SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Software maker Microsoft Corp is selling about 1,500 of its patents to Chinese device maker Xiaomi , a rare departure for the U.S. company and part of what the two companies say is the start of a long-term partnership. The deal, announced on Wednesday, also includes...

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nearly 46 million people around the world are living as slaves, forced to work in factories, mines and farms, sold for sex, trapped in debt bondage or born into servitude, according to the third Global Slavery Index released on Tuesday. The survey by Walk...

Sanya, China (Reuters) - China's efforts to lift local consumption, spur domestic tourism and keep within its borders citizens that splurge in Milan or Seoul have spawned a duty-free paradise on the southern island of Hainan that it hopes will satisfy a lust for luxury. Firms such as the...

A glass-bottom platform that takes visitors a towering 400 metres above ground opens in China. Yuming Woo reports. At 400 metres above the ground, this glass-bottom platform isn't a relaxing spot for those with a fear of heights. While some were visibly nervous, others were relaxed. Owners of the...

BEIJING (Reuters) - With drinks served in breast-shaped cups and beers opened with bottle openers shaped like a wooden penis, the father and daughter team behind a Beijing S&M restaurant are encouraging customers to mix food with sex. Owner Lu Lu, a 27-year-old divorcee, said business has been good...

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - At a stroke, the U.S. and Vietnam have complicated the strategic outlook for China over the disputed South China Sea. As U.S. President Barack Obama marked one of his last trips to Asia by the historic lifting of Washington's arms embargo on Vietnam, he repeatedly...

There's no masking this Chinese factory's enthusiasm for American politics, as Julie Noce reports. (Reuters) - It's Donald Trump's face by the hundreds. Plastic, and spray painted an orangish-brown hue, masks of the presumptive Republican candidate are being pumped out in a factory in China. Despite Trump's disparaging comments...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's top banks are lending more to homebuyers and developers than at any time since at least the global financial crisis, making them vulnerable to a property market downturn as prices overheat and real-estate firms struggle with a growing debt burden. China's top five banks...

By Joern Poltz ANSBACH, Germany (Reuters) - Adidas will launch mass production of running shoes at a German factory operated largely by robots next year and plans to open a similar plant in the United States next year, the company said on Tuesday. Founded by German cobbler Adi Dassler...

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Promises of higher salaries and greater freedom at work are luring officials from China's high-profile drugs watchdog to the companies they had regulated, a  blow just as the country looks to tighten oversight and drive innovation. China wants to crack down on substandard drugs and healthcare...