(Reuters) - Diageo Plc, the world's biggest spirits maker, agreed on Monday to buy raki spirits maker Mey Icki for 1.3 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) in cash to give it access to the fast-growing Turkish market. The London-based maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka is buying Turkey's biggest spirits company, with an 80 percent share in the country's top-selling spirit category, the aniseed-flavored raki, and a leading seller of local vodka.

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(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's budget proposal would be "marginally positive" for U.S. credit ratings in the short term, but there is "almost no chance" Congress will pass the plan as it was presented, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. In the longer run, the budget proposal fails to address key structural issues such as entitlement programs, Moody's senior analyst Steven Hess said in a report. Some of the plan's projections also are questionable, he added.

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(Reuters) - Wintershall, the oil and gas exploration arm of BASF, prepared to shut down its output in Libya and fly out international staff as violence spread in Africa's third-largest oil producer. Wintershall said on Monday it was winding down Libyan oil production of as much as 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Companies including Royal Dutch Shell and OMV said they were withdrawing expatriate staff.

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(Reuters) - Japan's government upgraded its assessment of the economy in February for a second consecutive month on mounting evidence that export demand and industrial production are pulling the economy out of a lull. The government raised its assessment of exports for the first time in 16 months as shipments to fast-growing Asian countries have recovered from a dip at the end of last year, the Cabinet Office said in a monthly report on Monday.

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(Reuters) - ECB policymakers sent a fresh round of inflation warnings on Monday, as euro zone data showed the region's economic recovery remained robust and likely to keep upward pressure on prices. ECB policymakers have sounded increasingly aggressive on inflation this year since it topped the bank's target of just under two percent. Speaking in Hong Kong, ECB board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said the 17-country euro zone was enjoying better-than-expected economic growth, but warned rising prices were becoming a concern and that higher food and energy prices may be something economies have to get used to.

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(Reuters) - A new decree detailing capital requirements for Spain's banks and aimed at dispelling market concerns is essential to deal with possible problems within the financial sector, the Bank of Spain's governor said on Monday. "It was essential and absolutely necessary to approve the decree law to deal with problems in the financial system ... and win back the confidence of the markets," Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said.

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(Reuters) - Russian oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) will outline offshore development and expansion abroad as two of its key areas of growth when it publishes its new strategy later this year, a top executive said on Monday. First Vice-President Pavel Fyodorov told a group of reporters in London state-controlled Rosneft would soon make an important announcement about acquiring offshore expertise but could not comment whether it would be a new partnership or an acquisition of assets or a team of specialists. "Building valuable offshore expertise is a key priority for us ... Offshore is where the company is undervalued by a factor of three," Fyodorov said.

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(Reuters) - Wall Street and the U.S. government statisticians seem to have very different views on the state of the economy. Earnings expectations have risen since October for companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index of big businesses, according to Thomson Reuters data. Lofty stock market indexes reflect that optimism. Private surveys of manufacturers and small businesses show both confidence and hiring intentions improving.

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(Reuters) - Wall Street opened little changed on Friday after recent advances pushed indexes to more than 30-month highs and as stocks eyed a third week of gains. The S&P 500, up 4.2 percent so far this month, has doubled in less than two years, the quickest 100 percent jump since the Great Depression.

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(Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended easy money policies in advanced economies against the charge they are overheating emerging markets, saying factors such as exchange rate rigidity are also to blame. Speaking ahead of an economic summit in Paris that will include many critics of the Fed's aggressive bond buying program, Bernanke acknowledged that strong capital flows from advanced economies to emerging markets may be having negative spillover effects.

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