CHINA

Asian stocks fell on Friday, extending the worst monthly performance since the most volatile days of the global financial crisis in October 2008, with Chinese shares racking up sharp losses.

Asian stocks steadied on Friday with big gains unlikely as investors looked to take profits after three days of gains, while the euro held its tiny increase following Germany's approval to expand the euro zone bailout fund.

Bain Capital and Carlyle Group are among three private equity firms bidding for auto parts supplier TI Automotive in an auction that could fetch around $1.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Stocks mostly rose in a volatile session on Thursday as stronger-than-expected economic data and German approval of a beefed-up euro-zone crisis fund relieved two of the worst fears hanging over the market.

There have long been suspicions that Chinese companies which are listed on U.S. bourses do not adhere to strict accounting standards

Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has been accused of plagiarism for a series of paintings in his New York exhibit, suspected to have been copied from well-known photographs rather than inspired from his travels.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq led stocks lower on Thursday as investors continued to fret about weakness in the global economy and Wall Street looked set to limp to its worst quarter in three years.

Gold prices hovered in a tight range Thursday as bullish and bearish forces pinned the yellow metal to a virtual standstill.

The storm has already caused significant damage in the Philippines –killing at least 39 people and rendering another 45 missing -- and also shut down activity on Hong Kong.

When Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm, takes on the euro crisis and Greece, you know it's going to offer a fresh perspective.

Amid a sluggish U.S. economy with inadequate job growth, there has been one unabashed bright spot: home mortgage interest rates, currently about 4.10 percent for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, are the lowest in decades. Is now a good time to take the plunge a purchase a home?

China has embarked on a plan to launch a new space lab on Thursday beginning with the lift off of its 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 space module. Developing nations across the world are launching space and science research that could put them on the path to charting their own future.

Even before China's great stock market bull run of 2006-2007, Wang Jianzhong had become known as China's god of stocks for his prescient picks.

A rocket carrying Tiangong-1, Chian's first space lab, launched on Thursday.

Typhoon Nesat, known as Typhoon Pedring to locals when it hit the Philippines earlier in the week, has reached China. Markets and schools were shut in Hong Kong and the storm is moving across the coast to the Hainan Province.

Nokia shares have plunged almost 49 percent year-to-date.

Typhoon Nesat hit Hainan Island in South China on Thursday after it had struck Hong Kong forcing markets, schools and businesses to close in one of Asia's most important financial centers.

Ford Motor Co. on Thursday stuck to its target of adding 7,000 jobs in the U.S. over the next two years, saying it sees an economic expansion there and not a double-dip recession.

China on Thursday began an eight-hour countdown to the launch of its Tiangong-1 space laboratory module.

Bob Dylan's paintings exhibited at a New York art gallery have drawn criticism for similarities to several well-known photographs.

A string of Chinese entrepreneurs have gone into hiding to avoid repaying loans, according to state media reports, highlighting a credit squeeze on private firms and the dangers of steep interest rates in China's vast and growing informal lending market.