CHINA

A global banking crisis will erupt unless Europe properly deals with Greece's debt problems, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Wednesday, notably hardening his criticism of European authorities.

Gold fell by more than 3 percent on Thursday, set for its largest monthly decline since January, after the Federal Reserve's move to boost U.S. growth lifted the dollar, which battered the commodities complex.

After 85 of 150 voting districts have been tallied, Sata leads the race with 43 percent of the vote, compared to President Banda's 36 percent. However, Banda still leads in the most recent opinion polls.

China banned an annual dog-eating festival after a large public outcry over the way the animals were killed. The event in Qianxi Township outside Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province has been going on for 600 years, but both local and international outrage has stopped the event.

China-focused Silvercorp Metals Inc said on Thursday that it has so far bought back some 4.5 million common shares worth about $35 million, as the company fights back against allegations of fraud.

China's manufacturing sector contracted for a third consecutive month in September while a measure of inflation picked up, suggesting the world's No.2 economy may not be able to provide much of a counterweight to flagging U.S. and European growth.

China will have to wait for another two decades, if not longer, before hosting another Olympic Games to give other nations a fair chance, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge told the official Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

U.S. stocks have opened sharply lower in Thursday morning trading following an overnight plunge in global markets. Equities have tumbled largely in response to the Federal Reserve’s grim warning about the state of the U.S. economy and the establishment bond swap program.

Zambia held presidential elections Tuesday, but two days later only 85 of the country's 150 constituencies have reported results, sparking wide-scale unrest in the country and again bringing up fraud allegations. While all eyes are on Zambia, one nation's gaze is especially fixed: China.

Talk is cheap that the U.S. is merely in slow-growth mode more than two years after the official end to the recession, says Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market and predicted the 2008 recession.

NASA astronomers, who used Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and captured a black hole's flaring active jets, have been benefited with the new rare discovery in many ways.

Foreign equities tumbled largely in response to the Federal Reserve’s grim warning about the state of the U.S. economy.

Commodities skidded on Thursday as investors scrambled to liquidate after a U.S. Federal Reserve warning, coupled with signs of slower growth in China and Europe, stoked worries about slowing demand for fuels and metals.

Gold fell on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve's widely-anticipated move to boost U.S. growth lifted the dollar but pummelled global equities and hit the entire commodities complex.

Spot gold slipped on Thursday under the weight of a rallying dollar, after falling more than 1 percent in the previous session when the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its plan to load up long-term securities and offered a grim economic outlook.

A grim outlook for the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve and signs of a slowing China and Germany drove world stocks sharply lower on Thursday and pushed investors into safer currencies and government bonds.

Europe's debt crisis is the biggest threat to the global economy, the Treasury said on Wednesday, and it called on European policymakers to provide unequivocal support to banks and governments under stress.

Jefferies reiterated its positive stance on Digital China Holdings Ltd. as the underlying fundamentals of the company's business look strong particularly in the context of an uncertain macro environment.

A meeting of emerging economies on Thursday will consider a Brazilian proposal to buy European bonds to help crisis-hit euro zone countries, South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Wednesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 futures down between 1.4 to 1.8 percent at 0923 GMT.

North Korea wants a second round of dialogue with the United States, possibly next month, as part of renewed efforts to restart talks on disabling the its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said Thursday.