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Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street, deflated by signs that the global economic meltdown is being felt across Asia... China reported sharply lower growth in its exports. The so-called fiscal cliff, when U.S. government spending cuts and higher taxes kick in on Jan. 1, looms larger now that the distraction of earnings season is over.

Chinese authorities have released a woman sent to a labor camp for challenging the sentences handed down to the men who abducted, raped and prostituted her 11-year-old daughter. Tang Hui was ordered last week to serve 18 months in a labor camp for "disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society." The crusading mother's case has aroused widespread public outrage and thrown a spotlight on China's controversial reeducation through labor camps.

The one-day murder trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai, concluded with prosecutors telling the court that she slipped poison into a glass of water to kill British businessman Neil Heywood after he got drunk. Gu killed Heywood, they argued, because he threatened the security of her Harvard University son.

Stocks edged slightly higher on Thursday, up for a fifth session, on better-than-expected jobless claims and trade data in the United States and hopes of further stimulus action from China's central bank.

China complete a clean sweep of table tennis at the Olympics as their men's team beat South Korea to gold.

China's industrial output and fixed-asset investment are expected to show signs of picking up in data on Thursday, indicating that the economy is starting to stabilize after sliding for six straight quarters.

The son of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai says he is confident the "facts will speak for themselves" when his mother stands trial for murder Thursday in the country's most sensational political scandal in decades.

Liu Xiang, the 2004 gold medalist and former world-record holder in the event, appeared to mistime his approach to the first hurdle, ran directly into it and fell.

Is it possible for the butler, who hasn't met with his lawyer yet, to get a fair trial in the poisoning of Neil Heywood, associate of political wife Gu Kailai? The lawyer for one of the defendants in China's most sensational murder case is emphatic: The butler did not do it.

China blasted the United States on Saturday for its recent public criticism and urging of diplomacy to address territorial disputes in the South China Sea, saying the U.S. statement shows "total disregard for the facts" and sends "a seriously wrong message."