(Reuters) - Asian handset makers using Google Inc's Android operating system might turn to rival platforms such as Microsoft Corp's Windows after Google upended the mobile landscape with its $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility Holdings. Taiwan's HTC and Korea's Samsung Electronics have sold millions of mobile devices running on the free Android system, catapulting Google to the top slot in the booming global mobile software market.

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(Reuters) - Phone hacking was widely discussed at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, according to a reporter who was blamed as the sole culprit, contradicting repeated denials by senior executives and dragging Britain's prime minister back into the scandal. In a letter written four years ago in an appeal against his dismissal from the tabloid, former royal reporter Clive Goodman said the practice of hacking was openly discussed until the then editor Andy Coulson banned open talk about it.

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(Reuters) - Stocks rose more than 1 percent on Monday, feeding on acquisition news and hopes European politicians will come up with solutions to the region's debt crisis. Stocks brushed off soft data on manufacturing and homebuilder sentiment that added to a string of weak economic news that took the S&P 500 near a one-year low last week.

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(Reuters) - Google Inc will buy phone hardware maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion to bolster adoption of its Android mobile software and compete with smartphone rival Apple Inc. In its biggest deal to date, Google said it would pay $40 per share in cash, a 63 percent premium to Motorola Mobility's Friday closing price on the New York Stock Exchange.

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(Reuters) - Time Warner Cable said it will buy cable operator Insight Communications from Carlyle Group for $3 billion in cash to broaden its presence in the U.S. Midwest. The deal was reached after months of negotiations and a fruitless auction of Insight that involved other strategic and private equity bidders, including Cablevision Systems Corp and Charter Communications.

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(Reuters) - One of Germany's leading economic associations came out in favor of joint euro zone bond issuance on Monday, raising pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to consider bolder crisis steps ahead of a meeting with the French president. Until now, the idea of so-called "Eurobonds" has been fiercely opposed by Berlin, which is fearful such a step would push up German borrowing costs and reduce incentives for weaker euro zone members like Greece to reform their economies.

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(Reuters) - U.S. homebuilder sentiment remained stuck at historic lows in August, as a glut of distressed homes, tight credit, and economic uncertainty kept new buyers out of the market, the National Association of Home Builders said on Monday. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index remained at 15 in August, the group said in a statement, on target with economists' expectations. Readings below 50 mean more builders view market conditions as poor than favorable.

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(Reuters) - Lowe's Cos Inc (LOW.N) reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and cut its fiscal-year outlook for the second time in three months as homeowners put off big renovations in an anemic U.S. economy. The news pushed the second-largest home improvement chain's shares down 5 percent in premarket hours Monday, and made some analysts take a more cautious stance on retailers selling hard goods such as furniture and appliances.

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(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) plans to sell its credit card business in Canada to TD Bank Group TDBNI.UL and will exit the rest of its international card business, the bank said on Monday. TD Bank's agreement with Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank by assets, covers an $8.6 billion card portfolio, according to a Bank of America statement. It did not disclose the value of the transaction.

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(Reuters) - World No.1 oil drilling contractor Transocean (RIGN.VX) is paying double the market price for Aker Drilling (AKD.OL) to refresh its aging fleet of Norwegian drilling rigs and boost flagging orders. Transocean, the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig at the center of last year's U.S. Gulf oil spill disaster, is paying $1.43 billion, or 26.50 crowns per Aker Drilling share, a 98.5 percent premium to Friday's close and 62 percent above its 30-day average price.

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