Yahoo! News India

By Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government could this week take the unpopular measure of raising gas prices for the first time in three years as it pushes a package of reforms aimed at giving industry a boost, reviving a spluttering economy and boosting LNG imports. With local and national elections looming in the next 12 months, the coalition government is expected to try to minimise voter backlash by hiking gas prices sooner rather than later. ...

By Matthias Williams and Swati Pandey NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - K. Ramchand, managing director at one of India's biggest road builders, is doing something unusual to help dispel the gloom pervading much of the country's infrastructure sector today: bidding for new projects. His company, IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd , signed a $300 million contract in April to build a six-lane highway. The project will link an eastern industrial zone afflicted by some of India's worst traffic snarls to mining districts such as Dhanbad, the nation's coal capital. ...

Reuters Market Eye - The BSE Sensex falls 0.4 percent while the Nifty is 0.44 percent lower. Lenders fall, retreating from gains on Monday, ahead of the Fed's meeting ending on Wednesday as an early end to U.S. monetary stimulus is raising worries about a weaker rupee and hence a delay in any potential RBI rate cuts. The Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates unchanged on Monday, warning of upward risks to inflation as its currency is among the hardest hit amid a global emerging markets sell-off. ...

By A. Ananthalakshmi SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold fell on Tuesday for a second straight session as muted physical demand weighed on prices, alongside fears of any cut in the U.S. Federal Reserve's $85 billion monthly bond purchases. Investors are closely watching the Fed's two-day policy meet that begins later on Tuesday as a string of healthy U.S. data has increased speculation the bank could scale back its bond buys, hurting gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. ...

By Tom Hals REUTERS - Google Inc has settled a shareholder class action lawsuit that clears the way for the company to issue a new class of nonvoting stock, giving the company a currency for acquisitions that would not dilute the founders' control. The online search engine leader had planned to issue Class C shares as a dividend to investors. A shareholder, the Brockton Retirement Board, sued and claimed the plan gave the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, added control without paying for it. ...

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Individual charitable giving in the United States grew almost 4 percent last year, while corporate donations rose at triple that rate, according to a report that shows donations by Americans to nonprofit groups mirroring the slow recovery of the larger economy. Overall, U.S. donations to bolster the arts, health, religion and other activities totaled $316.2 billion in 2012, a 3.5 percent increase from the $305.5 billion donated in 2011, according to the report, "Giving USA." That was just a 1.5 percent increase when adjusted for inflation. ...

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hinted in an interview aired on Monday that he may be looking for a new chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, saying current Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed a lot longer than he had originally planned. Obama, speaking to Charlie Rose, host of a PBS interview program, compared Bernanke to longtime FBI Director Robert Mueller, who agreed to stay two years longer than he had planned and is to leave in the coming months. "Well, I think Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job. ...

By John Shiffman, Kristina Cooke and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI has used secret evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prosecute at least 27 accused terrorists since 2007, according to a Reuters review of public records. While the recent spotlight has been on the use of the FISA law by the U.S. National Security Agency for surveillance programs following disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the FBI also makes extensive use of the law for domestic counterterrorism. ...

By Alexei Oreskovic and Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Longer-lasting batteries are crucial for a new crop of wearable computers whose rise may upend Apple and Google's dominance of mobile devices, two of the field's pioneers say. Wearable devices - from bracelets that monitor physical activity and sleeping patterns to clothing with built-in sensors and Web-ready glasses - may mark the next big technology shift, just as smartphones evolved from personal computers. That transition has put the unglamorous battery in a starring role. ...

By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese cabinet ministers welcomed the Group of Eight summit's stance on Tokyo's sweeping stimulus policies as a vote of confidence in the government's strategy to end 15 years of entrenched deflation and revive a lacklustre economy. Japan's economics minister also moved to parry any suggestion that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies, known as "Abenomics", are aimed at intentionally weakening the yen to benefit the country's exports. ...

By Jane Sutton GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday publicly identified for the first time 46 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay whom it wants to hold indefinitely without charge or trial because it says they are too dangerous to release but cannot be prosecuted. The Defense Department released the names on Monday after the Miami Herald and a group of Yale Law School students sued for its release in a U.S. District Court in Washington. ...

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran's election of a moderate as its next president is a sign that Iranians want to move in a different direction, but he was uncertain whether it would lead to a breakthrough over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. In an interview with public television anchor Charlie Rose, Obama said the United States and its allies would be willing to hold talks with Iran over its nuclear program, as long as Tehran recognized that international sanctions would not be lifted unless Iran proved it is not building a nuclear weapon. ...

By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres has thrown his weight behind U.S. plans to arm Syrian rebels, shrugging off fears the weapons could be turned on Israel and exacerbate the conflict. In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters before his 90th birthday, Peres dismissed the idea that Israel could launch a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities and urged Palestinians and Israelis to forge immediate peace. ...

Washington, June 18 (IANS/EFE) The US and Cuba will discuss this week the possibility of re-establishing direct mail, suspended 50 years ago, a State Department spokesperson told EFE Monday.

Chennai, June 18 (IANS) Tamil actress Puvisha M., who has worked with Shah Rukh Khan in the forthcoming Hindi film "Chennai Express", says she learnt the art of being humble and simple from King Khan, who despite being a superstar never behaves like one.

Washington, June 18 (IANS/EFE) The director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton, said Monday that he will leave his post next month to work in the private sector after four years at the head of the agency.

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) Actor Chetan Hansraj is back to playing a bad boy on the small screen with "Jodha Akbar". He says his fans love watching him in negative roles. Moreover, "women love bad boys"!

Los Angeles, June 18 (IANS/EFE) Jennifer Lopez is the latest addition to the cast of "The 33", a film based on the story of survival of the miners trapped for more than two months below ground after a mine collapse in northern Chile, The Hollywood Reporter said Monday.

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi met senior BJP leader L.K. Advani here Tuesday, a week after the party patriarch quit following the former's elevation as the party's campaign committee chief.

Mumbai, June 18 (IANS) "Dedh Ishqiya", will go "much further" in intimacy than "Ishqiya". Actor Arshad Warsi is said to have some steamy lovemaking scenes with co-star Huma Qureshi, while even Madhuri Dixit has uninhibitedly shot for some cosy scenes with Naseeruddin Shah.

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) The Yamuna river is flowing over the danger mark in the national capital, an official said Tuesday.

Bhubaneswar, June 18 (IANS) A man was arrested in Odisha for raping a woman passenger in a moving bus, police said Tuesday.

Sao Paulo, June 18 (IANS/EFE) Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen unveiled her new line of lingerie in Sao Paulo over the weekend, with its seductively vibrant colours, delicate lace, transparencies and a wink at eroticism.

Madrid, June 18 (IANS/EFE) The Goya drawing "Si yerras los tiras!" (If you miss the mark!), a political allegory in which the figure may be King Ferdinand VII, will be sold at auction July 2 in London, Christie's said.

Washington, June 18 (IANS/EFE) NASA announced Monday that it has selected its first new contingent of potential astronauts in four years and half of them are women.

Le Bourget (France), June 18 (IANS/EFE) The governor of the Mexican state of Queretaro said Monday that he planned to discuss seven aviation investment projects worth $150 million with different companies during the 2013 Paris Air Show.