The US currency was quoted at 81.21 yen in early Thursday (October 14) trading in Tokyo - losing more ground against the Japanese currency after briefly recovering from a prior 15-year low of 81.37 yen struck in Sydney on Monday.

The central bank stepped in to sell yen and buy dollars, a day after the yen hit a 15-year high against the dollar. It is the first time in six years that the Bank of Japan has intervened.

Russia applied to join the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT, in June 1993 but remains the biggest economy outside the trade body and has previously accused the US of holding up its bid.

The US trade deficit was smaller than expected in July, figures have shown, as exports reached their highest level in almost two years.

A key reason for the Aussie's status as a favourite in the speculative community is that it is seen as providing investors with exposure to Asian markets and booming commodity prices.

"Markets are broadly interpreting this as an improvement in the economy, but overall consumer confidence is still very, very bad," said Tim Quinlan, an economist with Wells Fargo. "We went from being severely depressed about the outlook, to just being depressed about the outlook."

But analysts called the measures too timid in the face of the problems plaguing Japan's export-oriented economy.

A "lost decade" in US employment reflects a change in the structure of the nation's labor market, according to Mohamed El-Erian, CEO at Pacific Investment Management Co.

Now it's official. Taiwan's legislature on late Tuesday night approved the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the landmark trade deal between China and Taiwan.

The previous estimates, released in August 2008, predicted zero growth in 2026, but since then the birth rate recorded an even sharper decline.

After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures. The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China's ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.

Gold rose to a one-month high on August 13, lifted by persistent poor macroeconomic data from the US that is prompting investors to choose safer assets in the face of a gloomier economic outlook.

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There have been a number of positive developments regarding wage growth and government stimulus that will help move China forward towards a more consumption-oriented economy. But keep in mind that China is a save-first economy, so 20-25% wage inflation doesn't instantly equal 20-25% more consumer spending.

China and Taiwan signed a tariff-slashing trade pact Tuesday that boosts economic ties and further eases political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war. Beijing hopes the deal, signed live on on state television, can lead to political accommodation. Taiwan is looking for the tighter economic links to keep the island from being marginalized as China's global clout grows.

China has come under increasing international pressure to allow the yuan to appreciate. The US in particular has argued that the weak yuan gives Chinese exporters an unfair competitive advantage.

But the opposition certainly has reason to be suspicious. While Taiwanese negotiators did not get everything they asked for - PVC and polyethylene, important Taiwanese exports, were left out after months of wrangling.

Exporters have eyed Europe cautiously, with the safe-haven yen soaring in recent months on European debt worries, which if sustained will dent exporters' repatriated profits and make their goods more expensive overseas.

But analysts said China would still limit the appreciation so as not to damage its export-led economy.

Questions have been raised about whether exporters will have to transform their modus operandi, which for years was predicated on a seemingly endless supply of cheap labour.

Protesters in Taiwan's capital scuffled with police on June 3 and threw chairs at an official building where discussions were under way on a proposal for a referendum on a planned trade pact with China. The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou has been pushing for the pact, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, saying it will boost growth and employment.

North Korea's ban on all ties could also bar South Korean aircraft from North Korean airspace, adding fuel cost and time to many international flights. Tensions on the peninsula are hitting the currency and stock markets of Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

South Korea's won fell the most in more than a year and the nation's stocks slumped following a report by a defector group that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered the military to prepare for conflict.

Civil aviation regulators from Taiwan and China have agreed to add 28 direct passenger flights a week between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport in order to meet increasing demand for cross-straits flights, according to Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration. The new flights will begin operating before June 14.

The bill that could raise the admissions bar locally and send Taiwan students to offshore schools has finally received approval in parliament, after legislators grabbed one another's arms and necks.

The measures include speeding up current plans to integrate Europe's air space, creating a "single European regulator for a single European sky."

Monthly Japanese shipments held steady in March 2010 in a sign that global demand, particularly from Asia, is still expanding, lending support to the country's export-dependent economy.

Airports across Europe are gradually reopening, but travellers are still dealing with delays as airlines try to clear the massive flight backlog caused by a cloud of volcanic ash.

In an interview with AFP, Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou said the framework agreement was just a first step, but that he was confident it would lead to deeper trade agreements with China and continue to lower tensions between the former enemies.

China's economy accelerated more than expected in the first quarter, while consumer and wholesale inflation - though mixed - indicated a broadly rising trend, stoking further concerns of economic overheating in the economy.

Magnitude 7.1 quake hits Yushu county in northwest province of Qinghai, flattening buildings and sparking big rescue.

Taiwan reported lower than expected March inflation earlier today and this solidifies Taiwan's position as a low inflation country in a region that is experiencing higher inflation that is prompting central banks to tighten monetary conditions. Malaysia and India have already hiked rates. Through increases in the required reserves and administrative measures, China's monetary conditions are not as accommodative as they had been.

Taiwan's central bank has said its easy monetary policy is over after it left key rates unchanged for the fifth consecutive quarter to support the island's still-fragile economic recovery.

Japan's exports in February jumped 45.3% from a year earlier, fueled by robust global demand for cars and electronics, according to the finance ministry.

The US Federal Reserve has repeated its pledge to keep interest rates at record lows in order to nurture the economic recovery.

China's exports jumped by 46% in February compared with a year ago, raising hopes of a strong recovery in global trade.

Last month's unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.7%, the same as in January, and lower than December's rate of 10%.

The number of people registering as unemployed in Spain continued to rise in February 2010, as the recession which began with a collapsing housing market spread further into other sectors.

Japan's unemployment rate fell below 5% for the first time in a year in January 2010, as strong exports fed into a strengthening economic recovery.

Prices on futures of the metal traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) touched US$7,600 a tonne, the highest since 20 January. Officials in Chile - the world's biggest copper miner - have promised to honour its export commitments.