CHINA

The world's population reaches seven billion and urbanization increases.

At year-end, Brazil’s GDP is expected to hit $2.44 trillion, just a hair above the $2.43 trillion figure for the UK.

As the world population reaches 7 billion on Oct. 31, we take a look at the impact the rising population will have on the world's megacities.

HTC Corp warned its sales in the fourth quarter, traditionally a bumper sales season for smartphones, would drop below the previous quarter and analysts' forecasts as the Taiwanese firm struggles to compete against bigger rivals.

Greater currency flexibility from China and other emerging economies will be reviewed by G20 leaders this week as they focus on the need for balanced global economic growth, a top U.S. Treasury official said on Monday.

China, the world's largest iron ore purchaser, has held talks with with Vale SA, Rio Tinto Group, and BHP Billiton Ltd. in order t set a new pricing system after a large crash in market prices.

Markets have over-interpreted comments by incoming European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on the bank's readiness to go on buying the bonds of troubled euro zone states, outgoing ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said.

Investors were so concerned that euro zone leaders would not reach agreement on solving the debt crisis in October that they cut equity holdings to the second lowest level in 12 months, Reuters polls showed on Monday.

The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.

Global unemployment now already exceeds 200 million, the highest level ever reported.

The seven-billionth human is expected to be born on Monday, but an expert who helps do the counting says that event comes as the Earth undergoes a demographic shift toward slower population growth.

Ratings agency Moody's has cut its outlook for the European steel industry to negative and said it expects demand to weaken by up to 4 percent in the next 12 months, as the industry faces economic strain and weak construction and auto markets.

A slide in iron ore prices has driven miners to alter costly quarterly contracts to please Chinese clients, but spot pricing, which magnifies the impact of price swings, is still distant.

Banks led European shares lower on Monday, giving up some of last week's hefty gains as demand for detail on the recent euro zone debt deal teed up a weak end to a bumper month, with the broader market on course to snap a five-month losing streak.

Banks led European shares lower on Monday, giving up some of last week's hefty gains as demand for detail on the recent euro zone debt deal teed up a weak end to a bumper month, with the broader market on course to snap a five-month losing streak.

China has shut 50 microblogs for distributing pornography and carrying vulgar content, state media said on Monday, as the government steps up monitoring of the internet.

Dressed in hues of red, golden and off-white, models donned exclusive wedding dresses, as they walked the ramp at the China Fashion Week in Beijing on Sunday.

Beijing on Monday denied a U.S. commission's claim that China may have been responsible for hacking incidents on U.S. environment-monitoring satellites, saying that the committee had ulterior motives in writing such a draft report.

The China unit of investment bank JP Morgan has won approval to become a trading member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the eighth foreign financial institute to obtain such membership, said the exchange on its Web stie (www.sge.com.cn).

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp said on Monday it sees slightly lower revenue and shipments in the fourth quarter than in the third, citing uncertainties from new models going to be launched by the company and competitors, as well as global economic invisibility.

Fueled by wider Eurozone summit rally, industry-specific news out of Germany and a trader-driven assessment that share prices might have reached technical bottoms, shares in various solar panel manufacturers surged Thursday and Friday. Disappointing industry developments, the possibility of negative surprises coming out of China, and the increasingly unforgiving economics of the business, however, mean the industry could face a very stormy fourth quarter.