Sreeja VN

India on Friday allayed US allegations that the proposed retrospective amendments to the Indian tax laws are discriminatory and will adversely impact the US investments.Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Lok Sabha that the proposed amendments will not have any negative impact on the foreign investments. His clarification came after the new US ambassador to India Nancy Powell raised the issue in a business meeting on Friday at New Delhi.

The US and India are in the final stages of signing an $8 billion defense deal that would make India a key market for the US foreign military sales, says US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell.

India will file a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization against the US over its visa policy, which India says is discriminatory to Indian companies, the Wall Street Journal has reported quoting a Ministry of Commerce official.

Despite global credit rating agency S&P's negative outlook of India's long-term credit rating, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that the country has a long-term growth potential of 8 to 9 percent.

Indian stock markets gained Friday as shares of ICICI Bank and Axis Bank rallied ahead on expectations of good quarter four earnings.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India, is set to become the costliest airport in the world, as the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) that operates the airport has got approval to hike the airport charges.

Four Indian public sector companies along with two private players Monnet Ispat & Energy and Jindal Steel & Power are among the twenty five companies shortlisted for investing in gold and copper mines in Badakhsan, Zarkashan, Balkhab and Shaida region of Afghanistan.

PSA Peugeot Citroen may build cars in India with General Motors its new partner, said Gregoire Olivier, Peugeot's head of Asian operations, according to a Reuters report. The move would effectively discard its planned $850 million investment in its own manufacturing facility in India, Reuters report said.

Indian software giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) shares gained 12.4 percent in Mumbai trading on Tuesday morning, piggybacking on the company's robust outlook and a 23 percent surge in fourth quarter profits.

Close on the heels of revealing the sharpest decline in quarterly profits, Indian refinery giant Reliance Industries said it will spend $8 billion to expand petrochemical production capacity.

Investigations are on to the death of hundreds of Dolphins that have washed up on the northern coast of Peru. Around 877 carcasses of Dolphins and porpoises were found in the Peruvian beaches in two and half months and the Peruvian officials and environmentalists are trying to unravel the mystery behind the phenomenon.

China and Russia began their first joint naval exercise Sunday in the Yellow Sea off China's east coast, China's official news agency Xinhua reported. The six-day joint naval drills are being conducted amid the Chinese standoff with its neighbors over territorial disputes.

French voters head to the polling booths Sunday to vote in the first round of the presidential election amid ongoing eurozone crisis and rising levels of unemployment. Nine other candidates, including Socialist Francois Hollande, vie against incumbent Nicholas Sarkozy in the presidential race.

Home entertainment company Netflix Inc. (NAS: NFLX) is expected to post a loss for the first time in the last seven years, according to Wall Street analysts. Netflix Q1 results will be out Monday, and according to analysts, the entertainment trendsetter will lose 27 cents per share.

Chinese experts believe that India has downplayed the capacity of its new nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-V. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China's PLA Academy of Military Sciences has told Global Times that Agni-V is more powerful than what is claimed by New Delhi.

An Iranian Islamic cleric has denounced western politicians for decriminalizing homosexuality, saying that such politicians are worse than animals.Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, an influential scholar, while interpreting the Sharia law in a speech in Iran's Qom city, said that homosexuals are inferior to dogs and pigs, a Khabar Online report said.

The Chinese government Thursday reacted diplomatically to India's successful launch of the nuclear capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-V while the government-controlled media lashed out at India for attempting to compete with China.

Series of bomb blasts in several areas in northern Iraq including its capital Baghdad killed at least 36 and injured more than hundred on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.

UN probe panel is investigating the allegations that China has provided long range ballistic missile technology to North Korea, according to an AFP report quoting a defense magazine. According to the allegations North Korea's new missile launcher is based on Chinese missile technology, report said.Military analysts of IHS Jane's magazine tipped-off the United Nation's panel of experts about a possible transfer of either technology or the missile itself, from China to North Korea.

India Thursday successfully test fired nuclear capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-V, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in a press statement. With the launch of the missile, which has a range of 3,100 miles, India has joined the elite club of countries with long-range nuclear missile capability.

The world observed the 123 birth anniversary of legendary actor Charlie Chaplin Monday, April 16. The king of comedy, who was known for his strong political satires in the silent film era, has fans worldwide.

North Korea will not allow the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors to examine the country's nuclear program, in retaliation to the UN's tough stand against its rocket launch.According to Japanese media, Pyongyang went a step further and said it will continue with its satellite program and will launch another rocket with a satellite in the next five years, The Telegraph reported.

The space shuttle Discovery is all set for its final take-off. Strapped to a jumbo jet, NASA's oldest and most traveled space shuttle will take off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center and land at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's in Virginia.

Former guerrilla freedom fighter Taur Matan Ruak won the East Timor presidential elections held Monday, according to the preliminary results announced Tuesday.

Australia is planning to pull out most of its troops by 2013, a year earlier than planned. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Tuesday that the mission in Afghanistan was nearly completed and most of its troops would be back home by 2013, smh.com reported.

Far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik Monday admitted to the act of mass massacre in Norway but pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, claiming he was acting in self-defense, CBS News reported.

A controversial British peer of Pakistani origin, who allegedly announced a £10-million bounty for the capture of US President Barack Obama and his predecessor George Bush, has been suspended from the UK's Labor Party.

East Timor is holding the presidential run-off elections Monday and more than 700,000 eligible voters are expected to cast their votes in 650 polling booths. Two former freedom fighters -Francisco Guterres and Taur Matan Ruak - are in a close race in the run-off.

Multiple blasts and gun fire erupted in Afghanistan's capital Sunday. The Taliban-linked militants fired rockets at the parliament and NATO base, while reports said a series of blasts were heard in the highly guarded diplomatic area in Kabul.