INDIA

Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co. announced Friday a voluntary worldwide recall of 646,000 cars following reports of defective parts of their window switch.

ING Group NV completed the sale of its Asian private banking unit to Singapore's OCBC, the biggest deal in the private banking sector since the financial crisis.

Toyota Motor Corp faced scrutiny from Congress over its biggest ever safety recall as rival Honda Motor Co, tipped to gain from Toyota's woes, also said it would recall thousands of cars worldwide.

Toyota Motor Corp faced scrutiny from Congress over its biggest ever safety recall as investors, suppliers and consumers weighed the impact of an unprecedented halt in U.S. production by the No.1 automaker.

U.N. climate talks will probably not agree an ambitious deal this year unless the economy improves and voters press for action, said India's top climate official Shyam Saran.

India's cotton arrivals in the domestic market witnessed a minimal rise of 0.1% to 16.50 million bales since the start of crop year to January 23. Higher arrivals in Gujarat and Rajasthan markets offset in other growing states, according to the Cotton Corporation of India's data.

At a time when India's steel industry is slowly rising prices, its counterparts in the US are struggling to do the same as the production costs have gone up. But, the US steel industry is very skeptical about the prices rise as the demand for steel is yet to pick up properly in the country. Even as India and China are witnessing a major surge in demand for steel, the US industry is still slowly picking up pace.

Nickel prices largely depend on global steel demand, which is low in the west and up in China and India now. So, the fall in demand from auto makers in the west and a huge rise in China have complicated the nickel prices. Some 65% of nickel goes into making stainless steel.

As a major step towards it entry into Africa's energy fields, energy hungry India expressed its desire to develop refineries, natural gas and LNG projects in oil-rich Nigeria. India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora during his visit to the western African country said India has committed to invest more than $360 million in developing two oil blocks in Africa's largest energy-producing country.

Bank of America has dropped plans to exit Merrill Lynch's Asia property funds business and will instead help it raise new money, cashing in on a recovery in the real estate sector, sources said.

Global business leaders warned Western governments Wednesday that a populist crackdown on the financial industry could crimp a fragile recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s.

India plans to launch its first manned space mission in 2016, moving to become the fourth nation to put a man in space.

North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed sea border on Wednesday, highlighting instability along a heavily armed frontier for the second time in three months.

Yahoo Inc said revenue could grow for the first time in six quarters in the first three months of 2010, noting that demand for premium display advertising had improved significantly.

The International Monetary Fund sharply raised its global economic growth forecast, casting developing countries in a leading role while rich nations struggle with high unemployment and government debt.

One can't think of futurology without mentioning George Orwell (1984 fame) or Alvin Toffler (Third Wave). Whenever, one comes across Futuristic predictions we get reminded of Toffler or Orwell.I was reminded of them when I read the latest provocative forecasts of the Futurist Magazine.

The head of the U.N.'s panel of climate scientists promised on Saturday to tighten research procedures but dismissed talk he should resign over an erroneous projection that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035.

In 2009, almost all central banks showed an increased love for gold. In the recent past, Russia's central bank addded 800,000 ounces of gold to its reserves last month, increasing its holdings of the metal to $22.4 billion. The bank's gold reserves climbed to 20.5 million ounces from 19.7 million the previous month. And, India's central bank also purchased gold in 2009 to increase its foreign reserves.

¨Gold prices will continue to witness an uptrend in 2010 but investors should expect continued high volatility-resembling an amusement park roller coaster ride, according to Jeffrey Nichols, Senior Economic Advisor to Rosland Capital. In his latest commentary on market trends, Jeffrey Nichols said that gold prices won't move up higher without interruption.The two main sources of gold price volatility will continue to be the investment demand for the yellow metal and volatility in dollar's exchan...

Nearly 50 ready-to-wear and couture designers from 40 countries displayed sleek garments in the Thursday night show that ushered in the International Year of Biodiversity in the middle of the autumn/winter catwalk season under way in Milan, Paris, London and New York.

General Motors Co and Volkswagen are best positioned in the largest and fastest-growing emerging markets at a time when auto sales in those countries could grow over 40 percent by 2014, a study released on Thursday said.