CHINA

Charles Dickens will be feted around the world next year in literature, film, theater, music and art, underlining his international cultural impact 200 years after his birth.

Prudent interventions by major central banks averted a global financial calamity during the financial crisis’ acute stage three years ago. Another intervention to address Europe may be needed, and should be implemented, if central bank officials deem it necessary.

Anglo-Dutch publishing and events group Reed Elsevier Plc/NV posted a 1 percent rise in underlying sales for the first nine months of the year and said macroeconomic uncertainty had had only a marginal effect on its results.

Google, Facebook, Mozilla, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, AOL, LinkedIn and Zynga wrote a joint letter to Congress, urging the House of Representatives to prevent the Stop Online Piracy Act from becoming law.

In what appears to be a rapidly developing trend, Chinese visitors to the United States are being noticed more for the flash of their newly-bought designer bags than that of their Nikons. Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF), Coach, Inc. (NYSE:COH) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) are just a few of the companies in the luxury retail sector that have recently noted how higher revenue at their North American operations has largely been boosted by Chinese shoppers on vacation.

An advertising campaign that depicts President Barack Obama kissing two male world leaders on the mouth drew a critical response from the White House on Thursday.

Into a traditional northern New England town under pressure from chain stores and cell phone towers, its old family farms struggling, comes Hattie Kong, half-Chinese and newly widowed.

China’s millionaires want out. And if Congress is smart, it will lure them to the United States, along with others who aren’t quite so rich.

Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping praised Mugabe as an old friend of China.

General Electric, the biggest U.S. conglomerate, announced plans to hire as many as 400 more software engineers for a new global center in San Ramon, Calif. The company said it plans to spend as much as $1 billion on software development through 2015.

The U.S. military now has a legal framework to cover offensive operations in cyberspace, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command said Wednesday, less than a month after terming this a work in progress.

China and India, the world's biggest mobile phone markets, are building fourth-generation (4G) networks based on the long-term evolution (LTE) technology.

President Barack Obama said Thursday the U.S. military will expand its role in the Asia-Pacific region despite budget cuts, declaring America was here to stay as a Pacific power which would help shape the region's future.

Growing investor demand for silver will help boost its price above $50 per ounce by the end of next year, a top official at Thomson Reuters GFMS said Wednesday.

China-based Qihoo 360 Technology Co (QIHU.N) posted better-than-expected quarterly results and forecast strong revenue for the current quarter as the provider of antivirus software draws more money from online advertising.

LANDesk Software, the venerable desktop management systems developer, is tapping into the burgeoning market of mobile platforms with new security systems.

The new ad campaign is part of Benetton's Unhate Foundation.

Several factors are at work in oil's latest push back above the psychologically-significant $100 per barrel level -- a price that U.S. motorists wince at.

According to the rumor mill the successor to the Xbox 360 could be some sort of cloud-gaming hybrid mixing physical discs with an online service. Analysts have been busy trying to figure out Microsoft's next move.

Five different Chinese environmental groups told Apple that as many as 22 different parts suppliers of Apple products had been releasing toxic gases and heavy metal sludge into the environment.

The conflict between humanity and nature has never been as serious as it is today.