CHINA

A U.S. delegation will begin formal negotiations with Chinese officials in Beijing this week on deals to improve food and drug safety following a series of health scares that have shaken confidence in Chinese-made goods.

Sixteen nations signed a U.S.-initiated pact on Sunday to help meet soaring world energy demand over coming decades by developing nuclear technology less prone to diversion into atomic bomb-making.

Tokyo must keep a thaw in ties with China on track, the frontrunner to be Japan's next prime minister said on Sunday, while urging Beijing to better explain its ballooning military spending.

Standing next to piles of exquisitely hand-woven Persian carpets, Hossein Ghaseminia is confident his rugs, which cost up to $50,000, can see off cheaper Asian rivals and ride out threatened U.S. sanctions.

Asian stocks took a breather on Monday after four straight weeks of gains, with expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut this week helping to offset renewed worries about a global credit squeeze.

China will work with the United States to ensure the safety of exported toys and other goods, a top Chinese official said, but Beijing still insists it is not solely to blame in recent safety scandals.

Very efficient coal-fired power plants will be able to sell carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol, in an expansion of project eligibility under the carbon trading scheme, U.N. official Jose Miguez said.

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's biggest auto maker, plans to build a new car plant in Japan to revamp its production facilities, domestic media reported on Friday.

Chinese shares have reached a dangerously high level because the market is failing to price risks properly, just as investors misjudged the value of U.S. subprime mortgages, an academic economist said on Thursday.

The Nissan concept car Mixim turned heads at the Frankfurt International Motor Show -- a futuristic three-seater that looks more like a video game centre than a car and was designed with the help of teenagers who hate cars from around the world.

Japan's finance minister became the first to launch a bid to lead the country on Thursday as the ruling party scrambled to avoid a policy vacuum after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's shock resignation.

Foreign companies that have poured billions of dollars into Chinese stocks are not looking to bail out, despite a decision by two major U.S. firms to cash in and realize huge profits from their investments.

China has suffered "massive" losses of state secrets through the Internet, a senior official said, as China faces reports that it has raided the computer networks of Western powers.

The U.S. Senate could vote on a number of trade bills in next few months, including one aimed at prodding China into revaluing its currency, a senior Democratic senator said on Tuesday.

Twenty of the world's top polluting nations have agreed to discuss binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Germany's environment minister said on Tuesday.

Soldiers in motor boats rescued thousands of marooned people and helicopters air-dropped food as the number of people made homeless after some of the worst flooding in years in India's northeast rose to 3.5 million.

U.S. and Chinese officials agreed on Tuesday to take immediate steps to stop the use of lead paint in toys made in China following toy recalls that have scared American parents ahead of holiday shopping.

McDonald's Corp. on Tuesday reported an 8.1 percent rise in August same-store sales, easily beating analysts' expectations on strong breakfast and beverage sales in the United States and extended store hours in China and Australia.

Toyota Motor Corp. should hit its target of 5-percent U.S. sales growth this year despite a recent slowdown and building concerns about the knock-on effect of the subprime mortgage crisis, the automaker's chief financial officer said on Monday.

China's product safety chief has urged his officials not to be discouraged by current global concern about Chinese goods, but warned them in the same pep talk their jobs may be at risk if they don't perform up to scratch.

Blackstone Group has agreed to buy 20 percent of chemical maker China National BlueStar (Group) Corp for up to $600 million, the private equity groups said on Monday, marking its first major investment in the fast-growing market.