Partnership deal close, Value Creation says

Value Creation Inc., the embattled oil sands company that was just days away from a critical debt deadline, has selected a company it hopes to form a "strong partnership" with. Columba Yeung, the founder and chairman of the privately owned company, declined to comment on reports that Reliance Industries Inc., India's biggest public company, had submitted a bid. "We have multiple offers, but at this point in time we are particularly focused on one of the partners," he said.

Canadian helicopter exercises a precursor to offensive

Two Canadian helicopter operations in the past month were part of preparations for a massive assault by U.S., British and Afghan troops in volatile Helmand province.

Deaths offer glimpse of Obama's secret war

Special operations soldiers and unmanned drones covertly strike at militants outside Iraq and Afghanistan

Taiwan arms sale the latest wedge between U.S. and China

After years of trying to block it, Beijing now says it will retaliate by suspending military ties with Washington and imposing sanctions on the American companies involved

Little sister for Google, Big Brother quandary for China

Internet-savvy copycat produced a look-alike of a very familiar billion-dollar search engine that just happens to be in hot water with the Chinese government

Canada on sidelines of Afghan strategy

Country's shrinking influence becomes evident as other nations commit more ideas, funds and troops

Farmers resent fertilizer ban to thwart Taliban bombmaking

Opposition to the law is spreading, threatening to complicate the West's new counterinsurgency strategy

Strategy doomed without Taliban, ex-official warns

Leader Mullah Omar a 'reasonable' man open to sincere negotiation, says former Pakistani officer who was close to militant chief

NATO weighs Taliban truce in plans for Afghan peace

After hitting southern Afghanistan with tens of thousands of additional soldiers in an effort to weaken a resurgent Taliban, the NATO-led military alliance is considering a plan to end the war by entering power-sharing negotiations with Taliban leaders and former fighters.

U.S. export strength spawns hope for stable growth

A silver lining has emerged from the financial crisis: it has paved the way for a more balanced global economy

WHY YOU SHOULD EXPECT MORE OF THE SAME

Despite a sunnier outlook, it's unlikely the Fed or the Bank of Japan will back away from rock-bottom rates

In this Afghan province, an ex-warlord's word is law - and he wants a word with Canada

From a plush chair, behind a hand-carved desk crowded with custom china and a tissue box made entirely of gold, Atta Mohammad Noor rules his province with an iron fist.

CHART OF THE DAY / CHINA ONLINE

China had 384 million Internet users by the end of 2009, says a China Internet Network Information Center report released last week. The estimate is based on the number of respondents who confirmed using Internet in the previous six months in a nationwide survey

China's regulators apply brakes to bank lending

Authorities rein in rapid growth in loans - up 32 per cent last year - over fears of brewing bubbles in real estate prices and stocks

JAL falls victim to declining sales

Restructuring under bankruptcy protection targets job and route cuts, smaller aircraft

Producers turn to Asia

Booming East has Russia, Saudis 'going where the customers are'

U.S.-funded Pashto radio a new weapon in war against Taliban

When Taliban fighters vowed to cut his throat to muffle his songs of peace, love and the futility of war, Haroon Bacha, a famous Pashtun singer, fled his home in Peshawar, leaving his wife and two children behind.

As shares dive, new CEO boards JAL

Kazuo Inamori expected to steer troubled carrier through bankruptcy protection

The Orange Revolution fades to black as Russia rises again in Ukraine

dsaunders@globeandmail.com

Defying censorship, Google threatens to pull out of China

Move follows 'sophisticated' cyber-attack