Nissan Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co's forecast-beating quarterly profits may prove tough to match in the second half as robust sales in China and elsewhere start to slow. A patchy recovery in the U.S.

China's population is expected to increase modestly from 1.34 billion to 1.48 billion.

India belongs to the "BRIC" group of rapidly growing emerging economies along with China, Brazil and Russia, the likes of which Britain is hoping to tap as it seeks to offset drastic public spending cuts at home.

A full-scale prototype of the Long March 5 rocket would be ready for testing in 2012 and a year later, test firing of fully assembled rocket stages would be conducted.

Flood-hit Hanjiang River and its tributaries worsened the situation Shaanxi's Ankang, Hanzhong, and Shangluo which were reeling under heavy rains since July 14.