CHINA

China has offered Zimbabwe $3 billion for vast platinum reserves, a local private newspaper reported on Friday but said the deal was likely to be rejected by the government over its terms.

Now that all the hype and the hoopla of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States are over, the same basic commercial question remains unanswered: How can American companies create more jobs for Americans by selling more American goods and services in China?

The price of gold is at a critical juncture. What happens in the next couple of weeks can determine whether the metal's spectacular rally will continue or fade.

Palm oil output and stocks, already lagging robust demand due to rains in top Southeast Asia producers, could be made worse should the cooking ingredient become the next target for emerging markets seeking to buy big and dampen adverse effects of booming world food prices.

Investors from China and Libya are interested in buying agribusinesses in Ukraine to secure food supplies, a newspaper quoted top Austrian investment bankers as saying.

For Esther Moloto, the 32-year-old owner of a little house on top of the world's biggest platinum reserves, the sound of progress is falling plaster.

Dollar Gold and Silver Prices were little changed in London trade on Friday, unmoved by unexpectedly weak US jobs data near two- and 3-week highs respectively.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: JDS Uniphase, Silicon Image, Orexigen Therapeutics, China MediaExpress Holdings and Entropic Communications. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Power-One, Coinstar, Toreador Resources, YRC Worldwide and GT Solar International.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the leading science research organ in the Asian country, has announced a decade-long program in applied scientific research titled Innovation 2020 that lays special emphasis on four key areas, namely space science, information technology, energy and health.

After stirring up a storm with the 'V for Victory, You are the Resistance' campaign, Infowars has now accused the Obama administration of triggering blackouts.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are: Alliant Techsystems, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Tyson Foods, Vonage Holdings and China Yuchai International. The top after-market NYSE losers on Thursday are: DHT Holdings, Teekay Tankers, RealD, Las Vegas Sands and Netsuite.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: JDS Uniphase, Opnext, Aviat Networks, Silicon Image and China MediaExpress Holdings. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Power-One, Biodel, Coinstar, pSivida and MedQuist.

LVMH , the world's biggest luxury group, posted a 13 percent rise in fourth-quarter comparable sales boosted by Chinese shoppers' growing appetite for luxury goods and a steady rise in discretionary spending.

With Valentine’s Day coming up in a few weeks, we may witness more battles in the endless and epic battle between Western values and Eastern resistance

The political chaos in Egypt and floods around the world have sent cotton prices skyrocketing.

KFC in Hong Kong is no longer selling a fish sandwich by using an actor impersonating President Barack Obama after pulling the ad.

Dow Chemical Co barely blinked at soaring energy costs in the fourth quarter as it benefited from fixed-cost supplies from the Middle East and boosted its prices by 10 percent.

Estee Lauder Cos Inc and Elizabeth Arden Inc topped profit expectations and raised their fiscal year forecasts as sales jumped overseas while parts of the U.S. cosmetics market remain under pressure.

At the top end of the art market, the financial crisis seems a distant memory -- surging prices saw Christie's and Sotheby's post impressive 2010 results that were back to, or above pre-crisis levels.

China reportedly makes fake rice, according to a report.

Protests of addictive pescription drugs such as oxycontin and suboxone could affect pharamceuticals shares.