The incidents several days apart reflect the dangers China faces as it pushes more into unstable areas in search of energy and business.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the Chinese Embassy in Cairo as saying the 25 were freed Wednesday, a day after they were grabbed off their bus on the way to a cement factory in the northern Sinai town of Arish.

Xinhua said the people who seized the workers demanded that the Egyptian government release relatives who had been detained several years ago for suspected involvement in attacks in south Sinai. The workers were freed in good condition, the agency said, citing an embassy official.

China has already sent a crisis team to Sudan and summoned a Sudanese diplomat to express its shock after the 29 workers there were taken by militants in the South Kordofan region.

“The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting overseas Chinese nationals,” Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

China hopes Sudan will “keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship” and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d’Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement. China has close political and economic relations with Sudan centering on exchanging Chinese infrastructure projects for access to Sudanese oil.

China sent a group of security experts to assist in the rescue work and the head of the team, Qiu Xuejun, told Chinese state television in Khartoum that “as far as we know, the Chinese workers are safe. They are safe. They are not hurt.”

Xinhua said 47 Chinese workers were caught in the attack in the South Kordofan region of Sudan. It said 29 were captured and the other 18 fled, and that one of those who fled remains missing. The attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.

Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members hail from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world’s newest country six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.

China has sent large numbers of workers to potentially unstable regions such as Sudan. Last year it was forced to send ships and planes to help with the emergency evacuation of 30,000 of its citizens from the fighting in Libya.

South Sudan and Sudan are in bitter dispute over oil, which is produced primarily in South Sudan but runs through Sudanese pipelines for export.

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Benchmark oil slipped to near $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.

Stock markets opened lower in Europe, where leaders gathering in Brussels for a summit on taming the continent’s financial crisis were met by a nationwide strike that hobbled trains and other public transportation.

Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent to 5,707.50 and Germany’s DAX lost 0.6 percent to 6,470.18. France’s CAC-40 shed 0.6 percent to 3,298.07. Wall Street was also headed for a lower open, with Dow Jones industrial futures falling 0.4 percent to 12,559 and S&P 500 futures down 0.5 percent to 1,305.50.

Losses began earlier in Asia, with the investment mood dampened by Friday’s release of data showing the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the October-December quarter, lower than the 3 percent that economists were expecting.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 0.5 percent to close at 8,793.05. South Korea’s Kospi was 1.2 percent lower at 1,940.55 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.7 percent to 20,160.41. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,272.70.

Benchmarks in mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia, India and the Philippines also fell. Taiwan and New Zealand rose.

European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity and belt-tightening measures as well as a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors that could avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.

If the deal holds and works, it will help prevent a potential shock to the world banking system. But it doesn’t resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said that “the Greece debt issues will remain a source of uncertainty and might dampen the risk mood ahead of the EU summit today.”

Under the agreement, investors holding 206 billion euros ($272 billion) in Greek bonds would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate.

The deal would reduce Greece’s annual interest expense from about 10 billion euros to about 4 billion euros need a personal loan with bad credit. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only 103 billion euro.

Some analysts said stocks were taking a breather after post-New Year rallies in several markets that were spurred by signs of improvement in the U.S. economy and Europe’s debt crisis stabilizing. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, for example, is up more than 11 percent since the beginning of the year. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is 5.7 percent higher.

“Probably it’s a case of the market getting a little bit tired. We’ve had quite a significant rally now, and that’s been based on some news that was mildly encouraging out of Europe,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.

“But we may have arrived at a level where the market will need a bit further concrete evidence and news to continue the rally,” Spooner said.

Shares of CNK International, a South Korean mineral development company, plunged 14.9 percent after company executives were implicated in a stock manipulation scheme, Yonhap News agency said.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. plummeted 14.8 percent after the Defense Ministry and the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center said they would not sign contracts with the electric machinery manufacturer, which acknowledged it had overcharged on defense and space-related projects, Kyodo News agency reported.

Traders are awaiting more data this week for clues about which way the U.S. economy is headed. On Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management will release its manufacturing index for January. The Labor Department will release monthly employment data Friday.

“Because the market has been expecting rather good economic data from the U.S. … I am afraid if those figures disappoint the market, it may trigger further correction in the stock market,” said Louis Wong, dealing director of Phillip Securities Ltd.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 49 cents to $99.07 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to end at $99.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3145 from $1.3208 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.67 yen from 76.72 yen.

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Italy, the euro area

Stiglitz, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the speeches he

However, Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro says there is no indication that any of the nearly half-million gallons (2,200 metric tons) of fuel oil has leaked from the ship’s double-bottomed tanks.

Nicastro said Saturday that the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used in rescue boats or as lubricants on machinery fast payday loan. There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board.

He described its presence in the sea as “very light, very superficial” and appearing to be under control.

Crews were removing oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.

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Brewer, 49, is replacing Brian Cornell, 52, who is leaving the company so he can return to the Northeast for family reasons.

Brewer, who will also be president of Sam’s Club, was previously president of the retailer’s U.S. division. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1.

Wal-Mart has in recent years has been battered by a combination of the slow-growing economy and its own decisions that caused U.S. customers to flee to competitors. But it has refocused on offering the lowest prices and shoppers’ favorite goods and that strategy has been paying off. In its third fiscal quarter ended Oct. 28, its net income fell 2.9 percent but it reversed a slump in U.S. namesake business.

Its Sam’s Club warehouse club business has outperformed its namesake stores no fax payday loans. Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 5.7 percent at Sam’s Club and 1.3 percent at Walmart U.S. stores in its third quarter. The measure is a key gauge of a retailer’s financial health.

Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Brewer held a number of executive positions at Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Wal-Mart also said Friday that it is promoting Gisel Ruiz, 41, to executive vice president and chief operating officer for its U.S. operations. Ruiz has been an executive vice president working on human relations and store innovation issues.

Wal-Mart is also promoting Rollin Ford, 49, to chief administrative officer. Ford was chief information officer. He will be replaced as CIO by Karenann Terrell, 50.

Wal-Mart shares rose 55 cents to $61.16 in morning trading Friday.

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