CHINA

Chinese authorities are stepping up their hunt for illegal firearms as part of a broader effort to combat organized crime and illicit trade.

Stock markets in Hong Kong and China advanced Wednesday following an overnight rally in Wall Street overnight.

Iran also said Tuesday that it had begun the overhaul of one of the three Russian-made nuclear-powered submarines in its fleet despite Moscow rejecting Tehran's requests for help with the remodeling, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.

20% of surveyed Chinese companies indicate convenience and reduced FX risk for the preference to be paid in Chinese renminbi

The U.S. singled out China on Monday in its effort to push the international community to place additional economic pressure on Iran.

U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson has taken a leave of absence after being involved in two bizarre, back-to-back traffic accidents in California over the weekend.

Opposition groups in Russia published their Manifesto of Free Russia, which demands an end to Putin's 12-year rule.

Though rents went down, grocery bills shrank and companies trimmed their workforce after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Tokyo edged past Angolan capital Luanda to become the world?s most expensive city for expatriates in Mercer?s 2012 survey.

India's supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) is set to expand as Petronet, the country's largest LNG importer, seeks $1 billion to expand its import capacity.

Among the companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trading Tuesday are: Ceragon Networks, Renren, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Telefonica, EzChip Semiconductor, Banco Santander, Siemens, Pfizer and Goodyear Tire & Rubber.

By the end of this week, China may have already finished its first manned space docking and successfully sent its first woman into space.

Stock markets in China and Hong Kong declined Tuesday, following losses on the Wall Street overnight as the early optimism over the Spanish bailout plan faded.

At the 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Apple announced that the next version of its OS X operating system for Macs, dubbed Mountain Lion, will be released in July. The company did not give out a specific date and time.

China's May data dump over the weekend and on Monday painted a mixed picture of the economic health of the world's second-largest economy.

China?s Lenovo Group (Pink: LNVGY), the No. 2 PC maker, announced a no-contract broadband service for its ThinkPad Classic and ThinkPad Edge laptops for customers in the U.S. and nine European countries.

Chinese banks are ramping up their lending to retain the country's pace of growth in the face of a listless global economy.

Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF), Europe's largest telecommunications operator by revenue, will sell part of its stake in China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) for $1.4 billion to reduce debt as the eurozone debt crisis stresses Europe's economy and corporations based there.

This week's data releases could reignite hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon provide more policy stimulus. May's producer price index and consumer price index should show that inflationary pressures are easing, with the latter falling below the Fed's 2 percent target rate. Retail sales and industrial production figures for May are likely to come in on the soft side, as well.

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) Monday said that India could lose its investment grade rating due to its weak GDP growth rate and political roadblocks to economic policymaking.

Standard & Poor's said on Monday that India could become the first of the so-called BRIC economies to lose its investment-grade status, sending the rupee and stocks lower, less than two months after cutting its rating outlook for the country.

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a higher opening Monday following the agreement by the eurozone finance ministers to lend Spain 100 billion euros ($125 billion).