BLOOMBERG

Israel and Iran moved closer to confrontation in Syria as rising tensions erupted into the most serious standoff between the sides since the Syrian civil war began seven years ago.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered a third of government managerial jobs to be filled by women within three years, in what would be a significant break with a so far disappointing record on attacking gender discrimination in Iran.

The U.S. is ready to engage in talks about North Korea's nuclear program even as it maintains pressure on Kim Jong Un's regime, Vice President Mike Pence said, signaling a shift in American policy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made a dramatic gesture that may raise prospects for easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula by inviting South Korean President Moon Jae-in to meet in Pyongyang. The invitation was verbally delivered by Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, during a Saturday meeting at Moon's presidential compound in Seoul a day after the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in South Korea. A Moon-Kim summit would mark the first time leaders of two countries have met in 11 years.

Investors actively abandoned the world's biggest passive fund during the onset of market mayhem. The SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund suffered a record $23.6 billion in outflows last week amid the worst momentum swing in history for the underlying U.S. equity benchmark.

The Morgan Stanley strategist who predicted volatility would ramp up in 2018 says the damage has been done and it's time to buy stocks.

Walmart just named two female executives to top jobs even as women are becoming more scarce overall at the nation's biggest private employer.

The latest surge in U.S. oil output will probably hasten the country's rise to the top of the producer pile. More important, it's starting to look as though at least half of OPEC's nightmare scenario for 2018 -- a surge in shale output and slowdown in demand growth -- is coming true. Last week's avalanche of releases from the U.S. Department of Energy showed daily oil production above 10 million barrels a day for the first time since 1970.

London City Airport, an important hub for business travelers, canceled all flights on Monday to allow for the removal of an unexploded World War II bomb discovered during a construction project.

Bitcoin extended a rebound on Monday as the regulatory concerns that have plagued digital currencies this year showed signs of subsiding. Bitcoin climbed 2.6 percent to $8,774 at 10:26 a.m. in London, bouncing back by almost 50 percent since dipping below $6,000 in intraday trading Feb. 6,

AP Top Stories

An explosion and fire at an electric substation threw much of northern Puerto Rico into darkness late Sunday in a setback for the U.S. territory's efforts to fully restore power more than five months after Hurricane Maria started the longest blackout in U.S. history.

The deputy chief of the Pakistani Taliban has been killed in a US drone strike, the militant group said in a statement Monday, as Washington continues to intensify attacks along the Afghan border region.

Disney raised entry prices for most tickets at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida over the weekend. A single-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom at World Disney World on the most expensive days will now cost $129, up from $124, for anyone ages 10 and older.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says it's too early to tell if any of the overtures between North and South Korea during the Olympic Games are creating a chance for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

A woman was killed and 12 other people injured after a man carried out a knife attack in a mall in a busy shopping district in the Chinese capital, Beijing, police said on Sunday.

The hopes for citizenship of 1.8 million illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children hung in the balance Monday as Congress started up debate on sweeping new immigration legislation.

BBC

Iceland is facing an "exponential" rise in Bitcoin mining that is gobbling up power resources, a spokesman for Icelandic energy firm HS Orka has said. This year, electricity use at Bitcoin mining data centers is likely to exceed that of all Iceland's homes.

At least eight people in Bolivia have died when a gas canister used by a street vendor exploded during the city of Oruro's famous carnival celebrations. More than 40 others were injured.

Thousands of Venezuelans have rushed to border crossings with Colombia after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced a tightening of controls. Only those who have registered for a special border card or can produce a passport will be able to cross.

A suspected big cat poacher has been eaten by lions near the Kruger National Park in South Africa, police said.

The official Winter Olympics website was taken offline after being hit by a cyber-attack, officials have confirmed. The site was affected just before the beginning of the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

WND

The federal government has just launched a 10-year, $1.5 billion project for which researchers want your information. All of it. Medical records, mental-health records, lifestyle details, personal habits, physical measurements, blood pressure, height, weight, blood and urine samples, details on health-care visits, procedures, medications, and electronic health records, among others. Oh, and DNA, too. It's called All of Us and scientists say they want at least one million people to be under observation on an ongoing basis.