CHINA

Oil fell below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending its recent losing streak, as producer group OPEC said supply was ample enough to meet winter demand and trimmed estimated demand for its oil.

China urged other powers on Tuesday to show more flexibility in dealing with Iran's disputed nuclear programme, playing down prospects of sanctions after six countries met to discuss the standoff.

Google Inc will not be treated as an exception to China's demand foreign companies obey its laws, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, a week after the world's largest search engine warned it could pull out of China.

Google has postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China which use its Android platform, in the first sign its business in the country is starting to be affected by a dispute over hacking and censorship.

Oil dipped below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending a losing streak from last week due to an expected dent in heating demand as northern hemisphere weather turned milder after a prolonged cold spell.

Google has postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China which use its Android platform, in the first sign its business in the country is starting to be affected by a dispute over hacking and censorship.

The central banks of China and Taiwan tightened policy on Tuesday to drain money from the banking system, marking intensified efforts in the region to head off inflation and cool asset bubbles.

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Tuesday as U.S. markets reopen after a long holiday weekend, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.04 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.07 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent at 1030 GMT (5:30 a.m. EST).

Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a cyber-attack from China that the U.S. search giant said it was a victim of in mid-December, two sources told Reuters on Monday.

Foreign firms, including Google, must respect Chinese laws and customs, China's foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a week after the world's largest search engine said it might pull out of China due to hacking and censorship.

Leading LCD makers in South Korea and Taiwan are headed for a robust first half this year on improving demand for flat screen TVs, but performance for the last quarter of 2009 is likely to be hit by seasonal weakness and a strong currency.

China's iron ore imports in December totaled 62.16 million tonne, up 11.09 million tonne month on month and up 80.02 per cent year on year. In 2009, China's iron ore imports came to 628 million tonne, up 41.6 per cent year on year.

Demand for diamonds on the world market will make it possible to double production by 2020, due to a recovery of the US economy and the needs of countries such as China and India. Doubling of production would be a result of a rise in China's market share to 10 per cent and increasing demand from India by 2015, as well as from retailers and long-term acquisition contracts.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon asked the Security Council on Monday to approve 3,500 more peacekeepers for Haiti -- a nearly 40 percent increase -- to help cope with the chaos that followed last week's earthquake.

The Gmail accounts of foreign reporters in at least two news bureaus in Beijing have been hijacked, similar to the ones against human rights activists that the search giant cited as a reason, a journalists' group in China said Monday.

The Chinese government will offer greater cash rewards to people reporting online smut after handing out 224,000 yuan ($32,810) as of late last week, state media said on Monday.

Baidu, Inc., the operator of the top search engine in China, said today that its chief technology officer Yinan Li resigned today from the company for personal reasons. No replacement was named.

Developed countries may slip back into recession if they exit strategies taken to battle the global financial crisis too early, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday.

Ford Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp said on Monday they had no plans to dissolve their car making joint venture in China, which overtook the United States as the world's largest auto market in 2009.

Motorola Inc is planning to launch five to six smartphones in China this year with one model ready to be unveiled shortly, officials of the U.S. mobile phone maker said on Monday.

China XD Electric Co , the nation's largest electricity transmission and distribution equipment maker, plans to raise as much as 10.27 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in the country's first major initial public offering this year.