CHINA

South Korea's manufacturing sector shrank the most in nearly three years in December as global demand cooled, a survey showed on Monday, but President Lee Myung-bak cited inflation as a bigger risk in a year of big elections.

Shaky Europe. Political gridlock. Volatile markets.

The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

Iran has successfully produced and tested fuel rods for use in its nuclear power plants, state television reported on Sunday, in a snub to international demands that it halt sensitive nuclear work.

Dysfunctional politics threatens to deliver a protracted period of slow global growth, possibly lasting well beyond 2012, which will only deepen the political and economic problems for the West.

The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

The United States will continue to be the top choice of most global commercial real-estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil, which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

North Korea called on its people to rally behind new leader Kim Jong Un and protect him as human shields while working to solve the burning issue of food shortages by adhering to the policies of his late father, Kim Jong Il.

China's big manufacturers narrowly avoided a contraction in December a survey showed on Sunday, but downward risks persist and suggest the world's second's second-largest economy will need fresh policy support to counter a slowdown in growth.

The H5N1 strain of the flu is extremely dangerous, killing up to 60 percent of people who contract it.

The great Norwegian butter shortage got me to thinking that shortages of 2012 might be just the ticket to send my faithful readers off to a rockin' New Year's Eve celebration. For sure, Lady Gaga will make it seem alright, though.

Reflecting the isolated nation's extreme paranoia about the outside world, North Korea is virtually an armed camp.

Iran said it had delayed its promised long-range missile tests in the Persian Gulf on Saturday and signaled it was ready for fresh talks with the West on its disputed nuclear program.

China's central bank governor argued in comments published on Saturday that Beijing does not control the yuan's flow across borders as tightly as some think and that it is natural for the currency's trading band to be widened over time.

Shaky Europe. Political gridlock. Volatile markets. Familiar themes for those who lived through this year, and investors should be ready to revisit them next year.

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U.S. new-vehicle sales for December are expected to show continued steady growth, but analysts say much of the gains are linked to buyers who delayed purchases and therefore will not an indicate a strengthening economy.

Toronto's main stock index closed higher on Friday, the last trading day of the year, as financial and resource shares rallied on signs the U.S. economy was recovering, but the jump was not enough to avert the market's first year-on-year decline since 2008.

China's most wanted man, who was deported from Canada in July after a decades-long legal battle, has admitted to his crimes and will now be handed over to prosecutors, state media reported on Friday.

India’s relationship with North Korea seems rather strange -- however, from a purely geo-political strategic basis, perhaps it makes sense.

Shaanxi province has suffered the worst damage – losing more than 3,700 cultural sites, followed by Hunan (2474) and Hebei (1924).