China will accelerate reforms to remove internal barriers to both foreign and domestic trade, the country's cabinet said on Monday, a move designed to bolster domestic consumption in its slowing economy.

Japan's government plans to raise the minimum wage and introduce other steps to revitalise the economy, but the draft of stimulus measures seen by Reuters on Monday appeared to break no new ground on reforms that analysts say are needed to end decades of stagnation.

EUROZONE business activity hit a four-and-a-half year high in November, helping create much-needed jobs in a broad-based upturn despite the impact on France of the Paris attacks, a key survey showed Monday.

AT some Macy's outlets this holiday season, shoppers who download the retailer's app will be able to use their smart phones to guide them through the store to products they're seeking.

Hundreds of layoffs at several Indian start-ups have sparked fears the bubble is starting to burst for the country's e-commerce companies, amid claims by analysts that many of them are overvalued.

China is offering $10 billion in infrastructure loans to Southeast Asian countries, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday.

A technical breakdown halted trade on Dhaka Stock Exchange for an hour and a half yesterday, while the regulator served notice on the premier bourse, seeking an explanation.

The Asian Development Bank has lent $250 million more to Bangladesh to assist the country's ongoing capital market reforms.

The United States pushed China for greater market access at annual trade talks in China on Sunday, though few breakthroughs are expected amid tensions over cyber hacking and rules that could hamper foreign tech firms.

In the office of the small paint factory he helps run, Pramod Patel is clear on the problem holding back India's manufacturing growth: cash, or a lack of it.

CHINA'S President Xi Jinping Wednesday urged Asian economies to sign up to its free trade agreement, warning that rival pacts risked causing "fragmentation" among regional nations.

WHEN a landslide created a huge, turquoise lake that cut them off from the world, the farmers of Gulmit were left destitute and unable to sell their potatoes. Their solution: to drag their Himalayan valley in Pakistan's far north into the Internet age.

Monsanto is weighing whether to launch another attempt to take over Swiss agrochemicals giant Syngenta, after the Swiss company

Aung San Suu Kyi's landslide election win might be bad news for Myanmar businessmen like construction magnate Khin Shwe, who lost his parliament seat and remains barred from doing business with US nationals due to his ties to the former junta. Or maybe not.

China has moved to restrict trade at offshore yuan clearing banks, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, stepping up capital controls even as Beijing positions its currency for inclusion in the International Monetary Fund's reserve basket.

Wal-Mart Stores reported a rise in comparable sales at US stores in the third quarter but earnings dipped due in part to the strong dollar.

China's main search engine Baidu plans to launch an online bank with financial services group Citic, the two companies said on Wednesday, as the Internet firm seeks to compete with rivals moving into banking.

Global payment operator MasterCard Inc sees double-digit annual growth in credit card transaction volumes in China, lifted by the booming e-commerce industry in the world's second-largest economy, a senior executive told Reuters on Monday.

Japan's economy slipped into recession for the second time since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power nearly three years ago, data showed Monday, dealing a fresh blow to his drive to kickstart weak growth and end years of deflation.

APPLE announced on Sunday that it has struck a deal to power all of its Singapore operations with renewable energy, the latest in a series of steps from the company to turn its operations worldwide green.