CHINA

Faced with rising gas prices, Chinese citizens are becoming increasingly frustrated. In late March, the price at the pump in China for regular gasoline reached over 8 yuan per liter, or over $4.8 per gallon. Premium gasoline in China now sells for more than $5 per gallon.

On April 28, 2011, a 17-year-old boy traveled to Chenzhou City in the Hunan Province of China to sell his kidney for a new iPad 2. One year later, the boy's health is quickly deteriorating, and five people have been charged with intentional injury.

Alcoa Inc., the U.S. aluminum giant, said Thursday it will reduce its annual total alumina production capacity by 2 percent this year, aimed at matching output with its plans to reduce smelter capacity amid global oversupply that has hurt prices.

HTC One X has plunged a stiff competition for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3 super smartphone. The quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked Android device was announced at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona in February and since then it has been getting a lot of attention for being a serious threat to Samsung's next best addition

So far this week, U.S. industrial giants have announced nearly $3 billion will be invested in new operations and research in Brazil, China and India three cornerstone members of the BRICS countries.

The drought in Yunnan province in the Southwest has already affected more than 6.3 million people, and marks a new high in China's environmental troubles

The head of China's national pension fund called for a bigger role for the Chinese currency in the international monetary system, saying the yuan could someday account for 10 percent of global reserves.

The incipient China branch of the international hacker organization Anonymous has hacked hundreds of mainland Chinese websites.

China's auto industry will enjoy an $11.6 billion boost in the coming year, as Ford (NYSE: F) and Volvo try to increase output and market share in Asia.

GM sales in China rose sharply in March, a somewhat unexpected increase, as competitors in the country are seeing only modest gains. Sales were driven into high gear by the six-speed Buick Excelle, a luxury sedan manufactured locally that -- at over $20,000 -- is an icon of achievement for the burgeoning upper middle-class in China.

China has further opened up its domestic share markets for foreign participation, in a bid to ease the tight controls for investments by qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs).

The U.S. titan will provide technology services to Eike Batista's EBX Group and acquire a 20 percent stake in EBX subsidiary SIX Automacao.

Wall Street was set for a lower open despite data showing ongoing healing in the labor market, as a rise in Spanish bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health.

Swedish carmaker Volvo , owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, plans to spend $11 billion on developing new products and boosting its manufacturing footprint in the next few years, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as a rise in Spanish bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health, and as investors awaited report on jobless claims.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as a rise in Spanish bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health, and as investors awaited a closely watched report on jobless claims.

Stock index futures fell on Thursday as a rise in Spanish bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health, and as investors awaited a closely watched report on jobless claims.

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Thursday with futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones up 0.3 percent, while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.1 percent at 04.08 a.m. EDT.

The top aftermarket NYSE gainers Wednesday were: Cinemark Holdings, Constellation Brands, E-Commerce China Dangdang, National Bank of Greece, Sprint Nextel Corp and Aviva plc. The top aftermarket NYSE losers were: Ruby Tuesday, McClatchy, CTS Corp, Standard Pacific Corp, InvenSense and MGIC Investment.

Most of the Asian stock markets ended lower Thursday, tracking overnight declines from Wall Street after a disappointing Spanish bond auction.

At its summit this week in Cambodia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations struggled to come to a consensus on how to deal with China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.