Microsoft to buy stake in China's Sichuan Changhong

(Reuters) - Under a memorandum of understanding, the Chinese company
would place 15 million new shares with Microsoft at a price of
6.27 yuan each, a 37 percent discount to its last traded market
price of 9.93 yuan.




The deal would give Microsoft a stake of nearly 1 percent
in Sichuan Changhong, according to Reuters calculations. The
U.S. software giant would be a long-term, strategic investor,
Sichuan Changhong said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Asian Contagion Led by Asset Bubbles May Be Only a Bad Currency Trade Away

(Bloomberg) -- The next Asian contagion may be only
a bad currency trade away.

Ten years after the collapse of Asian governments'
overvalued currencies in 1997, the remedies they embraced to
prevent a recurrence may have only traded one set of risks for
another. Their ``never again'' determination has led them to new
extremes: artificially low currencies, a record $3.4 trillion in
reserves and export-dependent economies.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Healthy earnings outlook may lift stocks

(Reuters) - If corporations signal that business conditions are looking better for the rest of the year, analysts probably will ratchet up earnings forecasts for the second half.




"Those earnings are going to come in better than we thought, we just don't know by how much," said Carol R. Miller, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Mauritius May Sell Stakes in Telephone, Insurance Companies to Retire Debt

(Bloomberg) -- Mauritius may sell stakes in several
state-owned companies, including Mauritius Telecom and the State
Insurance Company Ltd., and use the proceeds to retire debt or
build new infrastructure, Finance Minister Rama Sithanen said.

``As part of its policy to develop the equity market and to
widen and democratize share ownership, government will encourage
Mauritius Telecom and Sicom Ltd. to be listed on the Stock
Exchange of Mauritius,'' Sithanen said in his June 15 budget
speech, which was published on his ministry's Internet site. ``In
the same vein, government will sell some of its shares in other
state-owned companies.''


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Shares in Dubai Decline, Led by Emaar; Saudi's Tadawul Rises: Gulf Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Dubai, the United Arab
Emirates, dropped for a second consecutive day, led by Emaar
Properties PJSC, the Middle East's largest publicly traded
property developer.

Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index advanced for the
first time in six trading sessions, paced by Samba Financial
Group, the second-largest listed bank in the kingdom.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Theories abound at Conrad Black fraud trial

(Reuters) - Those two approaches are available because Judge Amy St.
Eve of U.S. District Court in Chicago sided with prosecutors in
agreeing to give jurors what is referred to in legal circles as
the "ostrich instruction." That means a defendant can be found
guilty if he deliberately avoided learning about wrongdoing,
even if the jury thinks he did not hatch the scheme.




That "deliberate avoidance" jury instruction is common in
white-collar criminal cases, legal experts say.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Niger plans audit of foreign, local mining firms

(Reuters) - Niger's government is planning its first ever audit of mining and energy firms as foreign explorers flock to its expanses of mineral-rich desert, the West African country's government said.

The world's third largest uranium producer last year changed its mining law to allow the government to audit foreign firms, in line with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) championed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.


Read more at Reuters Africa