Business & Financial News, U.S & International Breaking News

Winter winds brought extreme cold and ice-slicked roads to the Midwestern and Eastern United States on Monday, with the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and an ongoing government shutdown allowing many to heed official advice to stay indoors.

Venezuela's gold holdings in the Bank of England have jumped after it closed out a gold swap deal with Deutsche Bank, according to two sources, as Britain remains reluctant to release gold held for the troubled OPEC nation.

Murders in Mexico rose by 33 percent in 2018, breaking the record for a second year running, official data showed, underlining the task facing the new president who has pledged to reduce violence in the cartel-ravaged country.

Public trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years, according to a Russian state pollster, a setback for the Kremlin which works hard to burnish Putin's image as a wise father-of-the-nation-style leader.

European shares fell on Monday from six-week highs as a slowdown in China's economy stalled a global equity rally, but sterling rallied to the day's highs after Prime Minister Theresa May promised to be more "flexible" with lawmakers over Brexit.

Northern Ireland police carried out a controlled explosion on a vehicle that was hijacked by masked men in Londonderry on Monday and were examining two other abandoned vans, two days after a car bomb exploded in the city.