Two separate surveys showed declining activity in China’s manufacturing sector in November, falling to their worst levels since the global financial crisis in the first quarter of 2009.

Japan’s stricken nuclear-power complex came closer to a catastrophic meltdown than its operator previously indicated.

Home prices in 100 major cities in China dropped on a monthly basis for a third consecutive month in November, and posted their biggest on-month decline this year, a privately compiled index showed.

President Thein Sein tells US secretary of state her visit “will be historic and a new chapter in relations”.

Hong Kong shares jumped 5.5%, leading Asian stocks higher, spurred by coordinated central bank action and a move by China to stimulate its economy.

A big insider-trading case is now focusing on individuals at three prominent investment firms.

The strong yen’s threat to the health of major Japanese auto makers dominated the discourse at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The diplomatic fallout for Iran from the raid on the British Embassy in Tehran intensified across Europe as several countries recalled their envoys after the U.K. closed its embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats from London.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s crusading conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, has decided to run for governor in 2013, touching off a fierce, two-year clash for the Republican nomination, a senior GOP official close to Cuccinelli said on Wednesday….

NEW YORK (AP) — Blending governing with re-election politics, President Barack Obama roused a cheering northeast Pennsylvania crowd Wednesday as he warned of a “massive blow to the economy” if Republicans block a payroll tax extension….