INDIA

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), the US-based fast-food restaurant chain headquartered in Illinois long known for its beef-based burgers of all shapes and sizes announced plans on Tuesday to open its first ever vegetarian-exclusive restaurants in India.

This means that Tokyo’s population in 2100 will match the numbers from 1940.

The world’s most populous country will become its biggest smartphone market by year-end, market researcher IDC estimates. It may account for 26.5 percent of all shipments compared with only 17.8 percent for the U.S.

Buses carrying the Sri Lankan pilgrims were attacked in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu Tuesday, a day after the Sri Lankan government had issued a travel advisory to its citizens. Sri Lanka had issued the warning in the wake of the increasing attacks against its citizens in Tamil Nadu.

IT sector funds were the top performers in August among Indian mutual funds that focus on domestic stocks as lower valuations of the sector's shares after their sharp declines in July revived investor interest.

Shaji Farooq, Infosys's financial services head in the U.S. has resigned and has joined rival business group Wipro.

India's annual exports and imports declined for the third consecutive month in July owing to the weak demand from the U.S. and European countries due to the global economic slowdown.

Asian stock markets mostly ended higher Monday on hopes that major central banks around the world would soon announce a new round of stimulus measures to tackle the deteriorating global economic conditions.

Morgan Stanley Monday cut India's economic growth forecast to 5.1 percent from the previously projected 5.8 percent, citing low private investment and poor government finances.

With India's economic growth faltering as a result of weak governance, policy paralysis and opposition to reforms, investors feel the urgent need to push for plans to allow foreign direct investment in financial sector and multi-brand retail trade.

Morgan Stanley pared down India's economic growth forecast to 5.1 percent Monday, the lowest to be announced by any private forecaster in the fiscal year 2012/13. The financial services firm ascribed the low growth outlook to weak external demand, low private investment and poor government finances.

Authorities in Odisha halted operations at six mines of Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, after its environmental clearances expired, a senior government official said on Sunday.

Markets are expected to begin the week on a negative note after official data Saturday showed that Chinese manufacturing activity shrank for the first time in nine months, raising concerns over the growth slowdown in the world's second largest economy.

Lufthansa was forced to cancel more than 200 flights and delay many more at Frankfurt Airport, Germany?s busiest, following a strike by the Independent Flight Attendants Organization, or UFO, that lasted from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. local time on Friday.

Divided opinion on Syrian crisis among the members led to a walkout by the Syrian delegation at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit Thursday hosted by Iran after Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi said the uprising was a "revolution against an oppressive regime."

Thanks to strong end-user demand for lower-priced smartphones, China, the largest market for smartphones this year, will overtake the US as the global leader in smartphone shipments in 2012, according to a new report by IDC.

Pakistani Christians are seeking greater autonomy in the face of hostility, but their movement for a new province is unlikely to succeed.

An employee of the Indian Defense Ministry's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and a journalist with an English newspaper were among the 11 men arrested in the southern Indian state of Karnataka Wednesday by the Central Crime Branch of the Bangalore police for alleged links with global terror networks.

India's economic growth rose in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2012-13 compared to the January-March quarter of the last fiscal, indicating that the country's economy is moderately improving though the soft global demand and the weak domestic policy measures have affected it.

India's GDP growth likely languished around its lowest in three years in the quarter that ended in June, offering no respite for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he struggles to escape from a series of political scandals that have paralysed his economic agenda.

Hundreds of girls below the age of 10 each year are forced into marriage in Iran, and the trend is experiencing a dramatic increase. This alarming statistics was accompanied by an official statement from the Iranian parliament's legal affairs committee that Iran will push to legalize marriage for girls of merely 9 years old.