Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's financial affiliate launched on Thursday Internet bank MYbank, targeting the small- and medium-sized Chinese enterprises that have struggled to obtain credit from major financial institutions.

Oil prices were steady on Thursday as an unexpected build in U.S. gasoline inventories offset a higher than forecast draw in crude stocks.

U.S. lawmakers approved legislation key to securing a hallmark Pacific trade deal by a comfortable margin on Wednesday, advancing President Barack Obama's efforts to strengthen U.S. economic ties with Asia.

The United States and China urged each other on Wednesday to remove barriers to foreign investment, saying that business ties were vital to overall relations, although they appeared to achieve little beyond rhetoric at a high profile three-day meeting that was overshadowed by security rivalries.

Sentiment at some of Asia's biggest firms has deteriorated as a slowing Chinese economy, Greek sovereign debt crisis and looming U.S. interest rate hike create deepening concern about the state of the world economy, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.

Google Inc launched a free version of its music streaming service on Tuesday, as it sought to upstage the debut of Apple Inc's rival service next week.

As the big global banks and investment houses see it, almost every outcome of Greece's stand-off with its creditors leads to a weaker euro. So why isn't the single currency falling?

It could soon pay more to write lengthier books, if you are an author self-publishing on Amazon.com Inc's Kindle ebook platform.

Oil prices rose above $63 a barrel on Monday in response to new proposals from Greece that the European Union welcomed as a basis for progress at talks to try to stave off a default that could cause turmoil in financial markets.

The Bank of Japan said it expects factory output to fall for the first time in three quarters in April-June on weak Asian demand, underscoring the fragile nature of the economic recovery.