CHINA

Shaky Europe. Political gridlock. Volatile markets. Familiar themes for those who lived through this year, and investors should be ready to revisit them next year.

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Toronto's main stock index closed higher on Friday, the last trading day of the year, as financial and resource shares rallied on signs the U.S. economy was recovering, but the jump was not enough to avert the market's first year-on-year decline since 2008.

China's most wanted man, who was deported from Canada in July after a decades-long legal battle, has admitted to his crimes and will now be handed over to prosecutors, state media reported on Friday.

India’s relationship with North Korea seems rather strange -- however, from a purely geo-political strategic basis, perhaps it makes sense.

Shaanxi province has suffered the worst damage – losing more than 3,700 cultural sites, followed by Hunan (2474) and Hebei (1924).

A new California law will force retailers and manufacturers to disclose from 2012 how they guard against slavery and human trafficking throughout their supply chains, ratcheting up scrutiny over some of the largest U.S. corporations.

The year 2011 was the year of the protester. What will 2012 bring?

A nuclear-powered Iran poses a grave threat not only to the Jewish state, but to the entire Middle East, warned Israeli defense chief.

Europe's markets closed slightly higher Friday, but ended 2011 with large losses. In 2011 London's FTSE 100 declined 5.6 percent, Germany's DAX fell 14.7 percent, and France's CAC 40 finished the year with a 17 percent decline.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. announced that it intends to set up an environmental protection fund of its own, months after ConocoPhillips said in September it intended to compensate local Chinese communities and pay for environmental damage following a spill at one of the company's offshore rigs in Northern China.

Out with the old year, in with the new and for investors uncertainty is likely to be the only certainty once more.

Shaky economy notwithstanding, Americans intend to travel farther and spend more in 2012, according to a nationwide poll.

As America begins to put its military pieces back together again after the end to a nine-year campaign in Iraq amid threats from Iran that it may close the Strait of Hormuz, the most vital corridor for oil-tanker traffic in the world, the reality is that another conflict may be looming in the Middle East.

European shares were poised to register their biggest annual drop since 2008 on Friday after a year marred by the Eurozone debt crisis that has threatened to drag down the global economy.

Japan's leading share average ended higher on Friday but marked a 17 percent loss for 2011, a tumultuous year in which massive natural disasters triggered a nuclear crisis and Europe's debt turmoil drained volumes, leaving investors uncertain of a turnaround next year.

Gold prices began the final trading day of 2011 higher as bargain hunters took advantage of a recent downdraft that has left the metal with its first fourth-quarter loss in more than three years.

Investors from across the globe have turned their focus on to the art market in order to seek refuge from the ongoing financial turmoil by placing their money into art instead of stocks.

Asian stocks nudged higher and the euro clung to overnight gains Friday, the last trading day of 2011, as positive data from the United States helped allay concerns on the global economy, while year-end short covering lifted crude prices.

Syrian security forces shot dead 25 people on Thursday, including in cities being visited by Arab League monitors to check whether President Bashar al-Assad is keeping a pledge to end a crackdown on popular unrest.

Paul Christoforo and his Ocean Marketing firm were dumped by N-Control Wednesday after a rude exchange with a customer went public. In an exclusive interview with the IBTimes, Christoforo discusses the incident, hate mail, and his future.