CHINA

The two drugs used to treat the influenza should be used carefully and only when needed for the chronically ill, pregnant women and other vulnerable patients, global health officials said on Tuesday.

The United States won election to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the first time on Tuesday, joining 17 other nations picked for the body, after the Obama administration ended a U.S. policy of boycotting it.

Chinese President Hu Jintao offered flowers and expressed condolences to the quake victims Tuesday, marking the first anniversary of Wenchuan quake that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and 5 million homeless.

Mourners crowded ruins in southwest China on Tuesday to mark one year since an earthquake shattered the region, while President Hu Jintao called reconstruction efforts a testament to national strength.

China's voracious appetite for commodities lifted imports of copper and iron ore to new highs in April, despite a global economic slowdown, while the world'sdemand for China's exports remained weak.

China on Tuesday marks one year since an earthquake devastated parts of the country's southwest. Here are some facts about the quake and its aftermath.

Hopu Investment Management Co., led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s China partner Fang Fenglei, on Tuesday acquired a 5.8 percent stake in China construction Bank Corp for about $7.3 billion from struggling Bank of America Corp, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc said it agreed to buy Foundation Coal Holdings Inc for $2 billion in stock in a deal that would create the third-largest coal producer in the United States.

Bank of America sold $7.3 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank on Tuesday, according to a source, just days after a U.S. government stress test found the struggling U.S. bank needed to find $34 billion worth of capital.

European stocks edged higher while world stocks came off an earlier low and oil hit its highest level in almost six months on Tuesday as expectations grew the worst might be over for the global economy.

Oil prices edged above $59 a barrel on Tuesday to set a new six-month high, mainly in response to firmer equities and a weaker dollar.

Bank of America sold about $7.3 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank , according to media reports, as the struggling U.S. bank seeks to raise money in the financial crisis.

Oil prices fell for a second straight day on Tuesday to below $58 a barrel on weaker equities, consolidating after touching a six-month peak last week, as China disappointed markets with a sharp drop in April exports.

Asian shares fell for a second straight session on Tuesday as some of the confidence that fueled a rally in stocks to seven-month highs was undermined by reports highlighting economic weakness.

Bank of America sold about $7.3 billion worth of shares in China Construction Bank , Bloomberg reported citing two people familiar with the transaction, as the struggling U.S. bank seeks to raise money amid the financial crisis.

Software piracy grew last year, accounting for 41 percent of all PC software installed, with losses to companies estimated at $53 billion, the Business Software Alliance said on Tuesday.

Asian shares fell for a second consecutive session on Tuesday as some of the confidence that fueled a recent rally was dampened by reports that highlighted the weakness in the global economy.

Millions of children in Mexico returned to school on Monday to freshly cleaned and disinfected classrooms following more than two weeks of closure caused by the swine flu outbreak.

Mainland China on Monday reported its first confirmed case of the new H1N1 strain of flu, a man in southwestern Sichuan province who had flown home from the United States.

The new flu strain spread to mainland China, state media reported on Monday, and killed a third person in the United States, as the number of cases of H1N1 influenza worldwide jumped to more than 4,300.

The downward trend in the financial crisis is easing and national economic stimulus packages are starting to work, billionaire investor George Soros was quoted as saying by a German newspaper on Monday.