Competition between Asia's low-cost airlines is poised to heat up this year as carriers from Japan and China are lining up to launch new routes to Seoul, seeking to gain an upper hand in one of the world's fastest growing aviation markets.

If you have money and want to flaunt it, mansions, limousines and yachts are no longer enough. For the super rich of Asia, owning a private jet has become the ultimate status symbol.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has agreed that regulatory coherence is important for regional economic integration, especially for strengthening regional supply chains, the group's secretariat said yesterday.

A U.S. trade panel on Friday approved investigations that could lead to steep import duties on more than US$1 billion of washing machines from South Korea and Mexico and more than US$150 million of wind energy towers from China and Vietnam.

China's chronically high inflation edged down in December but stayed relatively strong as Beijing tried to stimulate its slowing economy.

China and emerging markets will be the main destinations that the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will help local manufacturers export their products to, said Chairman Wang Chih-kang, yesterday.

Talks on a China-Japan-Republic of Korea free trade agreement (FTA) are expected to start in the first half of this year, with May seen as the earliest date, following the conclusion in December of studies and research into its potential consequences, a source close to the matter told China Daily.

The U.S. Treasury again shied away from labeling China a currency manipulator on Tuesday, but it rapped the country for not moving quickly enough on exchange rate reforms.

Chinese and Japanese leaders have unveiled initiatives to tighten financial links between East Asia's economic giants and sometime rivals — measures that could expand use of China's tightly controlled currency abroad.

Global ratings agency Fitch on Friday cut its 2012 growth outlook for Asia to 6.8 percent from 7.4 percent previously, citing the weak global economy.