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According to market figures released by research firm IDC, China is bound to overtake the U.S. in smartphone shipments by the end of 2012, becoming the leading market. IDC’s latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker forecast that China’s smartphone market will climb from 18.2 percent in 2011 to 20.7 percent in 2012, while U.S.’ market would drop from 21.3 to 20.6 percent over the same timeframe.

Though there are signs of recovery, the debt crisis in the developed markets and rising oil prices add to the risk factors looming large over the global economy.

The potential growth rate in Japan is low due to a shrinking population as well as slow capital accumulation and without acceleration in productivity growth a shrinking labor force will cause GDP to contract, although GDP per capita is likely to continue to rise according to Capital Economics.

Earlier this week, Cumulus Media sent out an email blast to fellow radio station owners with a photoshopped picture of former U.S. Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, promoting him as the conservative talk radio host of the future.

Seven employees from a non-profit organization created by Newmont Mining's Peruvian subsidiary have been detained by townspeople near the company's stalled $4.8 billion Conga mine, the group said on Friday.

Gold was largely unchanged on Friday, but posted its second-biggest weekly decline this year due to an early week drop after the FederalReserve withheld additional easing amid a string of encouraging U.S. economic data.

The Hermitage Plaza twin tower received planning permission last week, ushering in a new wave of skyscraper building in Paris's La Défense.

Scientists are better able to study cells thanks to an inkjet printer modified to print cells

China's Cinda Asset Management Corp., which was formed in 1999 to buy bad loans from Chinese banks, received 10.4 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) from four institutional investors as the state-controlled company prepares for an IPO.

Venezuela's state-run oil company will terminate all ventures with Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), the biggest U.S. oil company, when arbitration proceedings conclude, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

India, the world's No. 1 gold buyer, plans to double the duty on imports of the precious metal, according to reports Friday, its second such move this year. Gold prices fell nearly 1 percent.

The government of Argentina will continue to tighten its grip on the economy as widening economic distortions put the country under increased stress.

James Whittaker, a Microsoft executive who recently left Google after about three years, posted his Why I Left Google tell-all on a Microsoft blog a day before Greg Smith had his scathing Goldman Sachs op-ed posted in the New York Times. The Smith op-ed has taken the Internet and news world by storm in the first 24 hours since being posted. A London based executive director for the investment banking giant Goldman Sachs, Smith fired off a searing report March 14 on the company's toxic and des...

China's foreign direct investment in February fell for the fourth straight month as companies tightened spending amid a slowdown in the world's second-largets economy and the ongoign European sovereign debt crisis.

The retirement letter from Goldman Sachs Executive Director Greg Smith, which was published as an op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday, has been the talk of the town and likely reason the company lost market value on Wednesday.

Whenever any event occurs, it seems like the Japanese create a short animated, albeit ridiculous, video about the subject. And of course, they even found a way to animate Greg Smith's op-ed about Goldman Sachs.

Why did Greg Smith's resignation letter go viral on the Internet?

Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. (BoCom) will raise $8.9 billion in a share sale to current shareholders like HSBC and the Chinese Ministry of Finance. The bank's shares were suspended on Thursday in advance of the announcement.

The Indian Budget, which will be tabled in the Parliament Friday, is expected to incorporate same features as the previous budget, as the country faces challenging economic conditions and uncertain political scenario.

Shares of Apple hit $600 for the first time, boosting the computer and electronics developer’s market capitalization above $560 billion.

Claims for jobless benefits fell back to a four-year low of 351,000, providing more evidence that the labor market is healing.