CHINA

China is set to move ahead with deepwater drilling in the South China Sea -- a controversial method of resource extraction in a controversial area of the world.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng said Monday from his hospital bed in Beijing that he is confident he will be allowed to travel to the U.S. with his family, despite being denied visits from American officials for several days.

While Nicolas Sarkozy has finally met his Waterloo -- and not before time according to a testy French electorate -- analysts are unconvinced Hollande can persuade the rest of Europe, let alone a resolute Germany, to abandon the austerity juggernaut.

Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., the Singaporean sovereign-investment vehicle and RRJ Capital, a private equity fund run by former Temasek executive Richard Ong, will jointly invest about $468 million in Houston's Cheniere Energy Incorporated (Nyseamex: LNG), as Singapore pursues its goal of becoming an Asian hub for liquid natural gas (LNG).

The U.S. is pushing India to cut its imports of Iranian oil. But even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kolkata on Sunday to discuss the issue along with U.S.-India economic ties, a larger Iranian delegation was simultaneously traveling through New Delhi.

Thousands of smuggled drug capsules containing human flesh powder have been seized by the South Korean customs department, Monday, Associated Press reported.

A central government plan to create a high end tourist industry on the tropical Hainan island has delivered a much-anticipated surge in economic growth, but it has also widened the wealth gap between rich and poor that Beijing was trying to close.

Custom officials in South Korea have been cracking down on inspections due to the rise in the smuggling of Chinese-made capsules into the country. The capsules are reportedly filled with powdered human baby flesh.

Asian stock markets plunged Monday as weaker-than-expected US employment report and election results from Europe weighed on investor sentiment.

Highlighting the economic data this week -- May 7-11 -- are the March trade-balance figures to be released Thursday. Economists expect the U.S. trade deficit to widen after its sharp narrowing in February.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Saturday asked Bangladesh to exploit its strategic geo-location and said that its location between India and China, the two aggressively developing economies, gave it tremendous opportunity for development.

What inspires China's energetic Internet community? Why is the government so worried about it?

The game is set to arrive on Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Wii U on Nov. 13, 2012.

Yahoo Inc. could be weeks away from selling between 15 percent and 25 percent of Alibaba Group's stock back to China's largest online commerce company, in a deal designed to eliminate complexities that had scuttled the parties' previous negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will buy an indirect majority stake in Russian car company OAO Avtovaz, maker of Lada brand cars, for $750 million, the automakers' alliance announced Friday.

At the end of the high-level strategic talks between the U.S. and China, both countries have vowed to improve relations and to prevent human rights from becoming a major diplomatic stumbling block.

Treyarch just unveiled the first trailer for the upcoming ?Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,? which is slated with a Nov. 13 release date. The announcement came on May 1st, and the upcoming first-person shooter is already breaking records. Amazon revealed that the pre-orders for ?Black Ops 2? are already three times the amount of those for the original ?Black Ops,? according to The Market for Computer & Video Games.

Dechen Wangdu is an American-born activist of Tibetan descent. For her entire life, she has been devoted to the cause of Tibetan liberation from China. When she met Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, the two joined forces to fight against injustice together.

Over the next week, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will meet with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to deepen military-to-military ties between the two countries. It will be the first time in almost 9 years that a Chinese Defense Minister has made an official visit to the U.S.

The global supply of palladium is expected to remain in deficit this year, as it was last year, Thomson Reuters GFMS said Thursday.

Chinese beer maker Beijing Yanjian Brewery Co. (Shenzhen: 729) is in exclusive talks to buy Hong Kong-based Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong: 124) for $700 million, Dow Jones reported Friday.