CHINA

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.

Chinese state media on Monday blamed Washington's huge military spending and global footprint for the crisis that led to the U.S. debt rating downgrade, calling for an end to the foreign domineering dragging down its economy.

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

Moody's says a future downgrade of the U.S. credit rating from AAA is possible. Also, global markets reacted harshly overnight to S&P's U.S. credit rating downgrade announced late Friday.

Global markets plummeted overnight night as news of the U.S. downgrade. Monday is the first day of trading in the U.S. and futures pointed sharply lower early by 6:30 a.m.

Britain and several euro zone countries are likely to have their credit ratings cut in coming months as debt problems worsen, and Western policymakers are bound to embark on more quantitative easing to get their economies moving, American investor Jim Rogers said on Monday.

Moody's Investors Service warned Japan that ineffective currency intervention would be negative for its sovereign ratings and would not help it restore its finances, even as G7 policymakers tried to show solidarity against market turmoil sparked by U.S. and European debt woes.

German premium carmaker BMW said unit sales rose 7.6 percent in July, driven by growth in demand from the United States and China.

Japan's Nikkei stock average slid more than 2 percent on Monday as weak sentiment following Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States' credit rating was exacerbated by futures selling after Asian markets tumbled.

U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy has signed up to headline a made-for-television golf odyssey through China this year to showcase the sport in the country and the nation's fast-growing cities to the rest of the world.

The European Central Bank stepped into bond markets on Monday, backing up a pledge to support Spain and Italy with the aim of averting financial meltdown in the euro zone, while the G7 and G20 offered soothing words to investors shaken by a historic downgrade of the U.S. debt rating.

Chinese editorials flaying Washington for fiscal recklessness over its debt dramatics and downgrade mask a growing unease in Beijing: a fear that China's own economic policies are shifting too slowly.

Japan on Monday signaled it was ready to continue intervening in the currency market in the wake of a G7 agreement to counter excessive exchange-rate moves, but Moody's Investors Service warned that Tokyo's efforts to weaken the yen were ineffective and negative for its sovereign ratings.

Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, said on Monday it has signed an agreement with BMW to provide its search services in some of the German automaker's vehicles.

The United States and Europe must summon the political courage to defuse their debt woes or global economic recovery will be threatened, Chinese official media said on Monday, reflecting the pressures on Beijing with its big stash of dollar assets.

Hollywood studios are set to break into China's massive Internet market as domestic video sites scramble to screen U.S. movies and dramas on their digital platforms, a move which could also curb rampant piracy.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Monday that market trust in the dollar and U.S. Treasuries has not wavered in the wake of a U.S. credit downgrade, indicating Tokyo's readiness to maintain its massive holdings of U.S. government bonds.

The United States and Europe must summon the political courage to overcome their debt crises or global economic recovery will be threatened, Chinese official media said on Monday, warning Washington against letting the dollar weaken.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, an expert on the Great Depression, once promised that the central bank would never repeat its 1937 mistake of rushing to tighten monetary policy too soon and prolonging an economic slump.

Corrupt practices, nepotism, imagery and an inadequate education system responsible for lack of scientific spirit