JAPAN

Asian shares rose Friday on better-than-expected demand for Italian sovereign debt, shrugging off the failed rocket launch by North Korea before the markets opened.

A stronger firewall is needed to protect the world economy from Europe's debt crisis, but the International Monetary Fund may not need as much money as it thought just a few months ago, the head of the global lender said on Thursday.

Japan is ready to shoot down the North Korea's Unha-3 rocket with its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 land-to-air missiles if the rocket flies over Japanese airspace.

Trade growth is expected to slow for a second year in 2012 amid severe downside risks that could push it even further below the 20-year average of 5.4 percent, the Geneva-based body forecast Thursday.

Shares of Micron Technology (NYSE: MU), the only U.S. independent maker of memory chips, rose 5 percent after it announced plans to sell convertible senior notes valued at $1 billion.

India and China are headed for an absolute catastrophe of death and disease because of likely massive jump in asbestos-related diseases in the coming decades, says a report written by Pulitzer winning journalist Gary Cohn.

The US reclaimed the top position as the biggest investor in clean energy last year, with clean energy finance and investment witnessing a growth $48 billion, a 42 percent increase over 2010, according to a global rank list published in a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Japan's government stuck to its assessment that the economy is slowly recovering on Thursday but raised its view on exports, saying overseas shipments are showing signs of stabilizing on a moderate pickup in the United States and some return in Asian demand.

Global biopharmaceutical firm Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) has agreed to buy KAI Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company based in San Francisco, for $315 million in cash.

The Commander of North Korea's Satellite Integrated Control Center said on Wednesday that a satellite had already been successfully installed into the rocket and that the Unha-3 was now being fueled.

The federal income tax for 30 companies was negative during the four-year period, even though they brought in a combined $205 billion in gross profit.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, a Japanese man who raped and killed British teacher Lindsay Hawker, lost an appeal against his life sentence.

A global cyber arms race is engulfing the Internet and the best way to counter the rapidly escalating threat is combining the efforts of U.S. agencies, private firms and international allies, cyber security officials said on Tuesday.

Well over half of people globally use the Internet to search for information on entertainment and hobbies, according to a new survey.

Japan's core machinery orders rose in February against all expectations, indicating that the country’s economy is in the path of recovery in spite of deflationary pressures, a strengthening currency and decreasing foreign demand.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson said on Wednesday he plans to spend $35 billion on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain where he is courting the country's two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

An 8.2-magnitude temblor struck 618 kilometers off the coast of Aceh province, epicenter of the December 2004 tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Asia. Two hours earlier, a magnitude-8.6 quake struck off Sumatra.

Asian stock markets declined Wednesday, following an overnight slump in Wall Street as surge in Spain’s borrowing costs reignited concern over the eurozone debt crisis.

The Bank of Japan will consider easing monetary policy at its next rate review on April 27 by boosting government bond purchases under its asset-buying program, sources familiar with the central bank's thinking said, as it battles to nudge consumer inflation toward its 1 percent target.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson said on Wednesday that he plans to spend $35 billion on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain, where he is courting the country's two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

Japan's core machinery orders rose unexpectedly in February, reinforcing expectations that rebuilding in the earthquake-battered northeast will bolster corporate spending and economic recovery although risks loom from a resurgent yen and wobbly overseas economies.