CHINA

The United States is to blame for strains between Beijing and Washington and should take steps to repair ties, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday, indicating the two powers have not overcome a recent rough patch.

Stock index futures fell on Monday on persistent concerns over a possible monetary tightening in China, which could slow the global recovery from recession.

China Mobile's 3G outlook will take center stage this week as China's three telecoms carriers begin to kick off quarterly results, with market focus on whether the nation's dominant player will turn up the volume in its low-key 3G roll-out.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.39 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.38 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.23 at 0900 GMT (4:00 a.m. ET).

China's steelmakers should not try draw their government into iron ore price talks with Australian miners, Australia's trade minister said on Monday, as the mills struggle to pin back soaring raw material prices.

Asian stocks fell from near seven-week highs on Monday as a currency spat between China and the United States and worries about sovereign debt combined to keep investors away from riskier assets.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean on Monday welcomed a report that China had cleared Rio Tinto and the Australian government of blame for the collapse of a $19.5 billion tie-up between Chinalco.

Officials from eight nations including the United States began talks on a transpacific trade deal on Monday in a move Australia said could add momentum to stalled World Trade Organization talks.

China has cleared Rio Tinto and the Australian government of blame for the collapse of a $19.5 billion tie-up between Chinalco and Rio Tinto last June, an Australian newspaper reported from Beijing on Monday.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said there was no reason for Euro zone finance ministers to make any decision on financial aid for debt-ridden Greece when they met on Monday.

Bank of America Corp , the largest U.S. bank, plans to seek approval to expand its operations in China, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday spurned foreign calls for the yuan to rise and showed no let up in scolding the United States over recent bilateral tensions.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that external calls for yuan appreciation were unhelpful and even a form of trade protectionism, vowing that Beijing would stick to its own course for currency reform.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who is criticized by media freedom groups, called on Saturday for regulation of the Internet and singled out a website that he said falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday that external calls for yuan appreciation were unhelpful, vowing that Beijing would stick to its own course for currency reform while also warning of global economic risks.

Crude oil prices tread water for the week as uncertainty about demand continued to weigh on the market. Prices were down slightly on the week, with the benchmark West Texas Intermediate settling on Friday at $81.24 a barrel, compared with $81.50 a week ago. Not even relatively bullish forecasts for oil demand, such as the International Energy Agency's report on Friday raising its forecast by 70,000 barrels a day for 2010, or the decline in the dollar could propel oil prices forward.

Senator Charles Schumer said on Friday he plans to move forward soon on legislation aimed at stopping China from manipulating its currency.

Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world's largest search engine, is now 99.9 percent certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams said the company plans to move into areas where censorship and technology is limited.

Nissan Motor launched its much-awaited, low-cost compact car on Friday, aiming to become a major force in the fast-growing segment with a global sales target of one million units a year by 2013.

Nokia Oyj lowered it share of global handset sales after recalculating the size of the market and the scale of the growing grey sector in unlicensed and counterfeit phones.