In a mountainous area north of Tokyo, a priest blows a conch shell as Yuichiro Yamamoto bows and thanks the nature gods for this year's "good harvest": natural ice.

A British judge on Friday gave the green light for a tiny private firm to seize more than $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over a failed natural gas deal.

Thailand will pour more than $10 billion into the economy, the finance ministry said Friday, as a new government looks to kickstart sputtering growth after five years of junta rule.

Stock markets rose for the most part on Friday following a recovery on Wall Street that helped to ease global recession fears.

The Turkish military pension fund OYAK said Friday it had signed a provisional deal to buy British Steel after the UK steelmaker was forced into liquidation in May.

American consumers appear to be carrying the US economy in their shopping carts as manufacturing slumps amid President Donald Trump's trade conflict with China, and financial signals warn of a possible recession.

"The economy is phenomenal," Trump said Thursday. "We had a couple of bad days but we are going to have some very good days because we had to take on China."

South Africa on Thursday announced visa waivers for four countries in a bid to boost tourism amid an economic crisis and falling visitor numbers.

Asian equities rose Wednesday as investors breathed a collective sigh of relief at news the US had delayed tariffs on a swathe of Chinese goods, easing tensions in their bitter trade war.

Hong Kong shares sank more than two percent Tuesday following steep losses on Wall Street, with investors hit by worries over political unrest in the city as well as uncertainty about the China-US trade standoff.

Singapore further cut its annual growth forecast on Tuesday as the escalating US-China trade war hammers exports, in another ominous sign for Asia's trade-reliant economies.