CHINA

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 1.2 to 1.3 percent.

Stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 down 1.2 to 1.3 percent.

China's yuan exchange rate is within a basically reasonable level, and it is not the root cause of the China-U.S. trade imbalance, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in remarks published on Monday.

Gold prices gained nearly 1 percent on Monday after Greece's politicians sealed a deal to form a coalition government, while continued uncertainty about resolving the zone's debt crisis supported safe-haven demand in bullion.

A human resources graduate from Venezuela, whose ambition is to work with children, was crowned Miss World 2011 at a glittering beauty pageant in London on Sunday.

Australian explosives maker Orica Ltd is optimistic that 2012 will be less challenging than the year just-ended, with strong explosives demand from miners, a milder headwind from currency moves and fewer one-off problems.

Wall Street may find it hard to rally this week as Greece's new and untested coalition begins the process of ratifying a 130 billion-euro lifeline and the fate of Italy's government hangs by a thread.

BP's $7 billion deal to sell its stake in South America's Pan American Energy has collapsed because of legal issues, the would-be Chinese and Argentine buyers said on Sunday.

Financial aid to rescue Europe's debt-stricken countries is set to dominate talks between Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, and Russia's president, government and monetary officials during her visit to Moscow.

The United States should be more open about its development of offensive cyber weapons and spell out when it will use them as it grapples with an increasing barrage of attacks by foreign hackers, the former No. 2 uniformed officer in the U.S. military said.

In a bizarre incident, a medical team in a hospital in southern China disposed of a live baby after mistakenly diagnosing it as a stillbirth. The shocking incident took place at the Nanhai Red Cross Hospital in the Guangdong provincial city of Foshan on Oct. 26.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is presenting a rare exhibition of masterpieces of 17th century Ming Loyalist Art that will be on display until Jan. 2.

The heads of China's largest technology companies have endorsed Beijing's aim to intensify controls of online social media, pledging to stop the spread of harmful information on the Internet, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.

China is confident that Europe will be able to overcome its debt crisis, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, adding stability in the Eurozone was crucial for the global economic recovery.

Tokyo's Fashion's Night Out was not just fashionable, it was momentous. For the first time, Vogue editors from around the globe joined forces to celebrate the premiere of Japan's Fashion's Night Out in Tokyo. Anna Wintour led the chic clique of 17, for her first visit to the country in more than 20 years.

G20 leaders are likely to meet before their next scheduled summit in February to try and restore market confidence battered by the euro zone debt crisis, Canada's finance minister said on Saturday, while Germany's Angela Merkel said it would take a decade to turn around the currency bloc.

A genetically engineered smallpox vaccine reduced the risk of death for patients with advanced liver cancer by nearly 60 percent in a mid-stage study, prompting the launch of a later-stage trial.

G20 leaders are likely to meet before their next scheduled summit in February to try and restore market confidence battered by the euro zone debt crisis,

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday it would take a decade before the Eurozone was in a better position and there was much work left to be done to solve the bloc's sovereign-debt crisis.

For the upcoming Fashion Night Out event in Tokyo, Japan, 17 international Vogue editors from across the globe have converged to promote sales of designer garments and accessories on Nov.5, 2011.