CHINA

Google rushed out its panoramic Street View maps in Thailand on Friday as part of the country's efforts to show tourist hot spots have recovered from last year's floods.

Huawei, China's largest equipment manufacturer, has just lost a shot at billions of dollars worth of infrastructure sales to Australia. In light of China's reputation for cyber-espionage, the Australian government has decided to block Huawei from bidding on Australia's roughly AUS$36 billion National Broadband Network project. The decision was reported on March 26.

A passing piece of potentially dangerous space debris forced astronauts at the International Space Station to temporarily seek refuge in escape ships early on Saturday, U.S. officials said.

China's Huawei Technologies still hopes to win contracts to build Australia's $38 billion National Broadband Network, despite being blocked from bidding on cyber security concerns, and is ready to make concessions to do so.

Tim Cook has taken a step that Steve Jobs never did: Visit China. This is the first time an Apple CEO has visited the country in an official capacity, several sources report, including Apple-centric blog AppleInsider.

Apple's actions are day-by-day making it clear that the world's most valuable company is separating from Google. Earlier reports indicated that Apple was parting ways with Google Maps in iPhoto and now, according to the latest reports, Baidu is going to be the default search engine for iOS device in China.

Many banks still do not have enough teeth to tackle fraud, which costs Asia around $1 billion a year, but social media could be a game changer due to the reputational risk, said a top official from business software firm Progress Software Corp (PRGS.O).

How much you know about Apple CEO Tim Cook? Do you think Cook is different or same as the mighty Steve Jobs? Is he handling the company like the former CEO did? Or better?

The Middle East saw a nearly 50 spike rise in executions during a year of widespread turmoil and revolutions.

After failed attempts in the U.N. Security Council to formulate a demand that President Bashar al-Assad end a deadly crackdown on dissenters, his government accepted Annan's six-point plan.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook is on a visit to China, its second largest market after the US, and the company has said it is eyeing greater investments in the country.

The US was the only western country to have carried out judicial executions last year and the 43 executions in the country ranked it fifth in the world in capital punishment, behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Amnesty International said Monday.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.25 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.29 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.36 percent at 0920 GMT.

Asian stock markets surged Tuesday, following gains in the Wall Street overnight as market-friendly comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke boosted sentiment.

After Apple's New iPad whirlwind, it's now the turn of iPhone 5 to create ripples in the tech market. The speculated features often range from likely to bizarre, but rumors regarding the release of the latest Apple smartphone are slowly yet strongly gaining traction. The latest speculation about the release of the purported iPhone 5 has it that Apple will unveil its fabled phone in either in June or in October.

Private aviation firm NetJets Inc, owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has said it is setting up a joint venture in China to cash in on the rapidly growing popularity of private air travel in the country.

Japan moved away from the agenda of the two-day nuclear security summit on Tuesday to criticize North Korea's plans for a rocket launch next month.

Asian stocks rebounded Tuesday and the dollar eased after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said ultra-loose monetary policy was still needed to reduce unemployment even though the U.S. economy has shown signs of improvement.

Syrian opposition activists gathered in Istanbul to endorse a program for political change to unify their movement, but the conference proved divisive even before officially opens Tuesday.

Italy's top winemakers are joining forces with the country's luxury goods elite as the world's second-biggest wine producer tries to give itself an edge in the battle for U.S. and emerging market customers amid falling consumption at home.

Swiss luxury goods group Richemont on Monday named group veteran Stanislas de Quercize as chief executive of top-of-the-range jewellery and watch maker Cartier, which makes a big chunk of group profit.