CHINA

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev spoke by phone on Thursday morning, discussing developments in the Middle East at length, with a particular focus on Libya, the White House said.

In what appears to be a dramatic change of heart, Turkey has agreed to allow NATO to takeover command of the Western alliance’s military campaign in Libya.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Wednesday that he was 100 percent certain members of the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will face charges of crimes against humanity.

China's ZTE Corp <0763.HK> is seeing higher prices for phone parts such as batteries, displays and radio filters due to supply shortages in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake.

Shares of companies active in Thursday's early trade are: Red Hat, IMAX, Steelcase, Micron Technology, Best Buy, Salesforce.com, Paychex, Hologic, H.B. Fuller Co. and Northern Oil & Gas.

Imax Corp. plans to open 75 new theatres in China as part of joint revenue sharing deal with Wanda Cinema Line Corp., sending its shares up more than 10 percent in NYSE.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: TranS1, Charming Shoppes, China Sunergy, Micron Technology, and TASER International. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: MediciNova, SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Iridium Communications, James River Coal, and Golar LNG.

US stocks defied odds on Wednesday to close slightly positive. The S&P 500 index climbed 3.77 points, or 0.29 percent, to close at 1,297.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 67.39 points, or 0.56 percent, to end at 12,086.02. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.54 percent.

The resignation of Portugal's prime minister will dominate a summit of EU leaders on the European economy on Thursday and Friday, with pressure intense on Lisbon to seek a bailout package.

China still sees risks from euro-zone debt problems and has increased its holdings of European government bonds to help the region, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, said on Thursday it would introduce anti-piracy technology for its document and books product in May, countering criticism that the firm has been lax in dealing with copyright-infringing material.

Corrects story from March 22 to make fourth paragraph read “on a free on board basis” instead of “including the cost of insurance and freight”

Best Buy Co Inc is poised to report its third straight quarter of same-store sales declines on weak demand for televisions and entertainment software in the all-important holiday season.

U.S. stocks staged an afternoon rally Wednesday, led by materials companies, though investors continued to eye several overseas trouble spots warily.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89 points, or 0.7%, to 12108 in late afternoon trade, led by Alcoa, which rose 3.3%. The gains were kept in check by a 1.5% decline for Bank of America, which said the Federal Reserve didn't allow it to boost its dividend. Wal-Mart Stores also was weak, falling 0.8%, as was DuPont, down 0.4%.

Shares of companies active in Wednesday's early trade are: Jabil Circuit, Cree, Adobe, Veeco Instruments, XOMA, Tata Communications, China Southern Airlines Co., Cintas, Global Industries and Northern Oil & Gas.

China is planning to build meltdown-proof nuclear plants conforming to the fourth generation technology in the wake of the Japanese nuclear crisis which highlighted the safety inadequacy of a reactor that depends on external sources of cooling.

Chinese oil demand rose more than 10 percent year-on-year in February to reach the second strongest demand level on record, as refineries scampered to pile up supplies in view of the upcoming peak demand season and adverse weather conditions.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, who is looking to invest in large countries such as China, India and Brazil, said on Wednesday he expected global output to rise significantly over the next year.

U.S. stocks pulled back in a sleepy session Tuesday as investors paused after a three day rally that helped the market regain ground after several weeks dominated by unrest in the Middle East and Japan's earthquake.

A chorus of voices from government officials around the world have condemned (or at least questioned) the decision by a handful of western countries (in tandem with some Arab allies) to launch air strikes on military targets in Libya.

A private lending sector, largely unfettered by government intervention, is booming in China.