Russia is ready to hold talks with individual euro zone member states on providing them with financial help through the International Monetary Fund, a Kremlin aide said on Monday. "There have been no formal requests from the European Union but if they make such a request … the Finance Ministry, the central bank, the government

Japan sold the yen for the second time in less than three months after it hit another record high against the dollar on Monday, saying it intervened to counter speculative moves that were hurting the economy. Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tokyo stepped into the market on its own at 10:25 a.m. local time and

Asian shares fell and commodities slipped as the dollar spiked to a three-month high against the yen following Japan's intervention, prompting investors to book profits after last week's rally. The dollar rose more than 4% against the yen to above 79 yen, hours after briefly falling to a record low of 75.31 yen. The dollar

* Defends independence of ECB *  European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said in a newspaper interview the euro zone sovereign debt crisis was not yet over and that it was too early for the all-clear signal. In an interview to appear in Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Trichet said that he was, however, confident

Hewlett-Packard Co ditched a plan to spin off its personal computers unit, a month after the ouster of CEO Leo Apotheker whose idea would have cost billions of dollars in expenses and lost business. New Chief Executive Meg Whitman had vowed a quick decision on an issue that was beginning to alienate its PC partners,

Samsung Electronics overtook Apple as the world's top smartphone maker in the July-September period with a 44% jump in shipments, and forecast strong sales in the current quarter in a clear warning to its rivals. Samsung only entered the smartphone market in earnest last year, but its sales have skyrocketed thanks to a sleek production

Global stocks headed for their best week in over two years on Friday, bolstered by EU leaders' efforts to contain the euro zone debt crisis which have stoked appetite for riskier assets, while the euro held just below a seven-week high. Safe-haven debt stayed under pressure with German Bund futures extending losses as investors focussed

The head of Europe's bailout fund said Friday he did not expect to reach a conclusive deal with Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing but expects the surplus-rich country to continue buying bonds issued by the fund. Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said the bailout deal with Greece