CHINA

China's main stock exchange plans to launch an international board next year that would allow foreign companies to sell shares denominated in Chinese currency for the first time, a strong move to promote yuan as a more global currency, local news said.

China will spend more than 15% ($88 billion) of the country's 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package on cutting carbon emissions by the end of 2010, China's chief climate change negotiator said on Wednesday.

Twitter Inc., the fast-growing microblogging service, was inaccessible Thursday morning, struck by a denial-of-service attack, the company said on its status blog. Meanwhile, Facebook's site has been sluggish and unresponsive on Thursday.

Worldwide PC chip sales on Thursday soared 10.1 percent in the second quarter, but it still is in weak condition, according to IDC.

Senior officials from Apple Inc had begun negotiations with China Unicom in Beijing, a source close to both sides told Netease on Monday night, noting that the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS will be introduced to China at the same time.

China is winning a global race to create green collar jobs, six months after countries worldwide launched $500 billion spending plans to drive a low-carbon economy.

Ford Motor Co's (F.N) car venture in China sold 54 percent more Ford brand vehicles in July from a year earlier, its sales arm said on Thursday.

The United States is playing down talk of a breakthrough with Pyongyang after former U.S. President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea this week to win the release of two jailed American journalists.

China Metallurgical Group plans to seek dual listings in Hong Kong and Shanghai as early as September to raise up to $4 billion, said sources with direct knowledge of the deal, which could be the world's second-largest fundraising this year.

Hong Kong's power plant operator GCL-Poly Energy Holdings will invest about $200 million to build a solar wafer plant in the Chinese city of Xuzhou, banking on a recovery in polysilicon prices and robust demand from China.

Lenovo , the world's No. 4 PC brand, relied on Chinese government-backed demand boost to cut quarterly losses and was wary on its outlook, underlying the fragility of its recovery.

BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc and Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc , the world's two biggest miners, are set to report sharp falls in profit for the June half, battered by a slump in metals prices and volumes.

Stocks in Shanghai dropped 3 percent on Thursday, weighed by speculation China may take more steps to rein in liquidity, slashing the Australian dollar's gains, while copper slid from 10-month highs after disappointing U.S. services data.

The world's No. 4 PC brand, Lenovo , reported a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss on Thursday, thanks to China's massive stimulus package and further boosting hopes of a rebound.

Chinese iron ore stockpiles are receding to more normal levels, global miner BHP Billiton Ltd said on Wednesday, adding a cautious note to its outlook for one of the world's hottest commodities.

President Barack Obama urged the economically battered U.S. heartland on Wednesday to resist hard times and pledged $2.4 billion to help create green jobs and ease the pain of rising unemployment.

Who ever said China's loss of face over Chinalco's collapsed $19.5 billion Rio Tinto tie-up bid would curb the country's hunger for Australian natural resources?

Maxis Communications, Malaysia's top mobile operator, has chosen Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and CIMB advise it on a planned $2 billion listing in Kuala Lumpur, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Kazakh and Chinese state oil firms' joint $3.3 billion acquisition of a Kazakh private upstream company has been delayed, Kazakhstan said on Wednesday without providing the timeframe or the reason for the delay.

Brilliance Auto, BMW's (BMWG.DE) partner in China, is preparing to ship its BS4 Wagon, designed in-house, to Europe after testing the waters there with two mid-sized sedans, company executives said on Wednesday.

China will stick to its loose fiscal policy for at least three years despite a growing budget deficit, a government economist said in comments published on Wednesday.