CHINA

World stocks touched a 12-week low on Monday as Chinese data highlighted concerns about weaker global growth, prompting investors to unwind positions in higher-risk assets and buy top-rated government bonds.

Stock index futures edged higher on Monday after six weeks of declines for the S&P 500 left equities at more attractive levels.

China faces a meaningful probability of a hard economic landing and the euro zone is storing up problems for the future by not tackling the debt crisis head on, said Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the global financial crisis.

China's money growth slowed to a 30-month low in May and banks extended fewer new loans than expected as monetary policy weighed on bank lending, but stubborn inflation is expected to persuade the government to keep its foot on the credit brakes.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.3 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent at 0804 GMT (4:04 a.m. ET).

China's avid Internet users are taking a leaf from India's anti-corruption drama by opening websites so citizens can confess, sometimes in pitiless detail, to buying off officials.

German luxury carmaker BMW Group will invest 500 million pounds in its UK production network over the next 3 years.

In yet another sign of China’s rise, Chinese delegates are now invited to the super-secret and super-elite Bilderberg Conference in 2011.

The Federal Reserve has become the largest Treasury holder in the world in Q1 2011 at $1.34 trillion.

Even working on her laptop in Amnesty International's London headquarters or talking on her mobile phone going around the city, Corinna-Barbara Francis suspects Chinese authorities are listening in.

French parliamentarians have launched a petition calling on Air France-KLM to place a $20-25 billion plane order with Airbus and not Boeing -- but airline officials said they would split the order.

Italian fashion house Prada, which is seeking to raise up to $2.6 billion through a Hong Kong IPO, has generated five times demand for its offer, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.

At least 94 were killed as landslides and heavy rains unleash floods in central and southern China on Saturday.

China's inflation rate may accelerate to more than 6 percent year-on-year in June, which could bring the full-year consumer price index for 2011 to as high as 5 percent, a government researcher said in remarks reported on Sunday.

The 2011 “Power Lunch with Warren Buffett” went for $2.6 million this year. The buyer chose to remain anonymous for now.

Saudi Arabia will seek a greater role in the International Monetary Fund , its finance minister said on Saturday after meeting with France's Christine Lagarde on her campaign to head the Washington-based lender.

Apple has halted the delivery of iPads for Verizon which were due to be shipped from China, according to various media reports.

Mexico's central bank chief Agustin Carstens on Friday said India had not committed to support his candidacy as head of the IMF, as officials in the Asian nation said they would make their choice later in June.

The U.S. budget deficit fell by more than half in May from year-earlier levels to $57.64 billion as tax revenues continued to rise, the Treasury Department reported on Friday.

Wall Street resumed its slide on Friday, with the Nasdaq turning negative for the year, after China's weaker trade data and disputes about a second Greece bailout hurt already fragile sentiment.

Mexican Central Bank chief Agustin Carstens said on Friday that India and Mexico agreed emerging markets should have a higher representation in the International Monetary Fund as he campaigned for the global lender's top job.