CHINA

America's economy is barely growing, and policy-makers are searching for solutions. If only Apple made its popular iPhone and iPad in America. The unemployment rate would shrink, and the economy would get moving again.

vVllages have been demolished and thousands of residents have been forced out of their homes, while many others still face eviction.

Despite the S&P downgrade of the United States, Russia announced that it has no plans to make an immediate change to its U.S. dollar-denominated gold or foreign exchange reserves, a senior Russian bank official has confirmed.

Sudan has granted its main ally and oil buyer China more oil exploration rights as both countries seek to boost ties, Sudan's foreign minister said.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao urged nations to work together to stabilize turbulent financial markets on Tuesday as global stocks swooned on fears the world economy is headed for a downturn.

The boisterous sold-out Klagenfurt center court stadium crowd gave much deserving of the numerous standing ovations to USA's legendary Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh after they won the gold medal Saturday to complete a run of seven consecutive victories over a world-class field at the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour A1 Women's Grand Slam.

BlackRock will use profits it is making in gold and bond markets to seek out bargains in falling global equity markets, James Holt, investment strategist at the world's largest money manager, said on Tuesday.

The Swiss franc hovered near record highs against the dollar and euro in Asia on Tuesday, having surged on the back of a global stock market rout as a crisis of confidence gripped investors.

Stink bugs did not get their names for no reason - they emit an unbearable smell similar to that of rotting garbage when squashed. And now these stink bugs, which caused $37 million worth of damage last year, are returning with a mission to invade, after waking up from hibernation.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has assured President Obama he will keep his position through the current term, despite calls for him to resign in light of the S&P downgrade.

Mauritius is cutting its foreign reserve exposure to the U.S. dollar and the euro due to debt concerns in both regions by purchasing commodity currencies and is eyeing government securities from some of the BRIC nations, it said on Monday.

China's foreign minister was due to meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday for the highest-level talks between the two allies in the Sudanese capital since South Sudan seceded to form an independent state.

President Robert Mugabe said on Monday Zimbabwe would punish firms from Western states who have slapped sanctions on senior officials in his ZANU-PF party, warning that global miners including Rio Tinto could be hit.

In 1986, Moody?s and Standard & Poor?s cut Australia?s debt rating, prompting the Canberra government to impose strict budget cuts.

Credit ratings agency S&P threw a monkey wrench in the works by downgrading its long-term credit rating for the U.S. from AAA to AA+, just days after President Obama signed a debt-limit compromise.

The crises at the heart of the international financial and political system go beyond the debt woes currently gripping the Western world and to the heart of the way the global economy has been run for over two decades.

Recent unrest in Xinjiang ? blamed by the national government on Uighur Muslim militants -- has led to dozens of deaths.

U.S. markets shed as much as two percent at the open Monday, on news of the S&P's U.S. debt rating downgrade and subsequent plummets in global markets overnight.

At one time during the trading session, the Kospi index was down by as much as 7.4 percent.

The U.S. credit rating downgrade could have easily been avoided, but political power struggles in Washington got in the way. Now, markets are reeling and damage has been done. But it's not too late to fix the problem, so that Moody's and other ratings agencies keep the U.S. with a AAA rating.

It is not clear that Moody's or Fitch will follow suit and cut the U.S. credit rating.