MANUFACTURING

Most Asian markets fell Thursday as investors felt let down by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which did not announce a further round of quantitative easing.

According to a report, over 35 percent of Indian companies operating in various sectors across India are engaged in corporate espionage and spy on their employees via social networking websites -- even after they leave the company

Asian markets fell Tuesday as investor concerns on the euro zone debt crisis were revived amid fading optimism after the Greek elections and increasing borrowing costs of Spain.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell Tuesday as optimism over the Greek election results subsided and concerns over the financial stability of Spain revived.

Foxconn, Apple?s major manufacturing partner, has expressed interest in buying more shares in Sharp, according to Slash Gear. This is fueling rumors that the companies are working towards Apple?s rumored ?iTV,? although there has been no official word on the device?s development.

With Sunday's Greek election result doing little to ease long-term fears that the country still faces a messy exit from the euro, the G-20 delegates are left speculating how to tackle a spiraling crisis with no clear end in sight.

The surprise decision Monday by the Reserve Bank of India to hold its interest rate steady because of inflation concerns puts fresh pressure on the ruling Congress Party to find a fiscal solution to the country's flagging economy.

After the positive effects of the Greek election fade, markets will shift focus toward the Federal Reserve announcement scheduled for Wednesday.

More than 300 garment factories in a key industrial hub of Bangladesh were shut down indefinitely Saturday following five days of violent protests by a half-million laborers demanding better wages.

With the new iPad having the 4G LTE technology, the consensus seems to be that the upcoming iPhone 5 will be Apple's first smartphone to sport a 4G LTE chip. According to a latest report surfaced Friday, chip vendors including Qualcomm and Broadcom are preparing production to supply Apple with their solutions for the upcoming iPhone iteration.

Lack of infrastructural facilities in Indian ports is negatively affecting exports as the ports are struggling to cope with commodity traffic. Ports are unable to handle the container and vessel traffic despite a decline in economy and exports.

There are fresh signs the U.S. economy may be caught in a storm fed by a floundering Europe and a slackening China. Weakening demand in both regions appears to be taking a toll on U.S. manufacturing, already the locus of a contracting workforce.

As the U.S. Senate grapples with how to allocate about $100 billion a year for the next decade on food policy, one subsection of the farm bill is under attack, namely, the $200 million U.S. taxpayers spend every year to subsidize the marketing of well-established brands found in virtually every American pantry.

Details of the fate of bankrupt Swedish carmaker Saab Automobile AB continue to emerge following the June 7 news that the company had been purchased by a Sino-Japanese joint venture National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB, or NEVS. NEVS plans to use Saab to produce electric cars, the consortium announced Friday.

Manufacturing in the New York region hardly expanded in June as orders and sales cooled, the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India will hold its mid-quarter monetary policy review June 18 amid strong demands from the industry and economists for a cut in interest rates. However, the central bank is still weighing the options on rate cuts as curtailing inflation remains top priority.

Britain's goods trade deficit unexpectedly widened in April as exports plunged, raising the threat of a third quarter of economic contraction and adding urgency to new measures to foster growth as trading partners in the euro zone weaken.

Key decision makers in prominent business companies throughout Europe have criticised failing education systems for rising youth employment and have been clamouring for the implementation of dual education schemes to help reverse this worrying trend.

A dispute over the will of deceased painter Thomas Kinkade entered the court system on Tuesday, June 12. Kinkade's widow and girlfriend are feuding over the estate belonging to the famous painter who is known for the mass marketing of his realistic work as printed reproductions.

Iran also said Tuesday that it had begun the overhaul of one of the three Russian-made nuclear-powered submarines in its fleet despite Moscow rejecting Tehran's requests for help with the remodeling, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.

The Index of Industrial Production for April rose just 0.1 percent, corroborating fears that economic slowdown will persist in the current quarter.