CHINA

A consortium of South Korean and Indian companies is to invest $5.6 billion in producing natural gas in Burma for export by pipeline to China, the Times reported on Tuesday.

SAIC Motor Corp, China's biggest automaker, posted a 26.4 percent fall in first half earnings on provisions for its loss-making South Korean unit but was cautiously optimistic for the rest of the year as government policy initiatives bolstered automobile demand.

China Life Insurance Co, the country's top life insurer, said it is studying possible investments involving IPO candidates Agricultural Bank of China and AIA, aiming to improve its returns.

Sino Gold Mining Ltd will make an announcement on a potential takeover transaction, it said on Wednesday, amid market talk that Canada's Eldorado Gold Corp could be a bidder.

Tobacco use will kill 6 million people next year from cancer, heart disease, emphysema and a range of other ills, global cancer experts said in a report issued on Tuesday.

The immediate crisis may be over but G20 policymakers meeting next week must still find a way to rebalance the global economy if the world is not to be doomed to repeat the past.

Japan's exports slipped in July as annual drops in exports to the United States and China accelerated, in a sign that the impact of stimulus measures in major economies worldwide may be starting to wane.

Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, with thin summer trading volumes keeping prices choppy and centered on short-term chart targets, while oil hovered near $72 a barrel, capped by a surprising rise in U.S. inventories.

Verenex Energy Inc. said on Tuesday its agreement to be bought by China for $460 million remained in effect and talks to resolve its impasse with Libyan authorities continue.

Private equity firm TPG has hired three banks to lead manage an IPO of Australia's top department store Myer Group, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters on Tuesday, valuing Myer at about $2.1 billion. The IPO, the biggest initial public offer on the Australian stock exchange since the credit crisis took hold two years ago, underscores a return of confidence in the market and heralds a wave of new listings.

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale is not in talks with Chinese steelmakers on 2009 benchmark prices and will likely keep offering provisional prices on ore shipments, Chief Executive Roger Agnelli said on Tuesday.

The head of China Mobile, the largest mobile carrier in the world, has seen part of the firm's future growth in the e-reader market.

China Mobile has reached a deal with Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) to jointly develop 3G smartphones based on TD-SCDMA 3G technology and TD-LTE, a 4G mobile broadband technology based network, in China, executives said Monday.

Royal Bank of Scotland's talks to sell some of its Asian assets to Standard Chartered remain in full swing, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday after a report they were on the rocks.

Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) needs to find a better route into the booming Asian car markets if it wants to catch its competitors and seal a place near the front of the grid of global automakers.

Primus Financial Holdings is very confident it will get approval from Taiwan's regulators for its bid to buy AIG's Taiwan insurance unit, a top executive from the investment firm said on Tuesday.

China's IP address will be used up in two or three years as the number of internet users keeps soaring, People's Daily reported on Monday, citing a Chinese expert.

U.S. auto giant Chrysler has not signed a deal with Fiat's Chinese partner Guangzhou Auto [GAIGPA.UL] to produce Jeeps in China, a Chrysler spokesman said on Tuesday, after media reported there was an agreement.

German government officials met with General Motors' top negotiator on Tuesday, hoping to get answers on why the U.S. carmaker has so far failed to choose a buyer for its European unit, Opel.

Asia is going to be way short of the new H1N1 vaccine to fight swine flu when the next surge of infections hits during the cold season this year, a spokesman for the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the restive region of Xinjiang this week for the first time since the July 5 riots, urging officials to maintain stability, state television said on Tuesday.