CHINA

After coming off the bench to score 25 points in last weekend's game, setting a personal record and leading the New York Knicks to a victory against the New Jersey Nets, hopes were high that Jeremy Lin would help the Knicks defeat the Utah Jazz in Thursday night's game. Lin delivered.

Iranian buyers have defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers said on Tuesday, a sign of the mounting pressure on Tehran from a new wave of Western sanctions.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc has named an industry veteran, but a relative newcomer to China, to run what is a strategically crucial business for the world's biggest retailer as it faces tougher competition in the fastest growing major economy.

As recently as last November, deep into the Syrian crisis, Brazil specifically rejected any foreign intervention in Syria.

IBM's 900,000 square-foot Bangalore computer center is Asia's largest to date.

At least two top 10 shareholders in miner Xstrata said Tuesday they would vote against a takeover by commodities trader Glencore, threatening the creation of a powerhouse spanning mining, shareholders except Glencore, which is barred agriculture and trading.

Glencore, which currently holds 34 percent of Xstrata stakes, offered 2.8 new shares for each Xstrata share in an agreed all-share merger of equals.

India's economy is expected to grow at 6.9 percent in the current financial year, its slowest pace in three years, according to the official data released by the government.

Commodities trader Glencore agreed an all-share takeover of mining group Xstrata worth $90 billion on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading.

Glencore and Xstrata agreed an all-share merger worth $90 billion on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a commodities powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading.

Glencore and Xstrata agreed an all-share merger worth $90 billion on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a commodities powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading.

Toyota Motor Corp reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly operating profit and raised its annual forecast on cost cuts and Japanese government subsidies, though this is still some way below analysts' expectations.

China's vulnerability to the slump in global demand has been highlighted by the IMF in an economic outlook report on the world's second largest economy.

Bombardment of Homs on eve of visit by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as world powers scramble for diplomatic strategy.

A Syrian regime military assault on Homs killed dozens of people on the eve of a visit to Damascus by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov aimed at pressing President Bashar al-Assad to end an 11-month uprising by implementing swift reform.

KFC parent Yum Brands Inc reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's view after accelerating sales and operating profit at established restaurants in China helped ease worries that growth in its top market was slowing.

A year after network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc unnerved investors with yet another weak quarterly outlook the company looks set to report a stable quarter buoyed in part by improving enterprise demand in the United States.

China on Monday barred its airlines from a European scheme to reduce carbon emissions, hardening its stance a week before a summit at which the European Union will seek Chinese help to ease its debt crisis.

Syrian and Libyan demonstrators hurled rocks, eggs and tomatoes at the Chinese embassy in Tripoli on Monday, after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backing an Arab plan urging Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.

Vice President Joe Biden warned on Monday that there is no way that China will be able to sustain its current level of economic growth because of what he called its God-awful one-child policy.

The Arab League chief said on Monday that Russia and China had lost diplomatic credit in the Arab world by vetoing a U.N. resolution on Syria and may have sent a message to Damascus that it had a free hand to crack down on protests.