WORLD

Four big music labels namely, Sony, Warner Music, EMI, and a unit of Vivendi SA, the company behind Universal Music Group have been sued for infringing works of thousands of artists.

State-owned Bank of China Ltd has offered yuan trading to its U.S. customers, a sign that Beijing this year may increasingly promote the use of the Chinese currency in major financial centers.

Hong Kong beat rivals Singapore and Australia to be rated the world’s freest economy for a straight seventeenth consecutive year, according to a ranking by US-based Heritage Foundation.

India's proposed food security bill will take at least a year to be finalised, delaying a key vote-winning policy for the ruling Congress party as crucial state elections loom, the Financial Express reported on Wednesday.

China shares broad common interests and goals with the U.S. on Korean peninsula issues, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday, ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States.

Export-driven software services companies are set to report robust growth in quarterly earnings and a firm outlook, driven by an expected increase in clients' technology budgets.

The government is not worried about a slowdown in the November industrial output, which reflects month-to-month volatility, the deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

Europe's debt crisis does not alter the long-term strategic position of the euro in the global monetary system, an adviser to the Chinese central bank said on Wednesday.

China has caused alarm around the region and in Washington because of its ambitious military modernization program, especially with this week's announcement of a test flight of a stealth fighter.

China would welcome assurance about the security of its financial assets in the United States, a senior diplomat said on Wednesday ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit next week, while playing down rifts between the two powers.

It would be reasonable for China to raise interest rates in the first quarter because price pressure tends to be high for seasonal reasons during the opening months of the year, a central bank adviser said on Wednesday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates played down the possibility of a rift between China's civilian leadership and its military.

China told the United States on Wednesday that its first test-flight of a stealth fighter jet should not be seen as a threat, reiterating that it had no intention of challenging U.S. military might in the Pacific.

Wondering what may have caused approximately 5,000 red-wing blackbirds to fall dead from the sky over Arkansas on New Year's Eve?

Remarks by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the American Farm Bureau on January 10, 2011.

China, one of the largest buyers of energy, and Russia, a leading exporter of it, are quickly cemeting their natural friendship.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling for new gun-control legislation in the wake of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona last Saturday that left six people dead and 15 injured, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, who remains in critical condition, as do five other victims.

Douglas Clayton, chief executive officer of investment fund manager Leopard Capital, is one of the premier investors of the frontier markets. Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Clayton speaks to IB Times about the ramifications of Laos opening a stock exchange.

China is studying a proposal from the U.S. to begin strategic security talks that would cover nuclear arms, missile defense, space and cyber issues, as the countries seek to improve their military-to-military relations.

The attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-AZ, and the murder of six innocent bystanders, at a “meet and greet” with constituents on Jan. 8, was a shocking and tragic event nationwide. Unfortunately, trying to kill American politicians is neither unique nor new.

Smartronix announced the launch of the new Treasury.gov web site and the migration of four other agency sites to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, marking the first time a cabinet level agency has moved its Web sites to AWS.

While the recent volatility in the Bangladesh stock market raises worries about investing in the so-called “frontier markets,” another developing country, Laos, has opened its own new stock marke

The new chief executive of Barclays plc, Bob Diamond, has told a Treasury Select Committee at the House of Commons that banks should not be bailed out by taxpayers and banks should be permitted to fail should they get into trouble.

Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega has accused the United States of engaging in currency manipulation, and said his country would raise this issue at the World Trade Organization (WTO), adding that the U.S. and Chinese policies are fomenting a trade war.

Britain now intends to focus on growth as Prime Minister David Cameron urged the importance of trade to the country's business ambassadors. Cameron urged the ambassadors to 'sell Britain' to the rest of the world, and emphasized on the importance of growth.

China has carried out a test flight of its advanced laser-evading stealth fighter J-20, media reports have said, perfectly timing the event to coincide with the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the country.

Over 30,000 protestors took to the streets in Bangkok on Sunday in a peaceful anti-government rally, in the first move seen by the Red Shirts group since the emergency rule was lifted last month.

Arnold Fields, who was in-charge of investigating corruption from the United States, has resigned.

Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay must serve three years in prison for his November conviction on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in 2002, a Texas judge ruled Monday.