CHINA

Nissan Motor Co's <7201.T> quarterly profit fell 15 percent on a stronger yen and sliding Japanese sales, but the decline was the slimmest among local automakers as a slew of new models helped Nissan beat the sector's growth in key markets.

World stocks fell from this week's 29-month high on Wednesday as China's interest rate rise prompted investors to book profits, while general optimism over global growth sent 10-year U.S. bond yields to nine-month highs.

Social networking site Facebook on Tuesday opened shop in Hong Kong to expand its presence in Asia notwithstanding its ban in mainland China.

Asian shares fell on Wednesday after China's latest interest rate rise, but government bond yields rose and the dollar and Swiss franc eased as investors bet Beijing's policy tightening would not derail hopes of a sustained economic recovery.

US top military officials on Tuesday unveiled the National Military Strategy, the first revision since 2004 and calls for redefining leadership in a changing world.

Facebook, the world's largest social-networking site, will open a sales office in Hong Kong, in a move to tap the region's booming Internet scene, local media reported on Wednesday.

Shares in Asian developed markets rose and the dollar and Swiss franc eased on Wednesday as investors bet that China's latest interest rate rise would not derail hopes of a sustained economic recovery.

Doctors hope to treat this year's severe flu epidemic in Hong Kong by harvesting antibodies from patients who have recovered, medical experts said on Tuesday.

Macau gaming magnate Stanley Ho is set to take fresh legal action against family members, his lawyer said on Tuesday, in the latest U-turn in a dynastic tussle for control over one of Asia's largest fortunes.

China used its regulatory powers to scour the books of Citibank Shanghai in a hostile and extraordinarily intrusive 2007 audit that appeared primarily aimed at controlling Citi's growth and uncovering its secrets to success, the bank's top China executive at the time told U.S. officials.

A “severe winter drought” in China threatens to put wheat production at risk, stated a special alert from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average scores its seventh straight daily gain, as U.S. stocks seemed to shrug off another interest rate hike by the central bank of China.

The Dow notched a seventh straight day of gains on Tuesday, but light volume suggested that investors don't believe the more than five-month rally has the legs to keep going.

The Dow closed its seventh straight day of gains on Tuesday after McDonald's surprisingly strong sales drove confidence in the economic recovery.

Corrects to show McDonald's posted sales, not earnings in first paragraph

The Dow rose on Tuesday after blue-chip component McDonald's posted stronger-than-expected restaurant sales, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were little changed after China raised interest rates.

Wall Street rose modestly on Tuesday, led by gains in the consumer discretionary sector after McDonald's posted global sales that were above Wall Street's estimates.

Avon Products Inc posted a steeper-than-expected drop in quarterly profit, hurt by weak sales and restructuring charges, and shares of the world's largest direct seller of cosmetics fell more than 4 percent.

The rival Koreas held their first talks since a deadly attack on a South Korean island last year amid signs of a thaw in tensions as momentum builds for a resumption of aid-for-disarmament negotiations.

Gold rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday to $1,367.60 an ounce as traders covering short positions in the New York futures market pushed spot prices through key resistance at the metal's 100-day moving average.

China raised interest rates on Tuesday for the second time in just over six weeks, intensifying a battle in the fast-expanding economy against stubbornly high inflation that threatens to unsettle global markets.