Internet giant Amazon on Wednesday came under fresh fire over its British tax status after official figures revealed it only paid 2.4 million pounds (US$3.6 million on UK sales of 4.2 billion pounds last year.

Toyota has accelerated past South Korea's Samsung Electronics to become Asia's biggest company by market value, after the Japanese automaker's shares doubled in the past year.

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. lost its ranking among the top five PC makers in Western Europe in the first quarter because of weak buying, research company Gartner Inc. said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stepped up Bangladesh factory inspections while U.S. and European retailers pursued separate accords to try to prevent another disaster in a garment industry where more than 1,200 workers have died in the past six months.

Kuwait Airways Co. (KAC) signed a deal with Airbus to buy 15 A320neo and 10 A350-900 planes with options for 10 more, five from each category, chairman Sami al-Nasef said on Thursday.

Financial markets were subdued Thursday despite encouraging growth figures out of Japan, as investors paused for breath a day after the main U.S. stock indexes struck record highs.

Oil was down in Asian trade Thursday as caution returned to the market following weak U.S. production data, analysts said.

The U.S. dollar was little changed against the yen in Asia on Thursday after investors adjusted positions on the greenback's recent surge, while the euro was weak on gloomy European growth data.

U.S. brokerage Morgan Stanley has trimmed its forecast for global notebook computer shipment growth in the current quarter after April figures fell short of expectations.

Weak economic data across the eurozone pushed European stocks lower Wednesday, as news hit that the 17-country currency bloc is now in its longest-ever recession.