The presidents of China and Russia urge Asian-Pacific countries to protect themselves by forging deeper regional economic ties, with Hu calling for infrastructure investment and Putin for trade barriers to be smashed

India implements planned opening of supermarkets to foreign firms and approves foreign direct investment in aviation, broadcasting and power as prime minster seeks to break political gridlock in New Delhi.

Though South Korea's decision was unexpected both countries' central banks are giving themselves more time to see if the global economy regains growth.

Tokyo police say they have concluded that Japanese Financial Services Minister Tadahiro Matsushita committed suicide and have closed the investigation.

The presidents of China and Russia urge Asian-Pacific countries to protect themselves by forging deeper regional economic ties, with Hu calling for infrastructure investment and Putin for trade barriers to be smashed

The extremely unusual public criticism of Chinese miner Xiyang underlines Pyongyang's sensitivity over an increasingly heavy dependence on China.

State-owned China National Petroleum said the chairman of its listed PetroChina subsidiary, Jiang Jiemin, not seen publicly for some weeks, had participated in a company meeting on Monday, as rumours swirled on Chinese social media that he had fled the country and state media reported that Jiang had been hospitalized, though the company says he is not ill.

A 10-year alliance with Emirates is seen by Qantas Airways as its best bet to turn around its loss-making international operations.