INDIA

ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, will invest $20 billion over the next 10 years to build two steel plants in India and is in talks for iron ore mines, a senior official said on Thursday.

Record gold prices have scared buyers in many parts of the world and left them to watch helplessly the blistering rally that shows no signs of abating.

India has put 26 people in isolation with bird flu symptoms and hundreds more people are being monitored, officials said on Friday as Pakistan and Thailand reported outbreaks of bird flu in poultry.

Asian markets were mixed during a volatile session Thursday, with indexes in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney wavering between gains and losses as investors assessed the Federal Reserve's half-point reduction in a key interest rate overnight and the health of the U.S. economy.

Communication including internet and telephone services all over the Middle East and India went down on Wednesday following the cut of two submarine cable systems in the Mediterranean Sea.

The United States, Sweden and Japan topped a new ranking that measures how well countries use telecommunications technologies - networks, cell phones and computers - to boost their social and economic prosperity.

Crude oil prices declined today on falling stock markets in Europe and Asia, and a report about new home sales in the U.S.

European and Asian stock markets fell on Monday as worries continue about a possible U.S. recession that could affect other leading markets. Asia's losses were led by China's Shanghai composite Index which plummeted to close down more than 7 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was off 2 percent in early afternoon trading. U.S. stocks were set to open lower.

Mizuho Financial Group will join forces with India's top bank, State Bank of India, on syndicated loans and other areas, as Japan's second-largest lender looks to capitalize on the growing Indian economy.

India's Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd posted an unexpected net loss for the December quarter as it wrote off $60 million of costs for its underperforming German unit and saw revenues decline.

France stepped up efforts to restore confidence in the banking system as Societe Generale faced tough questions on Friday over why it failed to prevent the biggest financial dealing scandal in history.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark 30-share sensitivity index, the Sensex, plummeted by over 2000 points or almost 11 percent on Monday - its biggest ever intra-day fall - and dragged down stock prices of blue-chip companies to a record low, forcing the stock exchange to shut down trading twice abruptly.

India's New Delhi Television Ltd said on Tuesday it had entered a deal to sell 26 percent in a unit to NBC Universal Inc for $150 million, the latest in a series of consolidation moves in Indian broadcasting.

One of the world's biggest toy companies has warned popular social networking website Facebook that a highly popular Scrabulous game on its site infringes on copyrights.

Amid a great deal of hype and fanfare, Tata Motors, frontrunners in the acquisition race for Ford Motor's British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, unveiled its People's Car rechristened Nano, that meets Euro 4 emission and safety norms in the India Auto Expo 2008, New Delhi, Thursday, Jan. 10.

Oil prices at $100 a barrel mean little to Chinese consumers insulated from the global rally by cheap fuel prices, but the latest market peak should sound a warning to Beijing over its disjointed energy policy.

Telecoms operators who wish to provide television over Internet in India will have to pay between 6 percent and 10 percent of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fees, depending on the telecom zone they operate in, the telecoms regulator recommended on Friday.

General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said on Thursday the No. 1 U.S. automaker expects overall 2008 U.S. auto sales to be about the same as the depressed levels of 2007, even as global sales hit a new high. There are some obvious reasons for concern, but on balance I suspect '08 will be similar to '07 in total, although likely weaker in the first half and stronger in th...

China's Lenovo Group Ltd introduced its first consumer computers in the United States on Wednesday, expanding in a region it entered in 2005 with the purchase of IBM's PC business. The unveiling of three new notebook computers with advanced features is part of a broader expansion by Lenovo into the global consumer PC market. The company also plans to sell the new consumer computers in ...

Wondering where to put your money in 2008? It may seem like all the choices are bad, and I'm not talking about the presidential candidates. Stocks, bonds, real estate, and money market funds have all been underwhelming -- at best. Chinese stocks, gold, oil and India suggest bigger gains but also much bigger risks.

Nations are making deals with top exporters to to get enough oil and develop new projects to boost economic growth.