CHINA

In its heyday, Hong Kong's famous Bird Garden market bustled with shoppers bargaining in Cantonese for exotic birds for sale as pets or for Buddhist rituals.

Global real estate investment is still buoyant but a few cracks are starting to show as higher borrowing costs begin to bite, making 2007 a pivotal year after an extended bull run in property prices.

The United States expects North Korea to shut down the reactor at the heart of its nuclear arms development program within about three weeks, top U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill said on Saturday.

Drought affecting large swathes of China has left more than 8 million people short of water, and many livestock have died of hunger, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves! go the stirring words that open China's national anthem.

Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) units rose 13 percent in their first day of trading on Friday, as the first major U.S. private-equity firm went public and minted billions of dollars of new wealth for its founders.

Blackstone Group LP priced its initial public offering at the top end of the range on Thursday, even as lawmakers pushed for its delay, raising $4.13 billion in the largest U.S. IPO since 2002.

The governor of the Chinese province shaken by a slave labor scandal publicly apologized on Friday, as officials described farmers, children and mentally impaired people snatched into a grim rural underworld.

China’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) may rise by 3.3 percent this year, surpassing the government’s annual 3 percent target rate, according to a government report.

Gas exploration talks between Japan and China over a disputed area in the East China Sea will be held next Tuesday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

China on Thursday forgave Iraq's debt owed to the Chinese government and pledged to help rebuild the country's war-shattered economy.

Top U.S. consumer electronics retail chain Best Buy Co. Inc. is speeding up its expansion in China, banking on robust demand in a fast-growing market that it entered just one year ago.

Morgan Stanley, a top Wall Street firm, has raised an $8 billion real estate fund through its property arm to focus on North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

From depressed investment to bulging foreign exchange reserves, Asia's economies are still deeply marked by the legacy of the financial crisis that engulfed the region a decade ago.

China decreased its holdings of U.S. government debt in April for the first time in 18 months, but this may not be the bearish signal it appears to be for U.S. Treasury bonds.

Google Inc. has won preliminary approval from Beijing to provide Internet content in China, the firm said on Wednesday, potentially allowing it to offer news in the world's second-largest Internet market.

Globaliz ation is good, but people are earning less of the wealth generated by economic growth and integration as the decades go by, the OECD said on Tuesday.

Cadbury Schweppes Plc, the world's largest confectionery group, plans to cut 7,500 jobs and close around ten plants as it seeks to catch up with the profitability of U.S. rivals after the sale of its drinks arm.

China Mobile, the world's largest cellular phone operator, is planning a multibillion-dollar share sale in Shanghai as early as next month to attract domestic investors, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to pay 94 million yuan ($12.3 million) for a stake in Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. and will form a cooperative alliance with the TV and electrical appliance maker, the Chinese company said on Monday.

Hong Kong and Shanghai listed shares would be allowed. Talks are underway.