CHINA

Dell Inc. announced on Thursday it will begin selling PCs at more than 900 Best Buy Co. Inc. stores in an attempt to gain more of the U.S. consumer market.

Coca-Cola Co said on Thursday Chief Operating Officer Muhtar Kent will succeed Neville Isdell as chief executive of the world's largest soft drink company on July 1, 2008.

The fat years may be ending for Chinese banks as bad loans increase and monetary policy tightens. After government bail-outs and reforms ended a debt crisis early this decade, bad loans could rebound because of exposure to the country's red-hot property market. But a debacle on the scale of the U.S. subprime credit crisis remains very unlikely, officials and analysts say.

Becoming mini-majors by making aggressive plans to acquire overseas oilfields and retail outlets could be a winning strategy.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, as part of an expected major restructuring, on Wednesday said by 2010 it would cut its work force 10 percent and slash the number of its manufacturing plants by more than half, to generate an additional $1.5 billion in savings. The company is also planning to sell its medical imaging business and reviewing strategic alternatives for its wound healing unit. Sales would bring the company cash to boost its core pharmaceuticals business.

Singapore's Temasek, Asia's pioneer sovereign wealth fund with stakes in Barclays and Standard Chartered, looks to be calling the top of the China stock boom and is scouting for cheaper targets in the West.

Top China steelmaker Baosteel is weighing a bid to counter BHP Billiton's $125 billion takeover offer for Rio Tinto Group Baosteel Chairman Xu Lejiang told a Chinese business newspaper.

World's two fastest growing economies, China and India, have earned the dubious distinction of being home to some of the biggest polluting firms across the globe, according to a list published by Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA), a product of the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development, an independent think-tank located in Washington, DC.

Shares in China Railway Group 601390.SS, the world's third-largest construction contractor, rose 69 percent on their Shanghai debut on Monday, calming investor fears that big Chinese listings could be running out of steam.

South Africa's Standard Bank said on Monday a majority of shareholders had approved the acquisition of a 20 percent stake in the group by China's biggest lender ICBC for $5.6 billion.

Beijing is battling to stamp out illegal sales of 2008 Olympic merchandise on dozens of unauthorized Web sites seeking to cash in on the Chinese public's Games fervor, local media reported on Monday.

Shares in Toyota Motor Corp have been battered this year, lagging both global auto peers and a weak Japanese stock market, but analysts are near unanimous that the world's most profitable carmaker is due for a bounce.

French telecom and media group Vivendi said on Sunday it will merge its video games unit with Activision Inc in a $9.85 billion deal that combines the hit Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft franchises under one roof.

Nasdaq opened an office in Beijing on Monday, a move that will let it step up efforts to attract more Chinese firms to list on the exchange.

Washington said alleged that China turned down the request from U.S. Navy ship to visit Hong Kong on the last minute, blocking the Navy by the Kitty Hawk as well as accompanying U.S. ships away from Hong Kong territory during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Dell, the world’s second-largest personal-computer maker, decreased $3.80 to $24.33, being viewed as the biggest drag on the S&P 500.

China turned down another request for a U.S Navy ship to visit Hong Kong amid

China's main stock index fell 2.6 percent on Friday, led by index heavyweights such as PetroChina, ending November with a loss of 18 percent -- its biggest monthly drop since July 1994.

Hewlett-Packard Co. in the third quarter continued to expand its lead over rivals in the global PC market, while Taiwan based Acer saw the largest increase, displacing Dell as the world's No. 2 notebook maker.

Hyundai Mobis Co said on Thursday China would account for half of its international unit's sales within five years, rising from the current 10 percent.

China has published a blacklist of substandard toy jugs and children's shoes sold at Wal-Mart stores and drawing pens from French retailer Carrefour in a quality sweep on children's goods sold at Beijing supermarkets.