Chinese authorities have shut down scores of factories and ordered a mandatory holiday for workers ahead of a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers, authorities said.

Japanese stocks rallied on a weaker yen but other Asian markets retreated Monday after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen hinted at a U.S. interest rate hike by the end of the year.

Germany's vice chancellor and economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said Sunday that negotiations on a massive trade between the European Union and the United States were effectively dead in the water.

The U.N. on Sunday urged African nations to close a gender gap that is costing an estimated $95 billion (84 billion euros) a year in lost economic potential.

Shoddy, price-cutting renovations, in breach of local building regulations, could be partly to blame for the high death toll from this week's devastating earthquake in central Italy, according to a prosecutor investigating the disaster.

Four months after taking the helm of struggling Russian automobile giant Avtovaz, Renault executive Nicolas Maure has set his sights on returning the Lada maker to profit by 2018.

The government of South Sudan, whose economy has been ravaged by years of war, has adopted an ambitious budget for 2016-2017 of around one billion dollars, three times as big as the previous year's.

European stock markets stirred Friday at the end of a tranquil week as Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen indicated there was a case for raising U.S. interest rates.

Iran and South Korea are to start trading in euros, legally circumventing U.S. sanctions on dollar transactions with Tehran, a senior official announced Friday.

Oil prices fell Friday as OPEC's key producers cast doubt on the need to cut output, denting hopes of a deal to tackle a global supply glut.