CONFRONTED with a plunge in its stock markets last year, China's central bank swiftly reached out to the US Federal Reserve, asking it to share its play book for dealing with Wall Street's "Black Monday" crash of 1987.

Singapore's DBS Group Holdings is seen leading the race to buy British bank Barclays' Hong Kong and Singapore private wealth units, valued at as much as $300 million, sources with knowledge of the situation said on Monday.

THE US government plans to temporarily lift export curbs it imposed on Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker ZTE Corp for alleged Iran sanctions violations, a senior Department of Commerce official said.

The German economy, Europe's biggest, will likely slow down in the second quarter after showing steady growth in the year's first three months, the Bundesbank central bank said Monday.

Chinese authorities on Monday boosted support for margin trading, which fuelled a stunning stock market rally before government restrictions triggered a spectacular rout last year.

From ready-to-wear knits manufactured instantly to customised dresses produced on inkjet printers, Japan's apparel industry is turning to state-of-the-art technology in a bold bid to cut labour costs and secure its future.

Marriott International on Monday made a roaring comeback in its battle to build the world's biggest hotel group, winning Starwood Hotels's green light for an improved bid and pushing Chinese rival Anbang to the sidelines.

Opec members and key oil producers from outside the cartel will meet on April 17 in Doha in a bid to stabilise falling crude prices, Qatari energy minister Mohammed al-Sada said Wednesday.

Global economic growth did not translate into more harmful greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector last year, the IEA said on Wednesday, a strong indication that growth and increased pollution no longer go hand in hand.

Hisashi Aoto was not holding out much hope that his employer would give him a bumper pay rise this year as Japan's spring labour talks wrap up.

Women in Germany earn around one fifth less than men, a wider gap than the European average, but the shortfall is narrower in the east of the country, official data showed on Wednesday.

The doomsayers were 100 percent certain that the internet would be the death of travel agents.

DEUTSCHE Boerse AG and London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) agreed to combine in a $30 billion deal to create a European trading powerhouse better able to compete with US rivals encroaching on their turf.

CHINA'S economy will not suffer a "hard landing", Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday, stepping up Beijing's charm offensive to reassure investors that the government can manage slowing growth.

ONLINE shopping carts are transforming the face of China's economy, changing supply chains, and putting pricing power in the hands of its 1.37 billion consumers.

US industrial production fell in February, dragged lower by declines in mining, hit hard by falling energy prices, and in utilities amid unseasonably warm weather, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.

Almost no one expects the Federal Reserve to announce another interest rate hike on Wednesday, but all eyes are focused on whether the US central bank turns more bullish in its outlook.

Britain unleashed a fresh wave of austerity on Wednesday in its latest annual budget and cut its growth outlook citing global markets turbulence rooted in China.

Oil prices rebounded in Asia Wednesday after a two-day sell-off fanned by concerns over planned talks between major producers to freeze output.

Google has failed to overturn a Russian ruling that said it broke competition laws by tying together its Android services to ensure its apps were pre-installed on smartphones and tablets.