INVESTMENT

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's move, last week, to open India's protected retail sector to global supermarket giants surprised critics who had written him off as a policy ditherer. He was, however, probably motivated by expedience rather than any reformist zeal.

Political parties and leaders who oppose the move should study and understand realities in India and support and augment the actions needed to ensure that the decision is implemented in the right manner. If executed in the right way, it is certainly the step ahead in developing the much desired rural infrastructure and also keeping inflation in check, writes Bhaskar Prasad.

The NBA lockout is over. We want to play basketball, NBA commissioner David Stern said, perhaps forgetting that he actually didn't want to play basketball for the first scheduled month of the season.

It is a knock out loss for pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan after his ex-wife Linda Bollea got 70 percent of their liquid assets in a final divorce settlement.

India's move to open its supermarket sector to foreign investors brought relief to its capital-starved local chains but failed to impress small-shop owners.

A Japanese government panel will propose mandatory appointments of outside directors on boards of large firms in the hope of averting the kind of accounting scandal that has engulfed Olympus Corp.

Former MF Global Holdings Ltd. CEO Jon Corzine is expected to testify at a U.S. congressional hearing next month, a committee aide said on Friday, tamping down speculation that the former head of the bankrupt brokerage would decline to take part.

Sprint Nextel may be forced to abandon the biggest advantage it has over its rivals - unlimited data services for a flat fee - because of heavy data users and a shortage of wireless airwaves.

LONDON, Nov 25 - European companies are in for a tough time next year. The euro zone debt crisis is sparking caution on all fronts, as consumers keep their cash in their pockets, corporate treasurers take a knife to investment plans and investors desperately seek a haven for their wealth.

A Russian businessman and his Lithuanian partner were arrested on Thursday in connection with a money laundering investigation that has affected Lithuania and Latvia.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has shelved plans to sell its 80 percent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd, which owns Toronto's National Hockey League and National Basketball Association teams.

With a minimal 2 per cent increase in established businesses and a persistent rate of opportunity-driven ventures, the entrepreneurial scenario of the United States was still healthier than rest of the world in 2010.

Foes of the biggest mining investment in Peruvian history accused President Ollanta Humala on Thursday of abandoning his leftist roots to support Newmont's proposed $4.8 billion Conga gold mine.

The British ex-CEO of Japan's Olympus Corp emerged from a frosty meeting of directors on Friday convinced its board would eventually quit over an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, but he said he wasn't begging to return and clean up the mess.

Zimbabwe's economy is likely to continue its strong recovery next year from a decade of decline to expand by 9.4 percent, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Thursday, but a hike in mining royalties could impede growth.

Gold prices fell Friday in what appeared to be their second straight weekly retreat in the face of a Eurozone crisis, which after two years has yet to be contained, let alone solved, and now threatens Europe's financial liquidity.

India threw open its $450 billion retail market to global supermarket giants on Thursday, approving its biggest reform in years that may boost sorely needed investment in the country.

Banks are redoubling efforts to sell the 465 million euro ($619.50 million) leveraged loan backing private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s buyout of German telecoms company Versatel before year-end, sources said on Thursday.

The Canadian government has the right to fine U.S. Steel (X.N: Quote) for breaking job-protection promises made when it bought Canadian steelmaker Stelco, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.

Toronto's main stock index hit a seven-week low on Thursday morning, as materials and financial issues retreated in response to euro zone debt fears, sparked by rising German government bond yields.

The market is expecting that China would loosen its monetary policy in the coming months, and many believe a selective easing has already begun, and that more serious easing will come soon.