Headlines from CNBC

Flu season typically costs the U.S. economy close to $10.5 billion in lost productivity and direct medical expenses, according to 2007 study by the Centers for Disease control (CDC). With the nation in the midst of the strongest flu season in nearly a decade, costs this winter could top those numbers.

India's headline inflation slowed down to its lowest level in three years, hardening expectations for an interest rate cut by the central bank later this month to boost an economy that is set to post its slowest growth in a decade.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Bank of Japan (BOJ) must set a 2 percent inflation target and make it a medium-term, not long-term, goal to show markets it was determined to pursue bold monetary easing to end nearly two decades of deflation.

Air quality in Beijing was the "worst on record" on Saturday and Sunday, according to environmentalists, as the city's pollution monitoring center warned residents to stay indoors with pollution 30-45 times above recommended safety levels.

Singapore on Friday increased a tax on foreign buyers as part of new measures to cool its housing market which has seen continued strong demand in the face of a weak economy and previous efforts to curb prices.

Japan Airlines (JAL) said on Sunday that a Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet undergoing checks in Tokyo following a fuel leak at Boston airport last week had leaked fuel during tests earlier in the day.

Peter Chou, CEO of Taiwan smartphone company HTC, will on Monday launch what he hopes will be a major boost to both a backward tech sector in Myanmar, his country of birth, and to his company's share of one of the few untapped mobile markets: a phone that locals can use out of the box.

Indonesia's rupiah spent the latter half of 2012 shielded from speculative strikes and volatility by the country's central bank. That veneer of stability is starting to peel, if early signs this year are anything to go by.

India is poised to triple wheat exports this year to a higher-than-expected, record 6 million tonnes, helping plug a shortfall in lower-quality grain supplies and keep a lid on global prices.

Making the health care system function better could save $2 trillion on health costs over the next decade, Dr. David Blumenthal, Commonwealth Fund president, told CNBC on Friday.

The big U.S. and European drug companies are dealing with their own 'cliff' as blockbuster drugs lose their patent protection. But they are turning back to research and development to fill the gap.

Paychecks across the country have shrunk over the last week due to higher federal tax rates, and workers are already cutting back on spending, which will drag on the economy this year.

Hopes for overhauling the federal tax system are fading in Washington, but in some state capitals, tax reform experiments- some far-reaching- are fast taking shape.

Whipsawed by monetary policy expectations and the U.S.'s struggle to rein in the federal deficit, gold's fundamentals could push the market to even higher peaks.

Oracle said it is preparing an update to address a flaw in its widely used Java software after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable the program.

The White House on Wednesday sees little profit in the notion of minting $1 trillion platinum coin as an escape hatch to avoid a debt default if Congress balks at the debt limit.

Banks are valued below historical norms and the worst of the new financial regulations are already done, and that has one banking analyst upbeat about bank stocks.

While other mega-yachts are designed for pleasure cruises, hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio's is equipped for scientific discoveries, like the giant squid the ship's cameras recently captured on film.