CHINA

World leaders worked through the early hours to try and beat a Friday deadline for a deal on cutting emissions and helping poor countries cope with the costly impact of global warming.

RIM Beats Views; Climate Talk Trouble; Continuing Recovery

Term prices of thermal coal for 2010 in China are expected to rise about 8 percent from this year's levels, as demand for power has been roaring back due to steady economic recovery, analysts and industry officials said.

Prospects for a strong U.N. climate pact grew more remote on Thursday at the climax of two-year talks as ministers and leaders blamed leading emitters China and the United States for deadlock on carbon cuts.

U.S. lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc said it is forming a joint venture China's top carmaker SAIC Motor Corp to develop, make and sell battery systems for electric vehicles.

Danish hosts revived climate talks on Thursday and Washington backed a $100 billion (62 billion pound) fund to aid poor countries as world leaders gathered on the eve of a U.N. deadline to reach a deal to slow global warming.

Genes may explain why some people are more susceptible than others to leprosy, an extensive study in China published in the New England Journal of Medicine appears to have found.

Boosting Broadband; Banks' New Rules; Treasuries harder to buy

It is getting harder for governments to buy U.S. Treasuries because the United States' shrinking current-account gap is reducing supply of dollars overseas, a Chinese central bank official said on Thursday.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday, indicating a weaker start for Wall Street. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were down 0.3 to 0.4 percent by 0944 GMT (4:55 a.m. EST).

Commercial aerospace executives say the industry is poised for better times over the next few years after seeing profits battered by a slump in air travel and business-jet output.

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday proposed a $5 billion expansion of a clean energy tax credit as the White House unveiled the latest part of its push to tackle double-digit U.S. unemployment.

U.S. Senator John Kerry raised the possibility on Wednesday that a major energy and climate change bill he is trying to craft might not contain the cap and trade mechanism for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

I'm not about to challenge our fabulous Byron King for it, but I figure he won't begrudge me the title of Go-To Gal On Emerging Technologies of the XIV Dynasty through the Late XVIII Century

U.S. Senator John Kerry raised the possibility on Wednesday that a major energy and climate change bill he is trying to craft might not contain the cap and trade mechanism for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Mining equipment maker Joy Global Inc (JOYG.O) posted a 5 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by tighter cost controls, and said order rates would improve in 2010, sending its shares up 3 percent.

China Shipbuilding Industry Co made a tepid Shanghai debut, and China Pacific Insurance raised $3.1 billion in a Hong Kong IPO, as Beijing steps up the pace of stock offerings to fend off a speculative market bubble.

European leaders are courting some African, Asian and Latin American nations to counter the clout of China and the United States at the climate change talks in Copenhagen, French officials said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il amid efforts by the United States to persuade Pyongyang to return to nuclear disarmament talks.

The Chinese government's latest campaign against pornography on the Internet and through mobile WAP sites will continue through May next year, with an emphasis on breaking the business that support the sites, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

World leaders took the stage at the largest ever climate talks on Wednesday as ministers scrambled to rescue troubled negotiations on a pact to avoid dangerous global warming.