INDIA

Faced with the possibility of losing India's leading CDMA mobile operator, wireless technology company Qualcomm could soften its negotiating stance and reduce royalty rates it charges even as it hints that fresh negotiations with other providers around the world are in the offing.

Starbucks today released its fiscal third quarter earnings for 2006, highlighting a higher net profit and more stores opening despite a slow down in store sales.

South African agricultural representatives are looking at their own governments to see what can be done in the wake of recently suspended trade talks of the World Trade Organization.

India's largest IT company this week received shareholder approval to extend its operations in the $30 billion Chinese software market.

Countries such as India, South Africa and South American Mercosur nations will continue trade negotiations following the indefinite suspension of global trade talks through the World Trade Organization.

Motorola Inc. said on Tuesday it would start selling the Motofone, its thinnest phone yet in high-growth emerging markets in a bid to compete better against bigger rival Nokia.

Global trade talks have been suspended indefinitely after five and a half years of discussions failed to produce results.

Global free trade talks, billed as a once in a generation chance to boost growth and ease poverty, collapsed on Monday after nearly five years of haggling and resuming them could take years.

After five years and very little to show for it, global trade talks meant to reduce poverty worldwide are at a crucial point.

High and volatile prices will continue to scare physical gold buyers in most parts of the world, but some markets such as China and Japan will remain strong, bullion dealers said.

Microsoft Corp. has filed 26 lawsuits accusing U.S. companies of selling pirated software, the latest move in its ramped-up efforts to boost sales by cracking down on illegal copies.

Under pressure from Group of Eight leaders, ministers from six key trade powers are to start intensive meetings to rescue the deeply troubled Doha round, officials said on Monday.

In a rush to build shops, offices and houses worthy of a thriving economy, a new elite is emerging in India - young men asked to turn plots of family land into a property business.

Asian markets rallied for a second day Friday, recovering from a plunge Tuesday that sent stocks in the region to their lowest levels in months.

Small cars were banned from Beijing's main roads less than a decade ago, as China's rulers worried that cheap, spluttering vehicles would clog lanes they hoped to fill with sleek modern autos.

Luxury goods giant Gucci Group is gearing up to launch in India next year and is confident smaller designer brands will meet profit targets as its three-year growth plan bears fruit, CEO Robert Polet told Reuters. Niche brands Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga are growing rapidly -- by more than 100 percent in Balenciaga's case in the first quarter. Both reached profitability two years ahead of schedule.

The drop in oil and metal prices this week has raised fears that a speculative bubble in commodities is bursting, but giant U.S. fund manager PIMCO says fundamentals will hold up the asset class.

UK-based Barclays Bank Plc is looking to develop wealth management in India, where it sees potential in a growing middle class as well as non-residents, two senior executives told Reuters in an interview.

World sugar prices are likely to defy gravity in the next 12 months as key producing countries churn out ethanol as an alternative fuel after oil prices spiked to stratospheric highs.

Foreign stocks have become so popular in the United States that whole exchanges are now shopping abroad. Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq have been competing to buy the centuries-old London Stock Exchange.

Oil surged to a record high above $72 on Tuesday on concern that Iran's nuclear stand-off with the West could cut oil exports from the world's fourth-largest crude exporter.