ASIAN TOUR: The US' deputy secretary of state will travel to Southeast Asian countries this week to try to break an impasse in signing free-trade deals
Deputy US Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is determined to break a free-trade impasse with Southeast Asia during a visit to the region this week but has cautioned that any agreement reached will have to be comprehensive.

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DOHA ROUND: Ahead of a meeting of trade ministers in Paris the EU's top trade official said there is still time to deliver on a `development-through-trade agenda'
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson sought to galvanize foundering multilateral trade talks yesterday, insisting the prevailing pessimism was "misplaced" and calling for political commitment to open markets from industrialized and middle-income countries.

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COMMERCIALS: Marketing executives are turning to the game console in a bid to reach consumers, who are showing increasingly fractured media habits
As advertisers struggle to reach increasingly distracted and jaded US consumers, they have sought nontraditional vehicles for their ads, from elevators to cellphone screens.

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Microsoft Corp's next-generation Xbox gaming console will be more of a digital entertainment hub than its predecessor, making it even more of a PC hybrid than ever, Bill Gates told a meeting of business journalists on Monday.

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Qwest dropped out of the bidding war for MCI Inc on Monday after MCI agreed to another new deal with Verizon, rejecting a higher-priced bid from Qwest for the fourth time.

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■ Coal
China output slows in Q1
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