Greece announced it had extended until Tuesday a debt buyback offer on which IMF-EU bailout funds to avert impending bankruptcy depend, and Greek media reported a shortfall in acceptances.

"We have decided to extend the invitation to offer designated securities for exchange to 11 December 2012," the head of Greece's PDMA debt management agency, Stelios Papadopoulos, said in a statement on Monday.

The French owner of the Gucci label, PPR, announced late Sunday that it had acquired a "majority" stake for an undisclosed amount in rising Chinese luxury jewellery brand Qeelin.

PPR said the transaction should be completed next month and that Qeelin has "tremendous intrinsic growth potential".

Stubborn high unemployment and the looming fiscal cliff challenge give the Federal Reserve all the reason it needs to expand its stimulus efforts when it meets next week, analysts say.

Gathering just before its "Twist" asset-swap operation expires at year-end, signs are that the Federal Open Market Committee will replace it with more outright bond purchases, more "quantitative easing" aimed at lowering interest rates to encourage businesses to invest and hire.

Japan confirmed Monday the world's third-largest economy shrank in the three months to September, stoking fears the country was slipping into a recession and fueling speculation about fresh easing measures.

Financial turmoil in Europe, an export-denting strong yen and a diplomatic row with major trade partner China have hurt Japan's economy, dousing hopes it had cemented a recovery after last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that an August cyber attack on its computer network targeted not just the company but the kingdom's economy as a whole.

The interior ministry, which joined Aramco's investigation into the attack that affected some 30,000 of the firm's computers, said it was carried out by organized hackers from several different foreign countries.

A protest aimed at disrupting Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks in New Zealand turned violent Saturday as demonstrators attacked security forces, police said.

Two police officers were kicked "numerous times" and a woman was accused of stomping on a constable's head when protesters tried to force their way into Auckland's SkyCity building where the talks were taking place.

House Speaker John Boehner accused the White House on Friday of having "wasted another week" in talks to avert a fiscal crisis that could plunge the world's biggest economy into recession.

Holding a press conference to give a status update before the weekend as the clock ticks down to potential economic disaster, Boehner said there had been "no progress" and laid the blame squarely on President Barack Obama.

A Greek operation to buy back some of the country's huge debt at reduced prices to access additional EU-IMF financial aid has met the 30-billion-euro target set by the authorities, news reports said on Saturday.

Financial daily Naftemboriki said foreign debt-holders had offered to sell sovereign bonds worth around 15 billion euros ($19.5 billion) while Greek banks had contributed another 15 billion euros by the required deadline on Friday.

Canadian oil pipeline leader Enbridge announced Friday a $6.2 billion investment to update its North American network, promising to increase capacity and build a new pipeline to the U.S.

"This $6.2 billion investment rounds out our suite of major crude oil new market access initiatives for North American markets," said Enbridge chief Al Monaco in a statement.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, will not be able to escape the crisis and may even flirt briefly with recession early next year, but is well placed to rebound strongly, the Bundesbank said Friday.

The German central bank, in its latest updated twice-yearly forecasts, said there were "indications that economic activity may actually fall in the final quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013."