CHINA

The South Korean won's recent weakening against the U.S. dollar is seen as a natural phenomenon in line with globally-increased risk aversion, Vice Finance Minister Lim Young-rok said on Friday.

China wants next month's international talks on global warming to focus on future greenhouse gas cuts by rich countries and moving more clean technology to poor countries, an official said on Thursday.

Britain's biggest clothing retailer, Marks & Spencer Group Plc., is planning to set up a joint venture in India, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Shares in Malaysian state-controlled carmaker Proton sank to a near seven-year-low on Wednesday, a day after the government ended talks with Germany's Volkswagen over a possible alliance.

Hurray! Holding Co, a China-based artist development and wireless music company, announced on Monday it would merge with Enlight Media, an entertainment production company.

China and India may be strong enough to make up for a slowdown in the world's largest economy

Lehman Brothers Private Equity Partners Ltd has led the fundraising of nearly $10 million for Chinese travel search engine Qunar.com, in its first deal in China's consumer Internet sector, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Haitong Securities, China's third-largest listed brokerage, has completed a multibillion-dollar private share placement, priced at more than 35 yuan per share, its president Li Mingshan said on Tuesday.

Ten Southeast Asian leaders signed a historic charter on Tuesday that aims to create an economic bloc encompassing a half-billion people, but controversy over Myanmar threatened to spoil the ASEAN party.

Three major Chinese banks revealed have unofficially looked into acquiring a stake in UK-based Standard Chartered Bank, approaching Singapore's state investment agency for discussions about acquiring its 17 percent stake in the bank, according to a report.

Union-backed critics of Wal-Mart Stores Inc plan to start their largest ad campaign in a bid to criticize the company during the holiday shopping season, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday in its online edition.

China Railway Group, the world's third-largest construction contractor by revenue, plans to raise up to $5.5 billion from its Hong Kong and Shanghai initial public offering amid booming railway investment in China, sources familiar with the deal said on Monday.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Monday it aimed to sell 700,000 vehicles in China next year, up 46 percent from the year before, after raising its China sales target for 2007 by nearly 12 percent, buoyed by hot-selling models.

A Chinese anti-virus company has warned against free downloads of Ang Lee's steamy spy thriller, Lust, Caution, saying several hundred sites offering the service were embedded with viruses.

Temasek, the Singapore state investment agency, has rebuffed an approach from China's three leading banks for its 17 percent stake in UK-based Standard Chartered, a report said on Monday, sending shares in Standard Chartered more than 5 percent higher.

Governments must do more to fight global warming, spurred by a new U.N. scientific report and damage to nature that is already as frightening as science fiction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.

When movie director Roger Spottiswoode ventured to China two years ago to scout locations for The Bitter Sea, a drama set in the 1930s, he was surprised at the lack of suitable buildings from the period.

Camera and office equipment maker Canon Inc expects 30 percent annual sales growth in China until 2010, the chief executive for China said on Friday.

Chinese lunchtime television on Friday gave ordinary people a basic tip on how to play the currency markets: sell the dollar!

The malls are full, the cars are fast, the fashions are sharp -- conspicuous consumption is king as Saudis enjoy the benefits of oil at almost $100 a barrel.

A new World Trade Organization (WTO) accord could improve access to clean-energy tools in poorer countries, but any deal making it easier to ship cargo internationally would also carry a heavy carbon footprint.