CHINA

Crude oil prices advanced slightly and hovered above $92 a barrel in Asia Thursday as better-than-expected economic reports from the U.S. and China eased concerns over the global growth slowdown.

Asian stocks gained Thursday with investor sentiment turning positive as data from China showed that the world’s second largest economy grew as expected in the third quarter, decreasing the concerns about the rapidly worsening economic conditions.

According to the official data released Thursday, China’s industrial production rose in September compared to that in the previous month, indicating an upswing in the manufacturing output.

China’s growth slowed again last quarter, to its lowest level since early 2009, the government announced Thursday morning.

Asian shares rose to their highest in seven months Thursday, boosted by a surge in U.S. housing starts that has followed other positive economic data.

Despite slowing sales, McDonald's is expected to serve up a $1.48 per share this quarter with a side of extra dividend.

Two U.S. servicemen have been arrested on charges of raping a Japanese woman in Okinawa, where the U.S. has a large military presence. Local residents have responded with protests calling for a reduction in U.S. troops there.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced that a new bill is in the works to ban public smoking.

Spanish police launched an operation against a Chinese gang in Madrid that had been laundering hundreds of millions of dollars made from evading import duties, prostitution and extortion.

Top global electronics brands Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Nokia, Google and Amazon share a common problem: they're customers of Taiwan’s Foxconn.

Bilateral India-Australia trade currently amounts to $20-billion, and it's increasing at a rate of 20 percent annually.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) will slow production pending shipment of Windows 8 by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).

Globally, the number of smartphone users has risen above a billion for the first time ever, in the third quarter of 2012, a report released by US research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics stated Wednesday.

Questions about pay equity and gun control finally came up, and Romney tried to convince Americans that his tax policy plan's math adds up.

The company admitted that some students in its summer internship were below the Chinese legal minimum working age of 16.

Despite a huge U.S. federal debt and prospects of a so-called fiscal cliff, foreign governments continue to snap up U.S. government debt.

Microsoft announced that a special limited-quantity pre-order for Surface with Windows RT had been made available at 9 a.m. PDT on Tuesday. The announcement about pre-orders came after the company revealed the price and market availability details both of its ARM-based Surface RT tablets.

After being widely criticized for appearing disengaged in round one, President Obama comes out swinging.

The South African rhino population is approaching a mathematical brink that could eventually spell the end of a species.

76-year-old Zhu Shumei has played basketball every day for 20 years as an escape from her rough life.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reports that the deserted nuclear experiment site where scientists worked more than half a century ago to develop the county’s first atomic bomb will soon open to the public in an attempt to boost "red tourism."