IBT Staff Reporter

The potential for a silver, but greasy, lining to a cloudy story about quality control and food safety in China.

North Korea's now got its own version of the loveable Disney pantheon, but the phenomenon is revealing of much more than Americanization across the globe.

Russia isn't the first place that comes to mind when thinking of free speech, but that's exactly where the second World Media Summit was held. Attendees including BBC and CNN heard about a free press from Vladimir Putin, and about world harmony from the North Koreans.

Asian shares crawled higher on Tuesday after sharp losses the day before but gains were limited as investors, worried about a global economic deceleration, waited for Chinese trade data due later in the day that could set the tone for risk appetite.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Sunday the return of sovereign bond yields to dangerous levels last seen before the European Union summit in June is a concern and needs to be addressed by euro zone finance ministers.

China and India are set to sink billions of dollars into Afghanistan, perhaps the world's last great untapped center for natural resources. Where is the U.S.?

Eighteen years after China first started construction, nine years after it first started producing electricity, the world's largest power station is now, finally, fully operational.

Investors in Research In Motion Ltd should not re-elect one-time lead director John Richardson to the board of the struggling BlackBerry maker at Tuesday's annual meeting, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said.

The race to become Yahoo Inc's next chief executive appears to have come down to two candidates: current interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and Hulu CEO Jason Kilar.

Old allies have a new mission: rebuilding the Cuban economy

A major study released by Japan's first-ever independent commission appointed by Parliament says the nuclear disaster was ultimately caused by government-business collusion but lays blame on Japan's society as well.

France's new Socialist government announced tax rises worth 7.2 billion euros on Wednesday, including heavy one-off levies on wealthy households and big corporations, to plug a revenue shortfall this year caused by flagging economic growth.

Chinese, Indian and Japanese navies in the Gulf of Aden show a sense of pragmatism and cooperation among their forces, but wariness of China's military is unlikely to lift anytime soon in East Asia.

The government says it's taking shark fin off the state menu, but the rest of the country still hasn't lost its taste for the delicacy.

The Kurils are a chain of islands four thousand miles from Moscow, with horrible weather and a sparse, poor population. But they are on Japan's doorstep, and promise mineral and natural riches - and that's why Prime minister Medvedev is there

The rocky relationship between the Chinese government and the Western media is changing, as Chinese-language editions multiply. Meanwhile, Chinese media are eyeing the West too.

China's services sector expanded at its fastest pace in three months in June, an official survey showed on Tuesday, but left intact market expectations that Beijing will deliver more policy measures to support growth in the near future.

Asian shares inched up on Tuesday as manufacturing data around the world highlighted the drag on growth from the protracted euro zone debt crisis, raising expectations for the Federal Reserve to take further steps to underpin the fragile economy.

Tokyo's firebrand governor Shintaro Ishihara and the Chinese Foreign Ministry are at it again. This time it's over the naming of a pair of panda bears. Really.

Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius is expected to resign on Monday over the Libor interest-rate scandal, the BBC and the Guardian said on Sunday.

The Fragrant Harbor was passed from British to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. Today, it's still torn between its Western-style freedoms and the Beijing model.

Spain's economy shrank further in the second quarter but looks set to stabilize over the rest of the year while the government continues to push structural reforms and budget austerity, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Sunday.

China's factory downturn worsened in June as a key activity index hit a seven-month low; the report is expected to raise expectations that the central bank may seek more policy easing.

How powerful is the Syrian military? How do Western nations stack up against it? And would it be wise to intervene in the first place?

The two countries are set to sign a historic General Security Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) to allow classified military intelligence sharing on Friday.

A grim tale of local abuse heats up tempers over China's population control policy.

Asian shares rose on Thursday on encouraging U.S. economic data, but prices could falter with markets tense ahead of a European summit deeply divided on how to tackle the protracted euro zone debt crisis and stop it spreading further.

Stockton, California, is expected to file for bankruptcy before the end of the week, becoming the largest U.S. city to seek protection from its creditors.

Latin America and China are closer than ever, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is touring the continent with a bucketful of money. Everybody wins? Some critics are skeptical