(MELBOURNE) Australia's economy, buoyed by demand from China for iron ore and coal, is feeling the impact of a global slowdown as employers defer hiring new workers on European uncertainty, Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

(MELBOURNE) Global consumer confidence rose in the December quarter as improving sentiment in the US and China, the world's largest economies, outweighed deterioration in Europe, according to a survey by Nielsen Holdings NV.

(HANOI) Stashing gold at home rather than having cash in the bank is a generations-old habit in communist Vietnam, but a recent surge in prices has sparked government attempts to bring the yellow metal to heel.