CHINA

A G8 summit made scant progress toward a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in December with some nations back-pedaling on promises of new action even before the end of a meeting in Italy.

'New GM' emerges, Oil rebound in 2010, AIG to pay more bonuses?

'New GM' emerges, Iron-gate, U.S. Cigs expansion

The world's most powerful countries have injected momentum into long-running negotiations over a new global free trade pact by setting a 2010 deadline.

G8 leaders pledged $20 billion (12.3 billion pounds) in farm aid to help poor nations feed themselves, surpassing expectations on the final day of a summit that has yielded little progress on climate change and trade.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake that shook southwest China's Yunnan province on Thursday has killed one person and injured 325 people, Xinhua news agency said.

Chinese riot police broke up a small demonstration by Uighurs leaving Friday prayers in a Muslim Uighur neighborhood of Urumqi, arresting several who were taken away with hands above their heads.

Chinese developers are commemorating the late Michael Jackson by building a scaled-down replica of his Neverland Ranch on an island off Shanghai, a state-run newspaper said on Friday.

German-based retailer giant Metro Group will invest 80 million euros ($112.3 million) in China to open four more stores there this year, Tianle Cai, chief executive of Metro China, announced on Thursday.

The U.S. trade gap narrowed unexpectedly to $26 billion in May, the smallest since November 1999, as exports rose and domestic demand for foreign goods slumped, government data on Friday showed.

The U.S. trade gap narrowed unexpectedly to $26 billion in May to the lowest reading since November 1999 as exports rose despite weak global demand and imports shrank, government data on Friday showed.

A Chinese steel executive detained along with four Rio Tinto employees is being investigated for leaking China's bottom line on iron ore prices, a source with knowledge of the probe said on Friday.

'New GM' may launch today, Officials to meet with detained Rio exec, Small-Cap earnings

The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world but has higher rates of infant mortality, diabetes and other ills than many other developed countries.

A Chinese firm started work on a copper deposit in Afghanistan on Thursday, part of a multi-billion dollar project and the first major foreign investment of its kind in Afghan history, an official said.

The U.S. Senate has delayed finishing writing its version of the climate bill until September. The Energy Information Administration said on its weekly report that U.S. inventories of natural gas rose 75 billion cubic feet. China will spend $5.6 billion (38 billion yuan) from the central state budget for energy efficiency projects for 2009.

Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday as talk of refinery shutdowns spurred stirred gasoline supply concerns, ending a six-day slide.

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday evening, with more than 620,700 residents involved and one dead, local authorities said early Friday.

The Obama administration said it will give $3 billion in government funds for renewable energy projects. Yang Rong, an exile automobile tycoon will announce a plan to launch a new clean-tech automobile company in the U.S.

China overtook the United States as the world's biggest auto market for the first half of 2009 after June sales soared 36.5% from a year earlier, according to official data released on Thursday.

Yang Rong, a Chinese automobile tycoon who fled the country after being accused of economic crimes, is preparing to launch an ambitious plan to make clean-tech cars in the United States, said a source.