Internet giant Yahoo Japan said Monday it had cancelled plans to buy domestic telecom company eAccess from its parent SoftBank Corp. in a deal that was valued at about $3.2 billion.

In March, Yahoo's Japanese unit -- whose top shareholder is SoftBank -- announced the deal which it said was aimed at growing the firm's Internet services business through smartphones and tablets. 

Thailand's economy shrank 0.6 percent year-on-year in January-March, data showed Monday, as the festering political crisis eroded consumer confidence and frightened off tourists.

The contraction is the first since the last three months of 2011, when the country was hit by massive flooding, and comes as opposition protesters press for the nation's senate to remove a battered caretaker government. 

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has suffered a voter backlash after a budget described as the worst in 20 years with two polls Monday showing support for his government plunging.

The conservative leader's first budget since coming to office last September -- handed down a week ago -- took the axe to health and education spending in an attempt to slash the country's deficit.

Oil prices edged higher in Asia Monday on escalating violence in crude producer Libya following a coup attempt by a rogue general that has raised concerns about potential supply disruptions, analysts said.

The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in June, rose 17 cents to $102.19 in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for July rose 24 cents to $109.99.

Pinterest on Friday confirmed that another $200 million has been pumped into its coffers to build up search capabilities at the booming, bulletin board-style social network.

The latest round brings to $764 million the total amount of funding raised by the San Francisco-based start-up and gives Pinterest an overall value of $5 billion.

Taiwan's parliament has approved a so-called "rich man's tax" on nearly 10,000 of the island's wealthiest people in a bid to narrow the widening income gap. 

Starting next year, those with annual net income of over Tw$10 million ($333,000), or the richest 1.5 percent of individuals or families, will be subject to a 45 percent income tax rate, up from the current 40 percent, said the finance ministry.

Moody's raised its credit grade for Ireland Friday by two steps, to Baa1 from Baa3, citing the impact faster growth will have on improving the country's debt profile.

While the country still has a high level of public debt and sizable fiscal deficits, Moody's said faster growth will reduce its debt ratio faster than had been expected.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledged Friday to send oil and diesel to the Palestinian Authority, as part of agreements signed with its leader Mahmud Abbas during his visit to Caracas.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, said it would provide an initial shipment of 240,000 barrels of oil, but gave no details as to how it would send them.

A thousand days on from its near-economic collapse, Portugal is ready to stand on its own again and is promising not to go back to its bad old spend-happy ways.

On Saturday, after an internationally-mandated makeover, Portugal will become the second country that uses the euro as its currency, after Ireland, to officially shake off its bailout shackles.

Oil prices advanced Friday as the market won support from the ongoing Ukraine crisis and upbeat data in the United States, which is the world's top crude consumer.

Brent North Sea crude for July rose 28 cents to trade at $109.37 per barrel approaching midday in London.