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By Billy Cheung NEW YORK (Reuters) - Award-winning author James Salter, who completed his last full-length book more than 30 years ago, has released a new novel that chronicles a life drawn from many of his own experiences. Like Salter, the main character in "All That Is" leaves the military to embark on a literary career. Unlike Salter, Philip Bowman becomes an editor after failing to find work as a writer. Salter is considered by many one of the best postwar American novelists and short-story writers. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd slumped as much as 9.37 percent on Thursday after majority shareholder Daiichi Sankyo Co said it believes former shareholders of the Indian company hid information regarding U.S. regulatory probes. "Daiichi Sankyo believes that certain former shareholders of Ranbaxy concealed and misrepresented critical information concerning the U.S. DOJ and FDA investigations," the Japanese company said in a statement on its website late on Wednesday, referring to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Food and Drug Administration. ...

By Masayuki Kitano and Hideyuki Sano SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hawkish comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and weakness in China's factory activity rattled Asian markets on Thursday, sending stock prices down, the U.S. dollar to three-year highs, and Japanese government bond yields to their highest in a year. Stock and bond markets took their cue from the drop in U.S. equities and Treasuries after Bernanke's remarks at a Congressional hearing sparked worries of an earlier than expected reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus. ...

By Aileen Wang and Koh Gui Qing BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May as new orders fell, a preliminary manufacturing survey showed, entrenching fears that its economic recovery has stalled and that a sharper cooldown may be imminent. The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for May fell to 49.6, slipping under the 50-point level demarcating expansion from contraction for the first since October. The final HSBC PMI stood at 50.4 in April. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee fell below the key psychological level of 56 to the dollar on Thursday, its lowest level in over 8-1/2 months, as the dollar rallied on worries about a potentially early end to U.S. monetary stimulus. The rupee fell to as low as 56.01, its lowest since September 6, 2012. At 11.49 a.m., it was at 55.98/00 to the dollar versus its previous close of 55.46/47. (Reporting by Subhadip Sircar; editing by Rafael Nam)

Reuters Market Eye - Stocks in Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd gain 8 percent after a higher-than-expected response to its share sale squeezes out short positions in the futures market, dealers say. Oracle, majority owned by Oracle Corp , attracted demand of nearly four times its share sale of 4.4 million shares, according to exchange data, surprising investors who had shorted the stock for arbitrage in anticipation of tepid demand. Oracle's May futures saw a reduction of 150,000 shares, or 16.5 percent of the outstanding total, as of 11.10 a.m., indicating covering of short positions. ...

By Maria Golovnina and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier was hacked to death by two men shouting Islamic slogans in a south London street on Wednesday, in what the government said appeared to be a terrorist attack. A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker just minutes after the killing showed a man with hands covered in blood, brandishing a bloodied meat cleaver and a knife. "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. ...

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kathrin Jansen is a microbiologist with at least two breakthrough vaccines to her name: she brought the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil to market for Merck and helped develop the $4 billion a year pneumonia and meningitis vaccine Prevnar 13 for Pfizer. Jansen's next vaccine success could come by taming the superbug MRSA, a drug-resistant bacterium that she has seen ravage a healthy man up close and personally. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infects an estimated 53 million people globally and costs more than $20 billion a year to treat. ...

By Erika Solomon HERMEL, Lebanon (Reuters) - On a country road in Lebanon's northeast, traffic is heavy; ambulances screech by, sirens blaring, and cars packed with mourners follow coffins as Hezbollah brings wounded fighters home from Syria, and its dead. ...

By Lee Chyen Yee and Umesh Desai HONG KONG (Reuters) - Lenovo Group Ltd's bold acquisitions in its flagship PC business, a foray into mobile gadgets, and a relatively light debt load are setting it apart from PC rivals as industry shipments take their steepest fall in decades. Lenovo, a sliver away from unseating Hewlett-Packard Co as the world's top PC maker by shipments, posted on Thursday an estimate-beating 90 percent rise in quarterly profit, its fastest in seven quarters. ...

By Simon Evans MIAMI (Reuters) - LeBron James scored the game-winning points in the dying embers of overtime as the Miami Heat held off a determined Indiana Pacers 103-102 in a thrilling Eastern Conference Finals opener on Wednesday. If broadcasters were concerned that another easy series win for Miami would further damage ratings, they got the perfect antidote with the Pacers pushing the Heat all the way and raising the prospect of a tight best-of-seven set. It was scrappy and foul-ridden at times in the first half and neither side were able to dominate at any stage. ...

By Kevin Lim SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore on Thursday reported a surprise expansion in its economy in the first quarter, helped by a surge in financial services as trading in stocks and foreign exchange soared. The Southeast Asian city-state, whose economy is heavily dependent on trade, manufacturing and financial services, said gross domestic product expanded 1.8 percent in January-March on a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualised rate, much better than the advance estimate of a 1.4 percent contraction. ...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Public backlash against deadly overseas drone strikes may undermine promising uses of such technology for anything from disaster response to mail delivery, a top U.S. industry group said as it launched a lobbying effort to "demystify" unmanned planes. The Aerospace Industries Association wants to prevent misperceptions and regulatory roadblocks from cutting into a market it says could be worth $89 billion over the next decade, according to a report the trade group will release on Thursday. ...

San Juan, May 23 (IANS/EFE) Singer Ricky Martin called Wednesday in a letter sent to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives for the legislative body to approve a bill which would prohibit discrimination due to sexual orientation on the island.

Rio de Janeiro, May 23 (IANS) Santos have rejected a 20 million-euro offer from Barcelona for Brazil star Neymar.

London, May 23 (IANS) American short story writer Lydia Davis was declared the winner of the fifth 60,000 pounds Man Booker International Prize at aceremony held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Rio de Janeiro, May 23 (IANS) Olimpia raised hopes of an unlikely semifinal berth after holding Fluminense to a 0-0 draw in their Copa Libertadores quarterfinal first leg.

Madrid, May 23 (IANS/EFE) The 54,512 home sales recorded in Spain in this year's first quarter represent a decline of 21.5 percent from the same period in 2012, the development ministry said.

Mumbai, May 23 (IANS) A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets was trading 1.27 percent down in pre-afternoon trade Thursday.

Luohe (China), May 23 (IANS) Kazakhstan defeated India 3-2 in the China International men's volleyball tournament here.

Washington, May 23 (IANS/EFE) The tornado that killed 24 people and injured more than 200 others in Moore, Oklahoma, could have done more than $2 billion worth of damage, officials said Wednesday.

Geneva, May 23 (IANS) Finance Commission head Richard Carrion has joined the race to succeed International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.

London, May 23 (IANS) "Ohhhhh myyyy God!!!! I just see a man with his head chopped off right in front of my eyes!," rapper Boya Dee live tweeted in horror as he saw the London terror attack unfold.

The Hague, May 23 (IANS) Dutch football head coach Louis van Gaal has named four debutants in the squad for the friendlies in Indonesia and China in June.

Chennai, May 23 (IANS) Siddharth Suryanarayan-starrer Tamil comedy "Theeya Vela Seiyyanum Kumaru" (TVSK) has been passed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) with a 'U' certificate with no cuts . It is releasing June 14.

Quito, May 23 (IANS/EFE) The Ecuadorian Civil Space Agency issued an alert Wednesday about a possible collision of its Pegaso satellite, launched last month, with the wreckage of a Russian rocket.