  |  | | | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda frequently entertains dignitaries from all over the world, but he was a touch star-struck on Thursday when he hosted a young billionaire with a whiff of celebrity: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. | | |  | | | | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a landmark development for the way Western companies do business in China, Apple Inc said Thursday it had agreed to work with partner Foxconn to substantially improve wages and working conditions at the factories that produce its wildly popular products. | | | | | | DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's former state telecom operator eircom applied for court protection as expected on Thursday to allow it restructure its 3.75 billion euro ($5 billion) debt mountain, a move it said was "necessary and unavoidable". | | | | | | (Reuters) - Two clean tech companies plan to go public this week in what some see as a sign that the sector is starting to recover. | | | |  | | | | SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LivingSocial, the second-largest daily deal company, said on Thursday it ended its Instant mobile deals business, replacing it with a food-ordering service called Takeout & Delivery. | | | |  | | | | NEW YORK (Reuters)- Telecom equipment maker Avaya Corp may have to push out its initial public offering to 2013 amid fierce competition for investor attention from hot technology properties like Facebook Inc. | | | |  | | | | (Reuters) - American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. | | | |  | | | | SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Apple Inc's Tim Cook, on his first trip to China as the chief executive officer, has visited an iPhone production plant run by the Foxconn Technology Group, which is being accused of improper labor practices. | | |  | | | | (Reuters) - EBay Inc named mobile technology entrepreneur David Marcus president of its PayPal unit on Thursday, replacing Scott Thompson, who left in January to become chief executive of Yahoo Inc. | | |  | | | | CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard backed a ban on Chinese telecoms firm Huawei from tendering for major government contracts on Thursday after Beijing raised concerns about fair treatment for Chinese firms. | | | |  |  | | | A daily digest of breaking business news, coverage of the US economy, major corporate news and the financial markets. Register Today | | |  | |  | | | The latest Reuters articles on M&A, IPOs, private equity, hedge funds and regulatory updates delivered to your inbox each day. Register Today | | | | | | » MORE NEWSLETTERS | |
金砖国家周四敦促世界银行和IMF紧急评估配额制度，以保证欠发达国家的利益，并谴责西方国家的宽松货币政策，称其会动摇新兴经济体的稳定。
梁振英周日当选为香港新一任特区行政长官，而香港与北京之间越来越紧张的政治关系以及香港富人与劳工阶层之间越来越大的裂痕也由此得以凸显。
新鸿基地产联席主席郭炳江和郭炳联兄弟以及前香港政府二号人物许仕仁周四因涉嫌贿赂被香港廉政公署拘捕，此案引发了外界的极大关注。
经济合作与发展组织周四表示，今年上半年欧洲和北美经济的发展步伐将脱节，预算开支削减将损害欧洲经济的增长，而美国经济将可能迎来强劲扩张。
美国公平劳工协会对苹果供应商富士康的三家工厂进行调查后发现，富士康存在多起平均工作时长超过每周60小时的情况，并存在健康和安全问题。
美联储主席贝南克说，为解决劳动力市场的深层次问题，宽松货币政策仍需维持。这为他维持多年低利率的计划提供了进一步的理由。
美国总统奥巴马提名全球卫生领域的专家金永吉出任世行行长，这一做法颠覆了70年来提名金融或外交领域的专家出任世行行长的传统。
视频：西班牙爆发全国性大罢工
接受MarketWatch调查的基金经理和经济学家普遍认为，未来三年中国经济陷入崩溃的可能性不大，不过风险确实存在。 
生产黑莓手机的RIM公司报告第四财季亏损1.25亿美元，同时公布多位高层离职，其中包括前首席执行长鲍尔西利辞去董事会职务。
中国国家主席胡锦涛周五开始对柬埔寨进行为期四天的国事访问。今年的东盟峰会将于下周在柬埔寨召开，南中国海的领土争议问题可能成为此次峰会的议题。
美国联邦储备委员会主席贝南克在他的最后一场大学系列讲座中，为2008年金融危机爆发后美联储采取的两轮债券购买行动进行了强有力的辩护。
谷歌公司正在力争成为像苹果公司那样的电子消费品牌。公司计划通过类似苹果和亚马逊公司等竞争对手的在线商店，直接向消费者推广和销售平板电脑。
美国股市周四收盘大多走低，因经济数据和海外市场担忧拖累，但蓝筹股尾盘走高。道指涨至13146点，涨幅0.2%。
金砖国家周四敦促世界银行和IMF紧急审议份额制度，以保护所有国家的利益。金砖国家称，它们将支持发展中国家候选人竞选两大组织的首脑职位。
百思买表示，公司今年将关掉50个仓储式门店，并将在圣地牙哥和明尼阿波利斯试运行更新形式的门店；此外，公司还将裁减400名员工。
奢侈品生产商普拉达周四表示，2011年净利润增长72%，因主要的亚洲市场销量增加，并且盈利能力增强。
据新华社报道，中国国务院副总理李克强周二在中南海会见了来华访问的苹果公司首席执行长库克，双方讨论了知识产权和加强合作等问题。
中国工商银行周四表示，该行的地方政府融资平台贷款质量良好，这类贷款的现金流覆盖率达90%。
