Sunni-Shia Consensus? (March 05, 2007)
Iranian hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz have reportedly agreed to stem increasing rift between Sunni and Shia Muslims that is dragging West Asia into crisis.<More>

Massive Increase in China Defense Budget (March 05, 2007)
Ahead of the National People's Congress (NPC), China revealed a new defense budget that was 17.8 per cent or USD 45 billion higher that last year raising fears in Western and neighboring capitals on its motivations.<More>

Indo-Pak Anti-Terror Meet (March 05, 2007)
India and Pakistan will meet for the first time in Islamabad to further the anti-terror mechanism devised on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Havana (Cuba) in September 2006 and after it was formally construed last November.<More>

Naxals Kill JMM MP (March 05, 2007)
Suspected Naxal terrorists shot dead a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Sunil Kumar Mahato, two security guards, and a party secretary.<More>

Canadian Animation Tie-up with Indian Schools (March 05, 2007)
Canadian technical institutes seemed to have noticed a sharp shortage of skilled manpower to work on computer animation in India and are tying up with Indian animation schools to offer their courses.<More>

India is Pneumonia Capital (March 05, 2007)
A World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that India has 44 million pneumonia cases making it the pneumonia capital of the world.<More>

WB, Orissa, Assam Most Hungry (March 05, 2007)
A recent survey of household consumer expenditure in India by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for the period July 2004-June 2005 found that West Bengal, Orissa, and Assam have the most households without enough food.<More>

Moon Mission Progresses (March 05, 2007)
With higher allocation of funds for space research, Indian space scientists have started integrating satellites for the moon mission Chandrayaan-1 which is a scientific investigation spacecraft.<More>

China, Sri Lanka Deal to Develop Hambantota (March 05, 2007)
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse visited China and signed a landmark deal allowing Beijing to develop a harbor, bunkering system, and tank farm in Hambantota district in a "friendship city relationship.<More>

U.S. Prelim Anti-Dumping Duty on Shrimp (March 05, 2007)
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced preliminary anti-dumping duty (averaging 10.54%) on shrimp from India, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador, and Thailand.<More>

Malaysia Expects 400K Indian Tourists (March 05, 2007)
As part of its "Visit Malaysia Year 2007," Malaysia is pitching for a 25 per cent rise in tourists from India to reach 400,000 this year using easier visa regimes, prizes, and shopping discounts.<More>

UK Bank to Close Direct Interface Call Center (March 05, 2007)
The United Kingdom's largest consumer loan provider, Lloyds TSB Group, has capitulated to domestic union and labor demands to stop off shoring activities to India and closed its direct interface operations.<More>

India Willing but Cautious on WTO (March 05, 2007)
In a one-to-one meeting, Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath has reportedly told his European Union counterpart Peter Mandelson that India is willing to restart the stalled Doha Round but is unwilling to rush into a deal.<More>

US Tech Spending from India to Increase (March 05, 2007)
A Deloitte survey reported that the U.S. will increase its technology services procurement from India and China over the next three years with banks leading increasing its spend of 6% of annual IT spend of USD 44 billion to 30% by 2010.<More>

Essar Negotiating 20% Stake in Libyan Oil Field (March 05, 2007)
The Essar group is negotiating with Phoenix Libya (a subsidiary of Phoenix AG) to buy 20 percent stake with rights to buy up to 50 per cent in an oil and gas field in Libya and also plans to take oil and gas blocks in Iran, Papua New Guinea, and Libya.<More>

BG-ONGC $1B Investment in KG (March 05, 2007)
British major BG Group Plc and Indian major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) announced plans to invest USD 1 billion in the Krishna Godavari basin oil and gas block.<More>

TVS Unit Sold to Finnish Company (March 05, 2007)
TVS Electronics is planning to divest its electronic contract manufacturing services business to Finland based Incap Corporation for Rs. 50-60 crore (USD 11-13 million) to re-focus on its core peripherals business.<More>

Hindalco's Novelis Offer (March 05, 2007)
Hindalco Industries announced that it will make a preferential allotment worth Rs 2,600 crore (about $565 million) to part-finance the company's recent acquisition of US aluminium company Novelis.<More>

Informatica Plans Expansion (March 05, 2007)
The USD 325 million data integration software products company Informatica, is planning to grow its customer support services business from its India centre in Bangalore and handling one-third of its customer services.<More>