BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's fiscal pact must not be renegotiated or softened but could be complemented by growth-enhancing measures, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen said on Monday. Asmussen also stressed that the ECB's non-standard measures - introduced to fight the debt crisis - were of a temporary nature and could be withdrawn any time if inflation risks emerged. There is a growing push in the euro zone, led by newly elected French President Francois Hollande, to do more to stimulate growth and not just focus on reducing deficits. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher at the open on Monday, rebounding from its worst weekly decline for the year, on assurances that world powers want debt-laden Greece to remain in the euro zone. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 29.71 points, or 0.24 percent, to 12,399.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 2.73 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,297.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 4.26 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,783.05. (Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

People in this central Greek city are rejecting the euro before it rejects them.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's antitrust chief on Monday ratcheted up the pressure on Google, giving it a matter of weeks to settle an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behavior and avoid formal charges and a possible fine. Even if the world's most popular search engine offers concessions to resolve the issue, it will still be under the EU spotlight following fresh complaints over its Android mobile software, the top operating system for Internet-enabled smartphones. ...

Greece's newly installed caretaker prime minister began talks with party leaders Monday ahead of this week's European Union summit that's expected to focus on ways of kick starting economic growth across the continent.

Stock futures rose Monday with a new survey suggesting that economists are a bit more optimistic about housing and employment.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group Inc said on Monday it is changing its initial public offering trading procedures following glitches in Facebook Inc's market debut at the end of last week that prevented some traders from knowing for hours whether their orders for shares had been completed. The exchange operator said in a note to traders that modifications to its IPO and halt cross application would prevent the problems that occurred on Friday from recurring. (Reporting By John McCrank; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's shares slid below their $38 issue price in premarket trading on Monday as support from underwriters of the initial public offering dissipated after its Friday debut. The social networking company's debut was marred by a shaky opening on the Nasdaq that will be reviewed by the SEC and a falling share price, which forced lead underwriter Morgan Stanley to defend the $38 price level by purchasing shares on the open market. ...

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

LONDON (Reuters) - British bank Barclays is selling its near-20 percent stake in U.S. asset manager BlackRock, worth $6.1 billion, as tougher global regulations have cut the attraction of such holdings. Barclays has held the stake for almost three years, a legacy of BlackRock's $13.5 billion purchase of Barclays Global Investors, but Basel III regulations mean banks have to hold more capital against minority stakes in asset managers and other firms, making it less profitable. ...

Lowe's Cos.' first-quarter profit climbed 14 percent, as warmer weather helped boost sales. But the world's second-biggest home improvement company lowered its full-year earnings forecast on Monday, saying it is still cautious on the housing market and economic conditions.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain said on Monday it would meet its deficit targets this year despite a new slippage in its regions' accounts and a further contraction of the economy in the second quarter. Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said economic activity would likely slump by another 0.3 percent between April and June, further fuelling doubts about the country's ability to get a grip on in its finances and nurse an ailing banking sector back to health. ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The private rocket company SpaceX is hoping the second time's the charm for its planned launch of the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 percent stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo Inc for $7.1 billion, in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader closer to a public listing. Under the agreement, Yahoo will sell half its stake in Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barely a day went by at the insider-trading trial of multimillionaire hedge-fund founder Raj Rajaratnam a year ago without mention of Rajat Gupta, a boldface name in business and charity circles. On Monday in the same federal court in New York, it will be Gupta's turn to go on trial. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Procter & Gamble board member is accused of leaking stock secrets to Rajaratnam, his erstwhile friend and business associate who was convicted and is now in prison. ...

BOULDER, Colo. - Thousands of people turned their eyes to the sky at the University of Colorado's Folsom Field football stadium here Sunday (May 20) to watch the moon slip in front of the sun to create a spectacular "crescent sun."

From a park near Albuquerque, to the top of Japan's Mount Fuji, to the California coast the effect was dramatic: The moon nearly blotting out the sun creating a blazing "ring of fire" eclipse.

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares and the euro steadied near their lows for the year on Monday as investor fears that Greece could leave the euro were partly countered by promises from China and the Group of Eight leaders at the weekend to support growth. The FTSE Eurofirst index of top European shares was around 0.4 percent higher at 974.03 points after losing 5.1 percent last week to reach its lowest level of the year. ...

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - The head of General Motors unit Opel sought to allay workers' fears that the automaker plans to shut one of its four German plants as it pulls production of the Astra, its best-selling model, from the country. Opel Chief Executive Karl-Friedrich Stracke is under pressure from GM to end heavy losses at the U.S. carmaker's German arm by shifting production to countries with lower labor costs. Stracke told workers in Bochum on Monday that no decision has been made on their plant's future beyond 2014. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd come face to face on Monday in court-directed mediation in the United States over a dispute in which the iPhone maker claims the Korean firm has "slavishly" copied some of its products. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for mediation in San Francisco to help resolve the bitter patent litigation between the two firms. The U.S. ...

Millions of early risers in Asia turned their attention skyward to view a rare "ring of fire" eclipse as it crossed their skies Monday morning.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's top airline Qantas Airways said on Monday it is eliminating 500 jobs by merging maintenance facilities to save up to A$100 million ($98.4 million) annually, as high fuel costs and weak demand take a toll on airline profits. Qantas, which is emerging from a costly industrial dispute, said in statement it will stop heavy maintenance in Tullamarine in Melbourne and concentrate on centers in Brisbane and Avalon, resulting in the job cuts. It had, in February, flagged another 500 job cuts for the group. ...

(Reuters) - The Nasdaq is planning to revamp its systems for handling stock offerings after acknowledging that technology problems had affected trading in millions of newly issued Facebook shares on Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Individual investors were left in the dark for hours on Friday about whether their buy and sell orders for Facebook shares had actually been executed, in the latest of a series high-profile exchange glitches. ...