CHINA

Oil prices rose to fresh 2-1/2 year highs on Tuesday, with Brent crude topping $122 a barrel as unrest in oil exporting countries in the Middle East and Africa outweighed China's fourth interest rate hike since October.

China's central bank increased interest rates on Tuesday for the fourth time since October, raising suspicions that data next week may show inflation rose more than expected in March.

U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as an interest rate hike in China and weaker Apple shares were offset by positive sentiment from the latest deal news.

Oil prices held near 2-1/2 year highs on Tuesday, with Brent crude topping $121 a barrel as unrest in oil exporting countries in the Middle East and Africa outweighed China's fourth interest rate hike since October.

U.S. stocks slightly declined in early trade on Tuesday as investors await the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

U.S. stock index futures fell on Tuesday after China, a main source of global growth, raised its interest rates, while Apple shares fell after the stock's weight in a widely followed index was cut.

U.S. blue-chip stocks eked out small gains Monday in the lightest trading volume all year, but other major indexes finished flat as the technology sector sagged.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday as gains from materials and health care sector shares were offset by declines from technology and financials.

Brazilian mining giant Vale named a new chief executive under withering government pressure, a move that may spark fears of state meddling in Brazil's private sector but is not expected to dent investor confidence in the firm.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress on Monday vowed to pass legislation giving the U.S. Justice Department new authority to go after foreign and domestic websites that sell pirated music and movies and counterfeit goods.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress on Monday vowed to pass legislation giving the U.S. Justice Department new authority to go after foreign and domestic websites that sell pirated music and movies and counterfeit goods.

Securities regulators are probing Chinese and other foreign companies with questionable accounting practices that have used backdoor methods to access U.S. capital markets, a top regulator said on Monday.

Certificates used by Sanofi-Aventis SA to win Genzyme Corp started trading at a steep discount to their best-case value on Monday after the French drugmaker gained control of the biotech group.

According to Amnesty International, as many as 527 people were executed in 2010. A staggering number of 17,833 people are counting their days in the death row in various countries. Following is an overview of the system of death penalty in China, Iran, the United States, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Yemen which top the chart of executions worldwide.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday on strong jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 56.99 points, or 0.46 percent, to 12,376.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 6.58 points, or 0.50 percent, to 1,332.41. The Nasdaq Composite rose 8.53 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,789.60.

Apple's iPad 2 shortage has spread to the afterlife as Chinese families in Malaysia rush to buy paper replicas of the popular new gadget to burn for their dead as part of a centuries-old rite.

Leaders from five of the world's top emerging economies will discuss a coordinated stance on economic issues such as commodity price fluctuations, but the yuan's exchange rate is off the agenda, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Saturday.

Virginia based Calvert Strategies massively upgraded their SexyTime Sex Position Guide and Choreographer app, to Version 2.0 this week as Dr. SexyTime Advanced Sex Guide.

The European Union filed an appeal against an aircraft subsidies ruling on Friday just hours after calling it a victory, a tactical move in a transatlantic game of global trade chess.

China is facing an obesity crisis of magnanimous proportions, an issue best underscored by Lu Zhihao, a 4-year-old from Foshan in Guangdong province who weighs 132 lbs and is 3 feet 7 inches tall.

Corrects last paragraph. More than one percent, not more than a tenth