Raymond Ronamai

The BSE Sensex nudged higher on Wednesday, a day after the RBI indicated it would support growth, raising expectations for more foreign fund investments.

Best-selling Indian writer Chetan Bhagat on Saturday criticised the support leant to authors whose books are banned for offending religious communities, a day after Salman Rushdie cancelled his trip to Jaipur citing death threat warning.

India's economy will grow at its slowest pace in two years this fiscal year, as tight monetary policy and a logjam in government policy making stifles investment, a Reuters poll showed.

Vodafone's victory over India's tax authorities may have a sting in the tail. But if the government now changes the law, future offshore M&A deals may not escape so easily.

Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries reported its first quarterly profit drop in more than two years, and moved to bolster its underperforming shares by announcing a share buyback of up to 104.4 billion rupees.

Asia's economic growth may be settling into a middling pace that is too slow to provide significant global support but too fast to warrant aggressive policy easing.

The rupee fell for the first session in seven on Friday as dollar demand from oil importers overwhelmed inflows, although suspected central bank intervention helped the currency recover smartly from the day's low.

The BSE Sensex rose 0.57 percent on Friday to its highest close in six weeks, as appetite was bolstered by strong results from software services exporter Wipro (WIPR.NS) and the country's No. 3 private lender Axis Bank (AXBK.NS).

Bangladesh Special Forces on Friday arrested five members of a banned Islamic group accused of supporting a coup attempt last month, a spokesman said.

Salman Rushdie will not attend the Jaipur Literature Festival after authorities warned the controversial author he was a potential target of assassins at the event, following threats of protests from Muslim groups at his planned appearance.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Vodafone Group Plc in its fight against a $2.2 billion tax bill, a decision analysts said would encourage foreign investment and clear the way for the company's planned initial public offering in India.

Apple Inc took a big jump into the digital textbooks market with the launch of its iBooks 2 software on Thursday, aiming to revitalize the U.S. education market and quicken the adoption of its market-leading iPad in that sector.

Samsung's $41 billion investment splurge should ring alarm bells at its competitors. It's a bold bet in a slowdown, if its bet pays off Samsung could lengthen its lead over the likes of Apple.

Suspicion is growing that operatives in China, rather than India, were behind the hacking of emails of an official U.S. commission that monitors relations between the United States and China, U.S. officials said.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned a contempt hearing for Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in a case that could push him from office and is adding to growing pressure on the unpopular civilian government.

India and China have agreed to try to avoid flare-ups along their disputed 4,000-km border through the Himalayas, a positive development in often fractious relations between Asia's emerging giants.

Some members of the U.S. Congress switched sides to oppose antipiracy legislation as protests blanketed the Internet on Wednesday, turning Wikipedia dark and putting black slashes on Google and other sites as if they had been censored.

Johnny Depp's 14-year romance with French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis has hit the rocks, People magazine claimed on Wednesday, and the couple are living largely separate lives.

Pakistan has rejected U.S. special envoy Marc Grossman's request to visit the country, a senior official said on Wednesday, highlighting the increased tensions between the uneasy allies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will not cut interest rates at its review on Tuesday, although it is nearly unanimously expected to do so by the end of June, a Reuters poll of 22 economists showed.

India's bullion traders stayed away from placing fresh orders after a nearly 90 percent hike in gold import duty was announced earlier this week, while China's gold purchases slowed down ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Research In Motion is not on Samsung Electronics Co's immediate shopping list, but the ailing Blackberry maker may still be attractive to Asian smartphone makers.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said that she is ready to help her brother and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi in every possible way.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's top carmaker, raised prices of all its models on Tuesday, sending its shares up as much as 11 percent as investors rallied behind the company after months of falling sales appeared to have levelled in December.

India, the world's biggest consumer of bullion, has changed the import duty on gold to two percent of value from the earlier flat 300 rupees per 10 grams and that of silver to six percent of value from 1,500 rupees per kilogram, the government said.

Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed U.S. anti-piracy legislation that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the Internet.

Samsung Group, which includes Samsung Electronics Co, said on Tuesday it is raising its 2012 investment to a record $41.4 billion, as the South Korean conglomerate seeks to consolidate its leading position in mobile chips and flat screens.

Internet giants Google and Facebook told the Delhi High Court on Monday that it is not possible for companies to block offensive content that appears on their websites, in a case that has stoked fears about censorship in the world's largest democracy.

Top executives from India's major power companies will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to push for swifter action to improve access to coal and make it easier to get funding, acquire land and get environmental clearances.