CHINA

Temasek, the Singapore state investment agency, has rebuffed an approach from China's three leading banks for its 17 percent stake in UK-based Standard Chartered, a report said on Monday, sending shares in Standard Chartered more than 5 percent higher.

Governments must do more to fight global warming, spurred by a new U.N. scientific report and damage to nature that is already as frightening as science fiction, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday.

When movie director Roger Spottiswoode ventured to China two years ago to scout locations for The Bitter Sea, a drama set in the 1930s, he was surprised at the lack of suitable buildings from the period.

Camera and office equipment maker Canon Inc expects 30 percent annual sales growth in China until 2010, the chief executive for China said on Friday.

Chinese lunchtime television on Friday gave ordinary people a basic tip on how to play the currency markets: sell the dollar!

The malls are full, the cars are fast, the fashions are sharp -- conspicuous consumption is king as Saudis enjoy the benefits of oil at almost $100 a barrel.

A new World Trade Organization (WTO) accord could improve access to clean-energy tools in poorer countries, but any deal making it easier to ship cargo internationally would also carry a heavy carbon footprint.

Tests of a new technology for capturing greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants have achieved 95 percent cuts in a step towards new ways to fight climate change, a Norwegian company said on Friday.

Flush with cash and swaggering with world-beating valuations, firms are likely to settle for small stakes in big rivals.

North and South Korea on Friday agreed more massive projects to help rebuild the North's broken economy, including freight train services over their heavily armed border that had been severed since the 1950-53 Korea War.

Southeast Asian nations plan to sign a charter in Singapore next week aiming for lofty goals in areas such as free trade and human rights even as the 40-year-old group wrestles with how to handle the divisive issue of Myanmar. The West has urged the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) to put more pressure on Myanmar's junta after its crackdown on pro-democracy protests, but the group's principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs is likely to prevail.

Leading Taiwan food conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises plans to spin off its mainland Chinese business in a Hong Kong IPO worth up to US$700 million, sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

ABN AMRO said on Thursday its private banking arm had hired a team of six private bankers from rival HSBC Holdings Plc in Taiwan, the latest move to highlight the industry's fierce battle for talent in high-growth Asia.

China Unicom, one of the largest communications companies in China, is willing to discuss introducing Apple’s popular iPhone to the Chinese market, a management person of China Unicom Ltd. said on Wednesday.

The vast Three-Gorges dam is meant to subdue the Yangtze River but rising water levels are raising alarms.

While Asahi Green does not expect to break even until 2011, it hopes the Japanese technology will help farmers improve efficiency, food safety and income as well as repair soil damaged by years of heavy chemicals use.

Yahoo Inc has settled a lawsuit alleging it aided China's prosecution of several dissidents, in a case that prompted criticism of the company for cooperating with an authoritarian government.

Apple Inc's(NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone is unlikely to hit Chinese shelves soon because of technical and fee issues, industry executives said on Wednesday, a day after shares in the U.S. company shot up on hopes of a deal with China Mobile.

Oil moved higher on Wednesday, after falling sharply for the past two days, supported by expectations of a further fall in U.S. crude oil supplies and as OPEC brushed off U.S. calls to raise output.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, said its third-quarter profits were ahead of last year's and revenue growth across the group offset a jump in its charge for bad debts in the United States. The trading update on Wednesday reassured investors that HSBC was not further exposed to big debts in mortgage-related financial products and was benefiting from its broad spread, and its shares jumped over 4 percent.

Oil prices slumped more than 3.5 percent Tuesday after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for world oil demand growth, saying that the recent surge in crude prices had already hurt consumption.