LONDON (Reuters) - Asda, Britain's second-biggest grocer, said on Tuesday it would invest over 700 million pounds ($1 billion) this year in its online operations, new and existing stores and its supply chain, helping to create 2,500 new jobs. The British arm of U.S. retailer Wal-Mart <WMT.N>, which currently trades from 568 UK stores, said it will open 10 new stores in the remainder of the year - five superstores, four new small format supermarkets and one non-food outlet. Two new stores have already opened this year.

LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket chain Asda said on Tuesday very low levels of the horse pain-killing drug phenylbutazone, also known as bute, had been found in horsemeat discovered in tins of corned beef in the first such case in Britain. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the level of the drug, which is banned from entering the human food chain, posed a low risk to human health, as results showed it contained 4 parts per billion.

Australia's flag carrier Qantas on Wednesday announced closer links with China Eastern Airlines to try to shore up traffic to Asia following the launch of its partnership with Emirates. Qantas said it would boost codesharing between Melbourne and Shanghai, as well as on the Sydney-Nanjing-Beijing route and domestically between Shanghai and Nanjing, to increase its presence in key market China. "We said we would expand Qantas' Asian network through our airline partnerships and we're now delivering on that promise," said Qantas International's China manager Andrew Hogg,

Australia's competition watchdog on Wednesday gave final approval for Qantas and Emirates Airlines to launch their global alliance, saying the tie-up will benefit the public. The decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, widely expected after preliminary approval in December, allows the airlines to combine operations for five years. mp/jw