New oil and gas well permits issued across the United States rose slightly in December and surged 72 percent in Colorado and Wyoming after falling sharply in November on tumbling crude prices.

Solar power firm SunEdison (SUNE.N) and Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises plan to invest up to $4 billion in what would be one of India's largest solar panel makers, a boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he hosts an investment summit.

Just over a decade ago, this sleepy farming community on the fringe of North Dakota's Bakken shale formation hosted the state's first horizontal oil well to be hydraulically fractured, or fracked, helping set in motion an economic revolution that shook the world.

Shire Plc has agreed to buy NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc for $5.2 billion in its biggest acquisition yet, as the Dublin-based drugmaker strengthens its position in the lucrative field of medicines for rare diseases.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Venezuela's president on Saturday he backed coordinated action between Tehran and Caracas to reverse a rapid fall in global oil prices which he described as a "political ploy hatched by common enemies".

Russia's credit rating looks set to tumble into junk for the first time in more than a decade, a move that would exclude its bonds from a couple of high-profile indexes and may set off another wave of capital outflows.

General Motors Co (GM.N) plans to offer a new electric vehicle with a style and price-point that can compete with the forthcoming Tesla Model 3 car due out in two years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Japan's government will propose a record budget for next fiscal year of more than $800 billion but cut borrowing for a third year, government officials said on Sunday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to maintain growth while curbing the heaviest debt burden in the industrial world.

Complicated bureaucracy is delaying the launch of Qatar Airways' domestic operations in Saudi Arabia, and they are now expected to start in six to 18 months, the airline's chief executive was quoted as saying.

Global statesmen and business titans descend on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state on Sunday to pay homage to the man they are counting on to unleash big-bang reforms and create one of the few bright spots in a troubled world economy.