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By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - British authorities believe that two men accused of hacking a soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries are British of Nigerian descent, a source close to the investigation said Thursday. Local media named one of the two suspects as British-born, 28-year-old Londoner Michael Adebolajo and said police raided homes of relatives in the city and near the town of Lincoln. Both men involved in Wednesday's attack appeared to have converted to Islam from Christian backgrounds, media said. ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Steel Ltd, India's largest steelmaker by market value, swung to a loss in its fourth quarter, hit by weak demand in Europe, its top market and production region. The company's January-March net loss was 65.29 billion rupees, compared with a 43.3 billion rupee profit a year earlier. Net sales rose about 1 percent to 341.8 billion rupees. Analysts had expected profit of 3.64 billion rupees on sales of 350.16 billion rupees, according Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Earlier this month the company said it would write down goodwill and assets by $1. ...

BEREZNIKI, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian court refused on Thursday to grant parole to a member of Pussy Riot serving a two-year prison sentence for protesting in Moscow's main cathedral with a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin. The judge ruled against Maria Alyokhina, supporters tweeted, saying she did not qualify for parole because she had violated prison rules, including by refusing to make her bed or to wear a headscarf while sewing and by writing letters during mealtimes. ...

By Arshad Mohammed JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Thursday and acknowledged there was considerable scepticism that the two sides would resume peace negotiations. There were no signs of any breakthrough as Kerry visited Israel for the fourth time in his four months in office to try to revive a peace process that has been moribund for more than two years. ...

By Shamik Paul and Neha Dasgupta MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao went against the suggestion of a majority of external members of the central bank's monetary policy committee that recommended no change in the policy repo rate at a May 3 policy meeting, according to minutes of the meeting seen by Reuters. The RBI cut the key policy repo rate for a third straight time in 2013 to 7.25 percent, pulling it to a two-year low, in a bid to revive decelarating growth and taking into account benign inflation reading. ...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian opposition leader urged President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday to hand power to his deputy or his prime minister and then go abroad with 500 members of his entourage, without immunity from prosecution. Assad is likely to reject or ignore the 16-point peace plan proposed by Moaz Alkhatib, who resigned as head of the Western-backed opposition National Coalition in March, particularly given recent military gains by his forces against rebels. ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After years of struggling to break into the Hollywood A-list from television, actor Bradley Cooper has gained some serious recognition for his work on the silver screen. Cooper returns to the comedy franchise, "The Hangover," which skyrocketed his career, after dramatic roles that earned him an Oscar nomination and praise for his more dramatic talents. The 38-year old actor has been on TV since 1999 and landed some supporting film roles. ...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has announced another death from the SARS-like novel coronavirus (nCoV) in its central al-Qassim region, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 17. A non-Saudi, whose nationality and age were not given, died on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said on its website late on Wednesday. It said he had been admitted to a hospital in al-Qassim several days ago with an "acute respiratory syndrome". "Most cases recorded so far are among elderly patients and people with multiple chronic diseases," it added. ...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The absence of injured midfielder Mario Goetze has weakened Borussia Dortmund ahead of the Champions League final at Wembley stadium against Bayern Munich on Saturday, Bayern playmaker Bastian Schweinsteiger said on Thursday. The 20-year-old Goetze, who will join Bayern at the end of the season in a surprise deal worth a reported 37 million euros, has been nursing a muscle injury that has ruled him out of the biggest game of his career so far. ...

By Subhadip Sircar MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee recovered from a more than 8-1/2 month low hit earlier on Thursday, as exporters took advantage of a spike in the dollar to sell the greenback and on fears the central bank would intervene to stabilise the local currency. The rupee still posted a fifth day of falls to mark its longest losing streak in over three months as worries about a potential pullback in the U.S. monetary stimulus programme and a weak manufacturing survey in China sparked a shift sway from riskier currencies. Any pullback on U.S. ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A court will resume a hearing on Monday into complaints of emissions from India's biggest copper smelter plant, shut since end-March, but will take a decision before May 31, a judge said on Thursday. Imports have doubled and cable makers face a severe shortage of copper since authorities shut the plant, which meets half of India's demand and exports nearly 50 percent of its 30,000 tonnes of output to China, on complaints of emissions by local residents. ...

NIAMEY (Reuters) - At least 18 soldiers and four suspected Islamists were killed in a fierce gunbattle following a dawn car bomb attack at a barracks in the northern Niger town of Agadez, military sources and a local official said. "There are 18 soldiers and four attackers dead in Agadez," said one source. "One of the attackers has taken two or three soldiers hostage and is holed up in a house. We have him surrounded." (Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalatchi in Niamey and David Lewis in Bamako; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Roche)

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will seek to draw attention away from a series of domestic scandals with a speech on Thursday that defends the U.S. use of drones abroad and lays out a vision for closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ...

Chennai, May 23 (IANS) The dealings of a real estate developer with arrested cricket bookies were being looking into for suspected wrongdoings, Tamil Nadu Police said here Thursday.

Mumbai, May 23 (IANS) Actress Ankita Lokhande, who played Archana in popular show "Pavitra Rishta", is returning to the show. Her co-stars in the show Hiten Tejwani and Usha Nadkarni, who play her husband and mother-in-law, respectively, are happy about it.

Panaji, May 23 (IANS) Industries like aviation, aero space, IT and ITES, pharma and integrated educational hubs have been shortlisted by a state-government appointed taskforce, which is cobbling together suggestions for the Goa's Industrial Investment Policy.

Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), May 23 (IANS) If the efforts of the Chhattisgarh government produce results, the day is not far when wind energy would illuminate houses in the Maoist insurgency-hit Bastar district, an official said Thursday.

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) Easy-to-prepare summer salads can help you feel cool in the soaring temperatures, suggest chefs, who recommend nutritious and light preparations to beat the heat.

Kolkata, May 23 (IANS) Asserting that he was a football fan, Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor Thursday expressed dismay at the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing scam, saying "it's shameful" and blots the entire platform.

Ramallah, May 23 (IANS) Recovery of players is one of the key factors to success in tournaments like the AFC Cup where you play every alternate day, Indian women's football team coach Anadi Barua said Thursday.

Dubai, May 23 (IANS) A court here has sentenced a male Indian flight attendant of Emirates airline to six months in jail for stealing credit cards from two passengers and using them to buy mobile phones.

London, May 23 (IANS) A Londoner of Nigerian descent was identified Thursday as one of the two suspects who decapitated a British soldier. The terror strike prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to go into a huddle with top officials and the military put in place additional security measures.

Hyderabad, May 23 (IANS) A 50-year-old undertrial prisoner in a jail in Andhra Pradesh died of cardiac arrest Thursday, police said.

Imphal/Aizawl, May 23 (IANS) The governments of Manipur and Mizoram will felicitate the members of the first Northeast India Top of the World Mount Everest Expedition, 2013, who recently scaled the highest peak of the world, officials said Thursday.

Amsterdam, May 23 (IANS) Indian golfer Sharmila Nicollet is raring to go at the Deloitte Ladies Open after her recent success at the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open at Antalya, where she finished tied 17th.

New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) Experts say summer is a good time for nail care, so how about adding some jazz to them with stylish tattoos, nail art or nail piercing this season?