CHINA

North Korea will stay away from international nuclear disarmament talks, Russia's foreign minister said on Friday after visiting the secretive state and pressing Pyongyang to return to the sputtering discussions.

North Korea will put two U.S. journalists arrested last month on its border with China on trial to face criminal charges, its media said on Friday, ratcheting up tensions already raised by a defiant rocket launch.

The global economic downturn has shown signs of easing in recent weeks, although significant risks remain, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said before a meeting of G20 officials in Washington on Friday.

Wal-Mart Inc has agreed to revise a plan on a payroll cut involving 2,000 mid-level managers across its outlets in China after a trade union stepped in to mediate, state media reported on Friday.

China revealed on Friday that it had quietly raised its gold reserves by three-quarters since 2003, increasing its holdings to 1,054 tons and confirming years of speculation it had been buying.

Earnings disappointments drove Asian stocks lower on Friday, helping to snap the region's longest streak of weekly gains in 18 months, while gold shot to a three-week high above $910 an ounce after China revealed it now has the world's fifth-largest stock pile.

The ships and naval aircraft were on a parade Thursday off the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, marking the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Navy.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) further downgraded its projection of 2009 global economic growth this week from a negative 1.3percent to a negative nearly 2%.

China celebrated its military confidence at sea Thursday, when anniversary celebrations for the founding of its navy climaxed with a show of the warships and submarines projecting its spreading power.

China slammed Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday for his offering to the Yasukuni shrine for war dead, warning of damage to ties while the two Asian powerhouses grapple with financial woes and North Korea.

China on Thursday urged the United States not to let the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a separatist, visit the country. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, starts a visit to the United States this week.

China should be praised for its lead role in a U.N.-backed scheme to cut carbon emissions and efforts to cap its flow of credits should be resisted, a leading British-based clean-energy project development firm said.

Japanese shares fell on Thursday as worries about the health of the global financial sector flared again after a larger-than-expected loss from Morgan Stanley and a report that top Japanese broker Nomura had also fallen deeply into the red.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday its group-wide sales fell 27 percent to 1.767 million vehicles in the first quarter of 2009, keeping it ahead of Volkswagen AG as the world's top-selling carmaker.

Yum Brands Inc , parent of the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC chains, posted a quarterly profit on Wednesday that topped analysts' expectations as global sales at established restaurants rose 1 percent, sending shares up 3 percent.

The United States bears substantial blame for the woes besetting the world economy but it will take a global effort to ease those strains, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

Amid a debate on whether clean coal is like healthy cigarettes or not, energy secretary Steven Chu said on Wednesday the U.S. must take global leadership in clean coal technologies.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday slashed growth forecasts for every major country and urged governments to take forceful action to ensure the world economy's recovery from a severe recession.

(Corrects net income figures, paragraph 3)

The United States carries a substantial share of blame for the current economic crisis but the world must work together to ease the strains, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

Environment ministers from rich and poor nations discussed a green technology stimulus on Wednesday to help tackle global warming and overcome the global economic crisis.