Donald Trump enjoys his reputation as a magnate whose own smarts and business savvy made him a billionaire, but he acknowledged Monday that his father helped him out -- with a "small" million-dollar loan.

"It has not been easy for me," the Republican Party frontrunner in the 2016 presidential nomination race told an NBC television-hosted town hall in New Hampshire.

Canada Post announced Monday it is temporarily suspending its program to switch from door-to-door delivery to centralized community mailboxes, a program opposed by incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper had backed the program, which would have saved money in the face of declining deliveries but cut between 6,000 and 8,000 postal jobs.

Syria has netted more than $500 million from passport fees this year, after raising charges for those obtained abroad to bolster foreign exchange reserves, the government said in a report Monday.

The boost in fees comes amid soaring demand for passports, and with Syrians attempting to flee their war-ravaged country for Europe in record numbers.

China's richest man saw his fortune balloon by nearly $17 billion -- a sum larger than the GDP of Iceland -- in the past year, business magazine Forbes said Monday. 

Wang Jianlin, founder of real estate and entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group, saw his wealth rocket from $13.2 billion to $30 billion in the publisher's 2015 China Rich List.

The head of the International Energy Agency said Monday that ample supplies of oil in the world market would extend into the middle of next year, while investment is expected to decline further because of persistently low prices.

However, EIA executive director Fatih Birol said risks from seething geopolitical tensions in the oil-rich Middle East that could provide support to prices remain.

China's Communist leaders gathered Monday to plan the country's course for the next five years, official media reported, as the world's second largest economy confronts slowing growth and structural inefficiencies.

Beijing has pledged to tackle economic malaise and rampant pollution as it faces increasing calls to address problems that have soured the public mood and worried investors.

Oil prices rose slightly in Asian trade Monday after sharp falls the previous week on oversupply fears, with traders awaiting the release of U.S. and European data.

Analysts said the market was broadly unmoved by news China had cut interest rates for a sixth time in a year on Friday as the world's number two economy suffers a growth slowdown.

China's economy does not need to grow seven percent this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said late on Saturday, after data last week showed the economy grew at the slowest pace since the financial crisis.

But China can still overcome economic problems, Li said in a speech at the Central Party School, which trains cadres, according to a notice on the central government's website.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen faces a rare open split among her team of policymakers as they head into a meeting Tuesday and Wednesday to again weigh raising interest rates.

A new wave of doubts about the U.S. economy among several Fed officials is almost certain to see the central bank again put off the decision for its first hike in the benchmark federal funds rate in nine years, analysts say.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's government faced a growing row Sunday over plans to cut welfare payments for low-income workers on the eve of a highly sensitive vote in parliament.

Finance minister George Osborne, a possible successor to Cameron and his de facto deputy, wants to cut tax credits as part of £12 billion (17 billion euros, $18 billion) in welfare cuts to help reduce Britain's deficit.