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MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shareholders in Jet Airways approved an agreed sale of a 24 percent stake in the airline to Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, a senior executive at the Indian carrier said on Friday. Jet Airways, however, deferred seeking shareholder approval for a new set of "Articles of Association" as it awaits regulatory clarity, Company Secretary Arun Kanakal told Reuters after a shareholders' meeting. Etihad, in April, agreed to acquire a 24 percent stake in Jet for $370 million, giving it a bigger foothold in the fast-growing Indian market. ...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck off Russia's eastern coast on Friday, briefly prompting a tsunami scare but causing no casualties or substantial damage, Russian emergency authorities said. The epicentre of the quake was located at a depth of 385 miles (620 km) in the Sea of Okhotsk, 244 miles (390 km) west of the nearest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the U.S. Geological Survey said. ...

By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell to one-month lows on Friday and the yen rebounded broadly as extreme volatility in the Nikkei kept investors on edge. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.4 percent and reached levels not seen since April 19, extending Thursday's 2.2 percent fall. Australian shares underperformed, sliding 1.6 percent. "There's a lot of volatility... from Japan, which is not good for market stability or confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tata Steel Ltd shares rose as much as 6.65 percent on Friday after its January-March quarterly operating profit beat analyst estimates. Brokerage IDFC estimated Tata Steel posted an adjusted standalone operating profit of 33 billion rupees in the previous quarter, compared to its forecast of 27.6 billion rupees. Tata Steel shares gained even as it posted a bigger-than-expected net loss, following a writedown. Shares at the steel maker were up 4.14 percent as of 12:23 p.m. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Rafael Nam)

Reuters Market Eye - Dollar sales from foreign banks in the morning are sparking talk of inflows related to Unilever's open offer for its India unit. Unilever Plc plans to pay up to $5.4 billion to raise its stake in its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever Ltd . The open offer opens June 21 and closes July 4. HSBC is the manager to the open offer. The rupee is currently trading at 55.65/66 from its Thursday close of 55.57/58 as the USD/INR pair was supported by dollar buying by a private refiner. (Reporting by Subhadip Sircar)

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's leading online social network, VKontakte, was blacklisted in error and a ban on distributing content inside the country imposed earlier on Friday has already been lifted, according to the communications regulator. "This was a mistake that resulted from human error," a spokesman for the regulator Roskomnadzor was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average rose on Friday in turbulent trade, stablising somewhat after a 7.3 percent dive in the previous session, but the extreme volatility and worries the bull-run may be running out of steam sidelined most buyers. The Nikkei rose 0.9 percent to 14,612.45 after dropping as much as 3.5 percent to 13,981.52 in the afternoon. In morning trade, it rose as high as 15,007.50, as investors picked up some of the beaten-down stocks after the market's largest one-day drop in two years on Thursday. The broader Topix gained 0.5 percent to 1,194.08. ...

Reuters Market Eye - Shares in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd fall 3 percent after its unit Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd posted a lower-than-expected January-March net profit, dealers say. New York-listed Taro said quarterly net profit rose to $49.2 million from $47.3 million a year earlier. Earnings were impacted by settlements and loss contingencies of $22 million, which the company said was "related to certain price reporting litigation". Taro did not provide more specifics about the litigation in a statement that came overnight India time. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. actress Amanda Bynes was arrested in New York City on Thursday after she allegedly threw a bong out the window of a midtown Manhattan apartment building, a police official said. New York police received a call on Thursday night from an employee at the 47th Street high-rise building where Bynes lives, said NYPD spokesman Detective Brian Sessa. The employee reported that someone was smoking marijuana in the lobby. When police arrived, they were directed to Bynes' apartment, where the actress invited police in, Sessa said. ...

By Matt Spetalnick and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve years after the "war on terror" began, President Barack Obama wants to pull the United States back from some of the most controversial aspects of its global fight against Islamist militants. In a major policy speech on Thursday, Obama narrowed the scope of the targeted-killing drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies and took steps toward closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. He acknowledged the past use of "torture" in U.S. ...

By Jonathan Kaminsky OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over a river in a rural area north of Seattle collapsed on Thursday, sending vehicles and people into the frigid water below, authorities said. The collapse on Interstate 5 over the Skagit River happened at about 7 p.m. local time between the towns of Mount Vernon and Burlington, 55 miles (90 km) north of Seattle, Washington State Patrol spokesman Trooper Mark Francis said. "I've got reports of vehicles and people in the water," Francis said. He added that he did not know if anyone was injured. ...

By Yantoultra Ngui KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan is exploring an IPO of U.K football team Cardiff City for as early as this year, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, in a deal that would follow the team's recent promotion to the Premier League. A listing for the Welsh team would follow Manchester United's debut on the New York Stock Exchange last year, which raised $233.2 million in the largest sports team IPO ever. The process is in its early stages, the people said, with details on the timing, size and listing venue subject to change. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Wockhardt Ltd plummeted as much as 19.3 percent on Friday to their lowest since August 2012, continuing to reel for the second day, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration imposed an "import alert" on a plant operated by the generic drugmaker. Wockhardt shares had already slumped by their daily limit of 20 percent on Thursday on the U.S. FDA action. An "import alert", effectively a ban, results in detention without physical examination of drugs from firms that have not met so-called good manufacturing practices, according to the FDA website. ...

Agra, May 24 (IANS) Industrial growth in the 10,000 sq. km. eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone has come to a halt, forcing large-scale migration of rural labour to urban hubs.

Chandigarh, May 24 (IANS) Death, funeral pyre, blood-laced, cheap entertainers, breast-beating, power-drunken mind and obituary - these are the words top politicians in Punjab are using to hurl invectives at each other in a virtual free for all.

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Director Ritesh Batra's debut film "Dabba" (Lunchbox) has won the critics week viewers choice award at the 66th Cannes International Film Festival.

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Minister of State for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh Friday said it would not be right to ban the Indian Premier League (IPL) in view of fresh revelations in the spot fixing scandal, and promised to act tough against guilty.

New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday staged a demonstration near Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's residence here demanding her resignation over alleged misuse of public money ahead of the 2008 assembly polls.

Washington, May 24 (IANS) An 8.2-magnitude earthquake under the Sea of Okhotsk was recorded early Friday, the US Geological Survey said.

Chennai, May 24 (IANS) Tamil actor Karthi Sivakumar, who will turn 35 Saturday, will spend his birthday on the sets of his upcoming Tamil comedy "All In All Azhagu Raja" (AIAAR).

Islamabad, May 24 (IANS) Pakistan Friday freed 45 India fishermen as a goodwill gesture, officials said.

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Actress Shruti Haasan enjoys acting but, unlike her father Kamal Haasan, she isn't too keen on film direction. However, writing for films is something she won't mind in future.

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Filmmaker Prakash Jha will start the promotions of his upcoming film "Satyagraha" in Bhopal, where the movie was majorly shot.

Brussels, May 24 (IANS/EFE) The European Commission said Thursday that it is working on a proposal to require corporate giants with operations in the European Union to publicly report profits, taxes paid and subsidies received on a country-by-country basis.

Mexico City, May 24 (IANS/EFE) A Mexican woman received Latin America's first transplant of ovaries in a hospital in the western city of Guadalajara, the director of the Mexican Infertility Institute, Luis Arturo Ruvalcaba, announced.

Rio de Janeiro, May 24 (IANS/EFE) Brazil's first auction of contracts to develop offshore oil and gas reserves in the pre-salt region will be held in October, or earlier than previously scheduled, the government said Thursday.