Raymond Ronamai

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday the Islamic Republic would soon announce very important achievements in the nuclear field, state TV reported.

The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, on Friday demanded new elections and vowed mass street protests if the new government did not relent, raising the prospect of a protracted crisis on the Indian Ocean islands famed as a beach paradise.

Violence flared across Syria, including bomb attacks that killed at least 28 people in Aleppo, while at the United Nations diplomats said a new effort was afoot to gain backing for an Arab peace plan to end 11 months of bloodshed in the country.

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.

If anyone can pull off the labyrinthine deal between Alibaba Group and Yahoo Inc, it is Jack Ma, who founded the e-commerce group and within a decade unlocked China's huge online shopping potential.

Pakistan's Supreme Court rejected the prime minister's appeal against summons in a contempt case on Friday and is set to charge him on Monday, a move likely to bring fresh political turmoil to the chronically unstable country. If convicted, Yusuf Raza Gilani could face jail.

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.

Apple Inc plans to introduce its latest iPad tablet at an event in the first week in March, the website AllThingsD reported, citing unnamed sources.

A Tennessee couple who defriended a woman on Facebook, were murdered in their home by the jilted woman's father and another man, police said on Thursday.

Tanks amassed outside opposition neighborhoods in Homs on Friday as Alawite-led forces bombarded the Syrian city for the fifth day and residents expected a major push to subdue the centre of revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Rafael Nadal has hit out at what he called a general campaign in France to discredit Spanish athletes by implying their success is due to the use of illegal drugs. The Spanish tennis federation (RFET) said it would sue French TV broadcaster Canal+.

Greek political leaders said they had clinched a deal on economic reforms and spending cuts needed to secure a second bailout, but eurozone finance ministers demanded more measures and a parliamentary seal of approval. Finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone meeting in Brussels warned there would be no immediate approval for the rescue package.

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.

Greek leaders clinched a long-stalled deal on reforms and austerity measures needed to secure a bailout and avoid a messy default, government sources said, hours before the country's financial backers were to meet in Brussels on Thursday. The euro and European stocks strengthened on news of the breakthrough.

A criminal court in the Maldives issued arrest warrants for ousted president Mohamed Nasheed and his former defence minister, but the charges against them were unclear, a senior official of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said.

Britain's Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa have bumped Lady Gaga off the international fashion map. The wife of Prince William, now formally known as the Duchess of Cambridge, topped a fashion buzzword list for a second year running while outrageous pop star Lady Gaga disappeared from sight.

A new crop of companies entering the U.S. public markets, including such high-profile offerings as Facebook, are turning the clock back on the way U.S. corporations are run. Investors seems to be not very happy with the IPO.

Asian shares struggled but the euro recovered on Thursday, as markets were left without a clear direction after Greek political leaders failed again to conclude a deal for a bailout package, which Athens needs to avoid a messy debt default.

The rupee fell on Thursday, weighed by dollar purchases by some state-owned banks, negative local equities and caution over prolonged Greek bailout discussions.

The BSE Sensex dropped 0.4 percent on Thursday on concerns about earnings outlook and investors took profits after the main index rallied 15 percent over the past five weeks.

Ousted democrat Mohamed Nasheed forced out of office by rebel police.

China's annual inflation spiked to a consensus-busting 4.5 percent in January as spending jumped during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday season, breaking a five-month softening trend and forcing a market rethink of policy easing expectations.

The election in Uttar Pradesh, a state that would be the world's fifth most populous nation if independent, could have a bearing on who next governs India. It is a closely fought four-way race pitting Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the elite Gandhi dynasty, against Dalit leader Mayawati and two other parties.

The rupee nudged up on Wednesday supported by dollar inflows, but a pick-up in greenback buying by local companies and fears of profit-booking after last month's sharp rally kept the mood jittery.

The BSE Sensex ended 0.5 percent higher on Wednesday, helped by a rally in software stocks including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and Infosys Technologies (INFY.NS) and gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries.

Struggling Finnish phone maker Nokia plans to cut 4,000 more jobs at its plants in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it seeks to cut costs by moving smartphone assembly work to Asia.

Two wrongs don't make a right. India's beleaguered aviation sector needs a boost. But letting airlines avoid punitive state taxes by directly importing fuel isn't smart. Some tax is necessary to pay for environmental costs.

President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean archipelago, handed over the post to Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.