JAPAN

The owner of Japan's stricken nuclear reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co, will agree to be taken over by the government in a near-$13 billion bailout, sources said on Thursday, even as the country debates the future of nuclear power.

The owner of Japan's stricken nuclear reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co, will agree to be taken over by the government in a near-$13 billion bailout, sources said on Thursday, even as the country debates the future of nuclear power.

The owner of the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co, will agree to be taken over by the government in a near-$13 billion bailout, sources said Thursday, even as Japan debates the future of nuclear power.

Flash memory supplier SanDisk warned that weaker demand from some mobile device manufacturers would hurt its revenue in the first half of this year, sending its shares sharply lower.

New car sales in January continued to rise at a steady pace, according to TrueCar.com, continuing the auto industry's slow but stable recovery.

NTT Communications Corporation, the international branch of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world, will be purchasing a majority share of Netmagic Solutions, India's largest provider of data centers.

The epic global shifts of 2011 transformed the political, economic, and social landscape from Shanghai to Sao Paolo, Washington to Cairo. No leader is safe from the vagaries of social unrest; no economy (not even China's) is unaffected by contagion from an over-leveraged, under-managed euro zone. No country is immune from the threat of asymmetric attacks - anything from a terrorist bomb to cybe...

Global growth is slowing rapidly and the possibility of ample economic slack means risks of damaging deflation are rising in some G20 member economies, the International Monetary Fund said in a paper published on Wednesday.

World stocks and the euro suffered on Wednesday as uncertainty about Greece's debt talks overshadowed strong economic data from Germany, blow-out earnings from Apple, and expectations that the Federal Reserve will push back the timing of an eventual rate hike.

Xerox Corp aims to increase earnings this year by potentially more than 9 percent after it reported fourth-quarter results in line with estimates on the back of solid growth in its services business.

Brent crude slipped below $110 on Wednesday as recession fears, partly rekindled by stalled Greek debt talks, weighed on the outlook for demand, while threats by Iran to respond to European sanctions by shutting a vital trade route supported prices.

Japan's Nikkei average scaled a new three-month high on Wednesday, boosted by gains in exporters such as Toyota Motor and Canon as the yen weakened following data showing Tokyo posted its first annual trade deficit since 1980.

The euro and European shares weakened on Wednesday as fears about the prospect of a Greek debt default overwhelmed positive news on the outlook for Germany, the region's largest economy.

Japan first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years calls into question how much longer the country can rely on exports to help finance a huge public debt without having to turn to fickle foreign investors.

Gold prices struggled Wednesday to hold recent gains as the dollar rose and investors awaited results of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on interest rates.

European shares and the single currency held firm on Wednesday as investor focus switched to the broader economic outlook and some strong results from leading U.S. companies, and away from worries about the stalemate in Greek debt talks.

Asian shares rose on Wednesday, underpinned by strong earnings from U.S. technology giant Apple, stabilizing European money markets and falling eurozone debt yields, with investors shifting their focus from Europe to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that combining the European Union's temporary EFSF rescue fund with its permanent ESM mechanism would help restore confidence in the flagging region and provide a solid firewall to the Greek crisis.

The BSE Sensex nudged higher on Wednesday, a day after the RBI indicated it would support growth, raising expectations for more foreign fund investments.

Japan logged its first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years in 2011, calling into question how much longer the country can fund its huge public debt without relying on fickle foreign investors.

Japan logged a trade deficit of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) for 2011, Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday, the first annual deficit since 1980.