Taiwan's central bank yesterday approved an application by the Taipei branch of the Bank of China to be the renminbi clearing bank on the island.

The seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis, and nine of the ten dead, arrived back in a shell-shocked Japan Friday as the prime minister spoke of the nation's “deepest grief.”

Australian resources firm Linc Energy said it had uncovered a huge oil deposit in the nation's vast outback in a discovery hailed Thursday by officials as worth some AU$20 trillion (US$21 trillion).

Australian inflation came in lower than expected Wednesday, climbing a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in the December quarter and raising speculation about an interest rate cut.

A tropical storm intensifying off Australia's northwest coast brought nearly half the world's iron ore trade to a halt on Tuesday, idling huge ports used by miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012, the government said Friday, but an uptick in the final quarter pointed to better news ahead for a prime driver of the tepid global recovery.

Australia's unemployment rate jumped to 5.4 percent in December, data showed Thursday, with a net 5,500 jobs lost as the mining-powered economy slows and manufacturing struggles.

Australia's competition watchdog on Thursday gave Qantas and Emirates Airlines permission to launch their global alliance although final approval is still pending.

Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study released on Tuesday.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto on Tuesday lifted the planned capacity for its iron ore operations in a remote region of Australia, as it announced record production in 2012.