SOUTH KOREA

Seoul shares are set to rise on Thursday after solid gains on Wall Street, with news that an additional Chinese stimulus package is in the works likely to boost sentiment and eyes on the won currency.

A North Korean missile launch may not come for some time although the communist state has been preparing its longest-range rocket for a test flight, South Korea's unification minister said on Wednesday.

The global economic downturn will be considerably deeper than even the International Monetary Fund forecast a month ago, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's chief economist Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel told Reuters.

The global economic downturn will be considerably deeper than even the International Monetary Fund forecast a month ago, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's chief economist Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel told Reuters.

North Korean generals met the U.S.-led U.N. military command in South Korea for the first time in about seven years on Monday after Pyongyang warned at the weekend arrogant acts by U.S. troops could spark a war.

Two thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday.

Southeast Asian leaders said on Sunday they would coordinate policies and take joint actions to deal with a worsening global financial crisis battering their export-dependent economies.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been touring the province where the country has been preparing for a rocket launch, the North's media said on Wednesday, in what a South Korean daily said could be a precursor of a launch.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to send him legislation that places a market-based cap on U.S. carbon polluting emissions and pushes the production of more renewable energy.

North Korea said on Tuesday it was preparing to launch a satellite on one of its rockets, which analysts have said would actually be the test-firing of a long-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory.

Asian shares fell on Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei flirting with a 26-year low, as concerns grew about the global financial system, while emerging currencies such as the South Korean won extended their recent sell-off. Strong gains in Asian shares on Monday were completely erased as optimism over reports that the U.S. government could take a bigger stake in Citigroup gave way to fresh...

Judging small, rich island nations purely on their wealth and emissions is unfair in climate change negotiations, Singapore's climate envoy said on Saturday, as pressure builds on more countries to curb carbon pollution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday the United States and China could help the world recover from economic crisis by working together, adding Washington appreciated Beijing's confidence in U.S. government debt.

Judging small, rich island nations purely on their wealth and emissions is unfair in climate change negotiations, Singapore's climate envoy said on Saturday, as pressure builds on more countries to curb carbon pollution.

North Korea accused the United States of planning a nuclear attack in a report which came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew to Seoul for talks on defusing Pyongyang's military threat.

Russia inaugurated a $22 billion Pacific natural gas project on Wednesday that will allow the Kremlin to extend its reach in world energy markets from its European stronghold into Asia and North America.

Russia will supply about 50 cargoes of liquefied natural gas this year, mostly to Japan, from a new plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin that will establish it as a major energy supplier to Asian markets.

to be ready for customers later this year and in commercial products in 2010. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd recently launched a phone, costing roughly $500, in South Korea using the first version of TI's pico-projector technology that beams video or photographs from a phone to any surface. Samsung also plans to sell a similar device in Europe but has not released pricing. TI said interest in its ...

LONDON - U.S. oil prices slipped toward $37 a barrel on Monday as a raft of bearish economic data focused attention on declining global oil demand. Japan's economy shrank in the last quarter by its most since the first oil crisis in 1974, hit by an unprecedented slump in exports, which is likely to lead to more calls for extra stimulus steps to fight the deepening recession. The impact of the ...

LONDON - U.S. oil prices climbed toward $38 a barrel on Monday after the International Energy Agency said there could be an oil market supply crunch from next year once global oil demand begins to recover. The IEA warning gave upward momentum to a market undermined by a raft of bearish economic data from Asia. Japan's economy shrank in the last quarter by its most since the first oil crisis i...

LONDON - U.S. oil prices stayed above $37 a barrel on Monday, as bearish economic data from Asia slowed the upward momentum after a sharp rally at the end of last week. Japan's economy shrank in the last quarter by its most since the first oil crisis in 1974, hit by an unprecedented slump in exports, which is likely to lead to more calls for extra stimulus steps to fight the deepening recession...