INDIA

Like many other sectors, the U.S. IT jobs market has been threatened by armies of smart, skilled and English-speaking professionals from emerging market countries like India, Pakistan and Russia.

The Maldives--a small string of islands in the Indian Ocean that boasts surreal beachfronts and extraordinary getaways--is full of destruction and chaos as it undergoes a tumultuous political upheaval. Nations such as the United States, China and India could be dramatically affected by the instability in the Maldives, and each has responded in a different way.

Boeing has frozen the price on its bid for a multi-billion-dollar Brazilian air force jet contract, sources close to the deal told Reuters, as the global race to sell military hardware to emerging economic powers becomes more competitive.

The European Union has asked India to use its leverage to bring Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Friday, as Asia's third-largest economy prepares to increase trade with Tehran.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed confidence that a second bailout package for Greece would be finalized next week, but said Athens needed to implement structural reforms to restore confidence in its economy.

Gold traders in India, the world's biggest consumer, drifted back to the market on Friday as prices eased from their highest level in more than two months, dealers said.

The BSE Sensex closed down 0.46 percent on Friday, reversing early gains, after data showed the country's industrial output in December slowed sharply and Morgan Stanley cut its allocation for emerging market stocks.

The top aftermarket NYSE Losers Thursday were: Leapfrog Enterprises, Overseas Shipholding Group, Gardner Denver, Roundy's, Flowers Foods, Lions Gate Entertainment, Eagle Materials, Sterlite Industries India, DAQQ New Energy Corp and Skilled Healthcare Group.

Greek workers went on strike against austerity measures on Friday, docking ships and halting public transport, hours after euro zone finance ministers said Athens needed to make more cuts to convince them to release a financial bailout.

Overall demand for IT services will continue to grow in 2012 as productivity efficiencies from IT are now a well-accepted reality, according to a senior executive of a major IT service provider.

Where did the game of cricket begin? This question came from my friend Paul, who is from the Netherlands. He was visiting Kerala, the southernmost state of India where I was born. He came here to enjoy the hot Indian summer. But there was something hotter than the sun brewing in India at that time. It was the Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

Yujraj Sigh has posted on his twitter page a bald photo of himself. This proves the player's will to get back his life 'and of course everyday I look forward to come back and wear my india jersey my india cap and represent my country again jai hind' as he tweeted earlier.

Negotiations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, between Greece and its lenders and between big U.S. banks and the federal government, boosted the willingness of investors Thursday to move into risk assets, many of which posted gains.

A 19-year-old Tibetan man set himself on fire Wednesday in western China to protest government control over Tibetan-populated regions, and was taken away by authorities in an unknown condition.

Shares of Cisco Systems Inc fell 3 percent, a day after the network equipment maker's estimate-beating forecast failed to impress, suggesting investors may still be wary of its restructuring efforts paying off so early.

The next supercontinent, Amasia, may still be a few hundred million years away, but there have been three others in the past that can give an approximation of what it might look like.

Iran is seeking to close grain purchases using gold and oil as payment, and has paid in yen for a large volume of wheat in its first deal since western sanctions against Tehran started choking imports of food staples, European wheat exporters said.

India is highly dependent on Persian oil and may not heed demands from the west that it buy its crude elsewhere.

Though sex scandals involving celebrities and sages are not new in India, yet the latest scandal involving three ministers watching porn in the legislative assembly comes as a stark revelation of the double standards of the politicians in the country.

Cash-strapped Air India is seeking nearly $1 billion from Boeing Co to compensate for delays in aircraft deliveries, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

India and Iran share close historical links, or so argued India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Now economic interests are pulling the two countries closer again. India has struck a clever deal to pay for Iranian oil in its own not freely convertible currency, the rupee. It could be a diplomatic hot potato.