold fell more than 2 percent on Monday, as weaker oil prices and recovery in the dollar prompted investors to take profits from the metal's recent 28-year highs.

Metals prices slipped on Monday on fears of waning demand, but mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, engaged in a takeover battle, were among the big gainers on the London stock market.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) said on Monday it would buy Canada's Cognos Inc (Nasdaq:COGN) for $5 billion, snapping up the last major independent maker of business intelligence software.

Crew members aboard the International Space Station on Monday used a robotic crane to reposition the space shuttle's docking port, a key step toward preparing the complex for the arrival of Europe's science laboratory next month.

The yen rose to a 1-1/2-year high against the dollar on Monday, benefiting from a spike in volatility caused by nervousness about credit-related losses at U.S. banks.

Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), the No.2 U.S. entertainment company, plans to launch mobile phone services in Japan early next year to become the newest entrant in an ultra-competitive market.

U.S. oil slid below $95 on Monday after top exporter Saudi Arabia said OPEC would look at raising output to brake oil's ascent towards $100 and safeguard world economic growth.

S&P 500 and Dow industrials were little changed and the Nasdaq fell on Monday as investors looked for bargains in financial shares, while a big drop in oil prices weighed on major energy company shares.

Russian rescue helicopters and ships searched for five missing seamen on Monday after a storm in the northern mouth of the Black Sea, while oil spilt from a sunken tanker coated birds in a black sludge

BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc mapped out its plan on Monday to acquire rival Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc, promising to hand $30 billion to shareholders via a share buyback if the deal goes through and signaling it was ready for a long fight.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday called on President Pervez Musharraf to end the state of emergency in Pakistan but said the United States would not abandon a key ally in fighting extremism.

Airbus and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) ensured 2007 smashes all records for plane sales as deals announced at the Dubai air show neared $80 billion on Monday, powered by demand from Gulf Arab states.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Monday urged Pakistanis of all shades to join a motorcade protest against President Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule and vowed it would go ahead even if police try to block her.

Banks worldwide may lose as much as $400 billion from subprime mortgages, as at least one in four of the risky home loans go into default, analysts said on Monday. Mike Mayo, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, estimated $150 billion to $250 billion of losses based on $1.2 trillion of U.S. subprime loans, and an additional $150 billion of losses on derivatives linked to subprime debt.

Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) president and chief operating officer Hamilton James said on Monday that the subprime mess that hit Wall Street banks appears to be getting worse.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday denounced as traitors Iranian politicians who want the country to suspend its nuclear work, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Cambodia's Killing Fields court charged former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife on Monday with crimes against humanity, the latest members of Pol Pot's inner circle to face justice.

The French government and unions prepared for an extended transport and energy strike from this week in a pensions dispute that is shaping up as the first major battle over President Nicolas Sarkozy's economic reform plans.

Venezuelan construction worker Gustavo Arteaga has no trouble finding jobs in this OPEC nation's booming economy, but on a recent Monday morning he skipped work as part of a more complicated search -- for milk.

Software company Oracle kicked off a five day IT conference in San Francisco with keynotes from several executives, including co-founder and CEO, Larry Ellison, who reminisced on the company's humble beginnings.

The moves will keep the money and stock markets under pressure and possibly accelerate appreciation of the yuan.

Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie had plenty of sting left during its second weekend, replacing American Gangster as the No. 1 choice for North American moviegoers.