INDIA

Gold prices barely moved Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of a critical Eurozone meeting expected to approve a boost to the continent's bailout fund and OK the next tranche of aid to debt-choked Greece.

Simone Bora is contemplating the unthinkable - an Indian wedding without lavish amounts of gold - after record high prices and a sinking rupee dimmed her hopes of sparkling at the party.

The state refiners could cut petrol prices by an approximate price of Re. 1 per litre (or 1.5 percent), as softening Singapore spot gasoline prices have offset the impact of a declining rupee, an industry source said on Monday.

Brazilian filmmaker Oscar Maron Filho suffered a fatal heart attack while addressing a forum at a film festival in India Sunday afternoon.

Lana Peters, only daughter and last surviving child of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, died last week of colon cancer at the age of 85.

Canada dismissed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change on Monday as a thing of the past, but declined to confirm a media report it will formally pull out of the international treaty before the end of this year.

The world needs a far more ambitious plan to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases than the Kyoto Protocol, European Union climate negotiators said on Monday, calling for a global deal to be reached by 2015 and in place by 2020.

Pakistan ratcheted up pressure on NATO on Monday over a cross-border attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the weekend, threatening to drastically reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) has begun in Durban, South Africa, where about 10,000 officials from 194 countries will meet in a bid to arrive at a new climate change deal.

Indian investors of gold, the world's biggest consumers of bullion, remained on the sidelines even though traders offered discounts of up to $5 per ounce.

The government gave its first signs of backtracking over a move to allow foreign supermarket giants to enter Asia's third-largest economy on Monday.

Pakistan and the United States may be a little too dependent on each other to allow the death of two dozen Pakistani soldiers, in airstrikes by NATO forces on Saturday, to cause a definitive rupture.

The Kolaveri di phenomenon has spread well beyond the bounds of South India's Tamil film industry and now seems set to head into Japan, after running amok in the United States.

For the first time in 40 years, Catholics the world over are reading a new translation of Mass, emphasizing the Latin roots and formal tone of the Roman missal (prayer book). See what's changed from the old services, prompting many churches to rely on cheat sheets as they adjust, and why some Catholics are up in arms about the new translation.

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.

Over the past year, the international movement to halt the shark fin trade has made leaps and bounds, moving up the chain from campaigns targeting consumers to efforts by politicians to implement stricter legislation against the sale, possession and distribution of shark fins. From the U.S. West Coast to Europe and Asia, progress is being made to turn the dish itself into an endangered menu item.

Foreign supermarket giants eyeing India may see rich pickings at New Delhi markets like Karol Bagh, where shoppers must negotiate a plethora of dubious-looking power lines and stinking rubbish piled high on sidewalks.

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.

Arab officials will prepare plans for sanctions against Syria on Saturday over its failure to let Arab League monitors oversee an initiative aimed at ending a violent crackdown on protesters seeking an end to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

India's growth story is still credible and the move to open up the economy to global supermarket chains will help growth and control inflation, says RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao.

India have rested captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and named opener Virender Sehwag as skipper for the five-match one-day series against West Indies starting next week.