Brent oil futures climbed near $100 a barrel and Asian stocks fell on Monday, hurt by fears that deadly protests in Egypt may foment unrest throughout the Middle East and choke oil supplies, accelerating a move out of riskier assets. More than 100 people have been killed during six days of protests in Egypt aimed

European leaders could hold a special summit in early March to discuss the euro and to push for a comprehensive reform package in the currency bloc, euro zone government sources said on Friday. It was not clear whether the summit being considered would involve leaders of euro zone countries or the whole European Union, said

Europe's major clubs are beginning to tighten their belts before the introduction of UEFA's new Financial Fair Play rules, analysts surveyed during the January transfer window have told Reuters. Unless there are a string of major transfers in the next few days before the deadline at midnight on Monday, the total spent on deals this

Brazilians, long the great nomads of global soccer, are being lured home as European clubs struggle financially and local teams backed by a booming economy gain the clout to attract big names like Ronaldinho. The 30-year-old two-time World Player of The Year left AC Milan this month and signed with Rio de Janeiro's Flamengo, becoming

Thousands of Turkish Cypriots walked off the job and protested peacefully on Friday against austerity measures in northern Cyprus which they said could force mass migration from the isolated breakaway state. At least 10,000 demonstrators gathered in a square in north Nicosia to protest against steps taken by the right-wing government to cut salaries in

Buying Ocado, the loss-making British online grocer, would give Amazon.com the model for cutting-edge customer service it would need to crack the market for selling groceries. And if anyone can make money selling food online, it is surely the world's biggest internet retailer, which could add its enormous catalogue of general merchandise goods to the

* First time almost entire country has been sealed off * Small number of ISPs makes shutdown easy * Facebook and Twitter particularly vulnerable The move by Egyptian authorities to seal off the country almost entirely from the Internet shows how easily a state can isolate its people when telecoms providers are few and compliant.

France's ban on same-sex marriages was upheld by the country's constitutional authority on Friday, in a ruling that relieves the government of any obligation to grant gays the wedding rights enjoyed by heterosexuals. A handful of countries in Europe allow couples of the same sex to wed and rights campaigners had hoped for a breakthrough

The multi-speed recovery of the global economy is prompting a kaleidoscope of policy responses from central banks around the world, muddying the outlook for investors and heightening the risk of market volatility. One size never fits all. Emerging market central banks in particular have deployed an array of measures, from taxing capital inflows to penalising

Sales of Microsoft Corp's Windows software fell short of outsized expectations, rekindling fears that the spread of mobile gadgets will erode its main PC-focused business. Microsoft surprised Wall Street with a better-than-expected profit, helped by resurgent corporate spending after the belt-tightening of past years. But its shares stayed flat as investors expressed concern about the