As Chinese President Hu Jintao meets his American counterpart Barack Obama in Washington, many Americans are worried about the dominance of Chinese trade in their country. They fear that the yuan is undervalued, meaning that US exports struggle to break into the Chinese markets, while imports from China are cheap to bring in and are in abundance. Yet some consumers are starting to fight back.
He may not have the backing of the international community, but Laurent Gbagbo can count on the support of major players in the country's biggest industry. Cocoa production brings 1.5 billion euros into Ivory Coast every year, and the man running the biggest plantation of all is firmly on Gbagbo's side.
Kidnappings are on the rise in Algeria's Kabylia region. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is believed to be behind the abductions.
Mauritania is also trying to deal with the terrorist network. It has set up its first sniffer dog brigade to crack down on drug trafficking, which is a huge source of income for Al Qaeda.
China's trade surplus fell to 16.88 billion dollars in September, its lowest level in five months. Strong imports explain the slowdown of the trade surplus as international pressure to let the yuan appreciate keeps growing.
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill declaring China's exchange rate a "state subsidy" - meaning extra import duties could be imposed on Chinese goods. China has become the biggest exporter in the world. More than 100 billion goods are traded every month and the country has accumulated 2,273 billion dollars in reserves.
US private security firm Xe Services, previously known as Blackwater, has agreed to pay a 42-million-dollar fine in a bid to avoid criminal charges for hundreds of export violations, the New York Times reported late Friday.
Russia has begun a ban on the export of grain until the end of this year in a bid to keep the domestic market supplied and put a lid on prices after a record drought caused a massive loss of wheat crops.
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined international calls for Chinese authorities to allow their currency to appreciate, amid growing speculation that Beijing may soon alter its rigid exchange-rate policy.
Export figures improved in September, China's General Administration of Customs announced Wednesday, falling 15.2 percent year-on-year compared to 23.4 percent in August. This better-than-expected data lifted Shanghai stocks.
