China, Asia | featured news

China reported its first quarterly trade deficit in six years Sunday as surging prices for commodities pushed up its import bill.

China's central bank increased interest rates on Tuesday for the fourth time since October, raising suspicions that data next week may show inflation rose more than expected in March.

China escalated its opposition to American-led airstrikes on Libya on Tuesday, calling for an immediate ceasefire and warning of “a humanitarian disaster” caused by the three-day-old aerial assault.

A clamor for iodine salt leads to long lines and mob scenes at stores across China after rumors spread of a radioactive cloud from Japan's quake-damaged nuclear plant. The hordes are under the false impression that consuming the seasoning would protect against radiation poisoning.

India overtakes China to become the world's largest importer of arms, a Sweden-based think tank says.

Fifteen members of China’s International search and Rescue Team took off for Japan Sunday morning to help its neighbor clean up from one of its biggest natural disasters in a generation, the Xinhua news agency reports.

For the third Sunday in a row, Chinese police swamped a downtown Beijing area for "stroll-by" protests against China's communist government.

The growth in movie theaters is frenetic, with plenty of room for expansion, but it's not clear how much that might help Hollywood.Not long ago when Zhang Guomiao wanted to see a film, he'd head for the village square.

China is on course for another five years of robust growth, but inflation threatens social stability and must be tamed, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday. In China's version of a "State of the Union" address to the annual parliamentary session, Wen said the top priority this year was to curb price rises that are hurting ordinary people in the world's second-largest economy.

Users in China are reporting that access to LinkedIn has been blocked throughout the country.