INDIA

Up until now, India?s military role in Afghanistan has been minimal.

Asia's newest long-haul budget carrier Scoot took off on its maiden flight from Singapore to Sydney Monday, using a novel approach to saving fuel: iPads.

Panetta's speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this past weekend was meant to be about America's grand return to the Pacific. Instead, everyone's attention was on China.

India is expected play an active role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of international forces in the region, said U.S. officials on arrival of the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Spain said on Tuesday that credit markets were closing to the euro zone's fourth biggest economy as finance chiefs of the Group of Seven major economies were to hold emergency talks on the currency bloc's worsening debt crisis.

In an effort to revive the debt-ridden Air India, the government pumped in Rs. 1,200 crore ($215 million) as equity on Monday, to be put to use in paying employee salaries and vendor dues.

A 63-year-old prohibition law requiring every adult above the age of 25 to get a drinking permit exists in Maharashtra but it's never been taken seriously - until the rave party hogged media headlines. Individuals caught drinking without a permit could be fined 50,000 rupees or jailed for five years.

Asian markets rose Tuesday amid hopes that policy makers in Europe would take measures to stem the debt crisis and regain the economic growth momentum.

Tensions flared in northwestern Myanmar after 10 Muslims were beaten to death by a mob of Buddhist vigilantes Sunday in retaliation to the rape and murder of a girl allegedly by Muslim men.

India's BSE Sensex rose Tuesday, tracking positive cues from other Asian markets and following recovery staged by the rupee.

Stocks have wiped out their year-to-date gains. US payrolls are down while unemployment is up. Yields on high-demand government bonds are at record lows. Speculation abounds the US Fed might even print more money. Is it any wonder some are talking about gold?s rebound?

Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex and NSE's Nifty opened on a negative note and continued in the red in the morning session Monday, weighed down by a slump in the FMCG and consumer durable shares.

Further straining the trade ties between both the countries, China has issued an advisory cautioning its citizens against traveling to India in response to an Indian embassy's warning last week to its traders against doing business with Chinese sellers.

Petrol price woes in India are not going to end anytime soon. Oil companies, which had raised Rs 7.5 per liter over a week ago, announced a rollback of Rs 2 Saturday after wide protests against the hike. However, the companies Monday said that the prices would be reviewed June 15.

Falling global oil prices as well as declining core inflation and growth in India give the Reserve Bank of India room to adjust interest rates, a deputy governor said, two weeks before a policy review for which expectations have been growing for a rate cut.

Warburg Pincus LLC, a private equity firm based in US, is looking for a $100-$125 million stake in finance firm Future Capital Holdings, sources said to Reuters.

Italian sailors, who mistook two Indian fishermen for pirates and killed them, were released on bail Saturday to await trial, a step closer to the culmination of a major diplomatic row between Rome and New Delhi.

In the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of rebellious Europeans, Americans, and Aussies threw caution to the wind and traded their suburban upbringings for sarongs, sandals, and the allure of the East, marching along the hippie trail on a journey that would forever alter the course of history.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Saturday that the country will shift most of its warships to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020 as part of a new military strategy.

Asian markets declined this week due to increasing concerns about China's economic slowdown and heightened Spanish banking sector woes.

True to form, star soccer player Mario Balotelli is pulling no punches. The Italian national team striker is scheduled to compete in the UEFA European Football Championship 2012, or Euro 2012, in Ukraine and Poland. Aware of those countries' poor record for racial tolerance, Balotelli is putting up his guard.