CHINA

President Barack Obama is unlikely to sign climate legislation ahead of a December U.N. global warming meeting in Copenhagen, the White House's top climate and energy coordinator Carol Browner said on Friday.

First Solar Inc's shares surged nearly 5 percent on Friday, buoyed by news the U.S. solar power company will join the flagship S&P 500 stock index and after it landed a buyer for a 20-megawatt solar power project in Canada.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank warned on Friday that the global economic recovery might falter as complacent policymakers lost their will to cooperate.

The Philippines declared a nationwide state of calamity on Friday as a super typhoon bore down a week after flash floods killed nearly 300 people in and around Manila.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, sees a slow recovery from challenging U.S. business conditions, while its Asia operations are a little better, its Chairman Rob Walton said on Friday.

Equity markets across the globe tumbled and the U.S. dollar broadly held firm on Friday as doubts grew about the pace of economic recovery and the week's major data on U.S. jobs loomed large.

Asian shares fell on Friday as disappointing U.S. manufacturing data raised concern that its economic recovery may not be as fast as thought, while the dollar remained firm as investors booked profits on gains in higher-yielding currencies.

World stocks fell and the U.S. dollar broadly held firm on Friday as doubts grew about the pace of economic recovery and the week's major data on U.S. jobs loomed large.

U.S. auto sales tumbled by 23 percent in September as showrooms emptied after the government-funded boom from the cash for clunkers program, with General Motors Co and Chrysler hardest-hit.

Oil fell toward $70 a barrel on Friday, driven lower by the dollar's recovery and concerns over U.S. employment data, while worries over the West's talks with Iran about the OPEC member's nuclear plan eased.

Asian shares fell on Friday as disappointing U.S. manufacturing data raised concerns that its economic recovery may not be as fast as previously thought, while the dollar remained firm as investors booked profits on higher-yielding currencies.

U.S. auto sales tumbled by 23 percent in September as showrooms emptied after the government-funded boom from the cash for clunkers program, with General Motors Co and Chrysler hardest-hit.

A Curtin University of Technology study has found that regular moderate activity such as housework, gardening, or walking, can reduce the risk of ischemic stroke in the elderly. Ischemic stroke is caused by blockage of arteries leading to or in the brain.

Talks between Iran and six major powers over Tehran's nuclear program on Thursday opened the door to improved relations as Iran agreed to allow U.N. inspectors into a newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant.

The United States said on Thursday six-power talks with Iran had opened the door to better relations with the West but cautioned Tehran it must take concrete steps to prove it was not seeking nuclear arms.

Foreign minister S.M. Krishna said on Wednesday China should not object to the Dalai Lama's planned trip to a northeast Indian state, part of which Beijing claims in a festering border dispute between the two Asian powers.

China celebrated its wealth and rising might with a show of goose-stepping troops, gaudy floats and nuclear-capable missiles in Beijing on Thursday, 60 years after Mao Zedong proclaimed its embrace of communism.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has fined discount retailer Target Corp (TGT.N) $600,000 for allegedly violating a federal lead paint ban on toys.

The United States said it held the highest level direct talks with Iran in three decades on Thursday to try to put to rest Western suspicions Tehran is planning a nuclear bomb.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday declared that a global economic recovery has begun led by Asia, also cautioning that the strength of the rebound depended on a rebalancing of global growth.

Activity in global capital markets may be flat or even lower next year as the world economy struggles to pull out of recession, according to a survey released Thursday by RBC Capital Markets.