MARKETS / FINANCE

Foreign firms, including Google, must respect Chinese laws and customs, China's foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, a week after the world's largest search engine said it might pull out of China due to hacking and censorship.

Japan Airlines Corp is set to file for one of the country's largest ever bankruptcies on Tuesday, marking the failure of the former state-owned carrier that once symbolized Japan Inc's international aspirations.

U.S.-based Kraft Foods Inc and Britain's Cadbury Plc are close to sealing a friendly deal to create the world's largest confectionery group for up to 11.7 billion pounds ($19 billion), sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

American International Group Inc is exploring several ways to repay $26 million of the $45 million in bonuses that executives at its financial products unit pledged to return last year, including a plan to cut 2010 bonuses but pay them out early, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Industrial conglomerate Tyco International will acquire Broadview Security for $1.9 billion in a deal that brings together two large providers of residential and commercial security in North America, the two companies said on Monday.

U.S.-based Kraft Foods Inc and Britain's Cadbury Plc are holding talks about a potential friendly deal to create the world's largest confectionery group for up to 11.7 billion pounds ($19 billion), sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

U.S.-based Kraft Foods Inc and Britain's Cadbury Plc are holding talks about a potential friendly deal to create the world's largest confectionery group, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

China's iron ore imports in December totaled 62.16 million tonne, up 11.09 million tonne month on month and up 80.02 per cent year on year. In 2009, China's iron ore imports came to 628 million tonne, up 41.6 per cent year on year.

Demand for diamonds on the world market will make it possible to double production by 2020, due to a recovery of the US economy and the needs of countries such as China and India. Doubling of production would be a result of a rise in China's market share to 10 per cent and increasing demand from India by 2015, as well as from retailers and long-term acquisition contracts.

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the European Central Bank Executive Board, today suggested that the ethical and farsighted use of European bank profits is lending.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Khan said in a speech today that global economic growth has been faster than expected largely due to government stimulus.

Apple Inc. confirmed on Monday that it will hold a product launch event on January 27 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco to introduce its latest creation.

The Aussie dollar survived a brief selloff in Asia yesterday to bounce back from intraday lows of around 0.9175 and open at 0.9265 this morning.

Baidu Inc. said on Monday its chief technology officer Yinan Li has resigned for personal reasons.

The Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar rallied against the US dollar on news of the European stock market recovery and comments from various officials pledging their support for continued government stimulus.

France raised its economic growth forecast for 2010 on Monday but the central banks of Germany and Italy offered more sobering readouts on the probable strength of the recovery from recession in Europe.

Swiss Re said it had agreed to transfer a U.S. life reinsurance contract to Warren Buffett for 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.27 billion), allowing it to reinvest capital more profitably elsewhere.

The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia said on Monday Britain's High Court had ruled in its favor in a patent dispute with IPCom, and it would now seek to recoup legal costs of the case from the German firm.

Oil rallied above $78 per barrel on Monday, snapping a five-day losing streak as the dollar eased against a basket of currencies, but concern over the outlook for energy demand and economic recovery weighed on the market.

The Chinese government will offer greater cash rewards to people reporting online smut after handing out 224,000 yuan ($32,810) as of late last week, state media said on Monday.

Finding a winner in the legal battle between Nokia and Apple will likely take years as the two cellphone giants use the courts to pressure each other into a licensing agreement.

From 2000 to 2009, the S&P 500 averaged a loss 0.82% after the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday in the United States.

Developed countries may slip back into recession if they exit strategies taken to battle the global financial crisis too early, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday.

Profits from top U.S. technology companies like IBM and financial companies like Goldman Sachs Group Inc this week could help stocks gain as long as investors see room for more profit growth.

Credit Suisse will increase the headcount in its prime brokerage team in Asia by 15 percent to 20 percent in 2010 as it aims to win business from the increasing number of global hedge funds eager to set up base in the region, a senior official at the Swiss bank said.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank will keep monetary conditions accommodative to help pull the country out of deflation.

Cadbury Chief Executive Todd Stitzer said the British confectioner could be worth more than 10 pounds a share by 2013, in an interview published in the Daily Telegraph's Monday edition.

Citic Securities Co , China's biggest listed brokerage, said its wholly-owned fund unit China Asset Management Co had been punished by regulators for failing to comply with stake ownership rules.

SYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar and the yen were firm on Monday while currencies leveraged to global growth like the Australian dollar ran into a bout of profit-taking after an impressive run up since the start of the new year. The euro EUR= stayed under pressure, dragged down by concerns about fiscal problems buffeting Greece. The country's budget deficit has ballooned and its credit ratings have been cut, a factor that has been weighing down on the euro in the past few months [ID:nL...