Japan's Canon said Monday that its net profit fell 20.5 percent in the first six months of the year as smartphones increasingly take a bite out of demand for digital cameras.

Loans to the private sector in the euro area, a gauge of economic health, increased slightly year-on-year in June, but only at the same pace as a month earlier, the European Central Bank said Monday.

A meeting of the US Federal Reserve and the first estimate of US second-quarter growth are likely to be this week's economic centerpieces with markets able for the first time in months to look beyond Greece's debt struggle.

The president of Mitsubishi Motors Corp said Japan, SouthEast Asia and Russia will become the automaker's principal production hubs after it calls time on making cars in the United States later this year because of dwindling output there.

Chinese shares tumbled more than 8 percent on Monday as an unprecedented government rescue plan to prop up valuations abruptly ran out of steam, throwing the viability of Beijing's efforts to stave off a deeper crash into doubt.

Japan's trade deficit narrowed sharply last month as exports of automobiles and electronic parts picked up while a sky-high energy import bill continued to fall, finance ministry data showed Thursday.

Syngenta and unwanted suitor Monsanto squabbled over an earnings report from the Swiss pesticides maker on Thursday, with both sides claiming it strengthened their case in a $45 billion takeover battle.

The Financial Times has been an indispensable guide for the business world for a century and with its digital and foreign editions is a truly international newspaper.

Hyundai Motor Co said Thursday its second-quarter net profit plunged 23.8 percent from a year earlier, due to a strong won and increased competition at home and abroad.

Dutch food and cosmetics giant Unilever said Thursday that while it had managed to increase sales, consumer demand is weak both in emerging and industrialised markets.

China has 668 million Internet users, accounting for 48.8 percent of the country's total population, as e-commerce boomed in the world's second-largest economy, authorities said.

Iran on Thursday outlined plans to rebuild its main industries and trade relationships following a nuclear agreement with world powers, saying it was targeting oil and gas projects worth $185 billion by 2020.

Sales of Microsoft Corp's Surface tablets and Xbox gaming consoles are soaring.

Investors pumped some $32.5 billion into more than 1,800 venture-backed companies around the world in the past quarter, amid feverish interest in tech startups, a survey showed Thursday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc has taken full ownership of Chinese e-commerce firm Yihaodian.com, buying out the 49 percent stake that it did not already own to accelerate its push online, the U.S. retail giant said on Thursday.

General Motors reported Thursday that earnings quadrupled due to solid sales in the US and China even as revenues were dented by the strong dollar.

McDonald's reported lower quarterly earnings Thursday behind a drop in comparable sales and declining traffic in all major segments.

Greece's parliament on Thursday passed legislation on a second batch of reforms needed to help unlock a huge international bailout for the country's stricken economy.

Toshiba president Hisao Tanaka and his predecessor Norio Sasaki resign over a $1.2 billion accounting scandal blamed on management's overzealous pursuit of profit that has battered one of Japan's best-known firms.

A bitter dispute over the proposed merger of two Samsung affiliates comes to a head Friday with a shareholder vote that could -- whatever the result -- force a shift in corporate governance practice among South Korea's giant, family-run conglomerates.