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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Chinese businessman has paid a world record 310,000 euros for a Belgian pigeon, highlighting Asia's huge and growing interest in racing birds. The one-year-old award-winning pigeon named Bolt was bred by Belgian pigeon fancier Leo Heremans, a well-known name to pigeon enthusiasts, who sold his entire collection of 530 birds for 4.3 million euros at an auction over the weekend. "You can compare it to artwork. A painting made by Picasso is worth more than one made by an unknown artist. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee weakened to a near six-month low on Tuesday, largely driven by weakness in the euro and import-related dollar demand that traders attributed to a private refining company. At 04:45 pm IST, the rupee was at 55.37/38 versus its Monday close of 55.10/11. It fell to 55.41 during the session, a level last seen on November 29, 2012. (Reporting by Subhadip Sircar; Editing by Rafael Nam)

LONDON (Reuters) - Soccer champions Manchester United topped the table for English Premier League television income in 2012-13, raking in almost 61 million pounds in the final year of the current three-year contract, the League said on Tuesday. Relegated Queens Park Rangers, owned by Malaysian airline boss Tony Fernandes, received almost 40 million pounds, the lowest figure among the 20 clubs. Television income will climb further next season after telecoms company BT entered the British market, taking a share of live rights alongside pay TV operator BSkyB . BT has replaced U.S. ...

By Tony Jimenez VIRGINIA WATER, England (Reuters) - Europe's Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley has announced he will have three wildcard selections for next year's match against the United States in Scotland. It is an increase from the two picks his predecessor Jose Maria Olazabal had in 2012. McGinley told a news conference on Tuesday he had made the change in order to "give myself a little bit of extra flexibility". The nine automatic selections for the 12-man team will come from the top four players in the European order of merit points list and the leading five in the world rankings. ...

By Iain Rogers MADRID (Reuters) - Florentino Perez's record as Real Madrid president was under scrutiny on Tuesday after the construction magnate's latest coaching project ended in disarray with the premature departure of Jose Mourinho. Perez, who is up for reelection next month, announced on Monday Mourinho would be leaving at the end of the season, three years before his contract expires. ...

By Alice Mannette Ian Simpson MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Pre-dawn emergency workers searched feverishly for survivors in the rubble of homes, primary schools and an hospital in an Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by a massive Monday afternoon tornado feared to have killed up to 91 people and injured well over 200 residents. The 2-mile(3-km) wide tornado tore through town of Moore outside Oklahoma City, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed. ...

By Abhishek Vishnoi MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex tumbled for a second consecutive session on Tuesday hitting its lowest close in a week as recent outperforming blue-chips such as ITC fell on doubts about whether foreign investors will continue their strong buying so far. These doubts come as Asian shares were largely subdued ahead of Wednesday's release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting and chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony in Congress the same day. Those events are expected to provide cues about the future of U.S. ...

Reuters Market Eye - HSBC picks INR as one of two Asian currencies along with the yuan that can hold their own in a climate of sticky JPY weakness, a more moderate pace of Chinese expansion, and increasing debate over Fed's quantitative easing. INR is a main beneficiary of lower commodity prices as it suffers from significant oil and gold trade deficits, says HSBC. ...

By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments after the U.S. Senate said the company paid little or nothing on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries. The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple was too low. ...

By Kate Holton and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone will reinvest a $3.2 billion dividend from its healthy U.S. arm to counter weakness in southern Europe that contributed to the largest ever quarterly fall in the group's main revenue measure. The British firm is trying to decide whether to sell Verizon Wireless, its profitable U.S. unit in what could be the world's third largest deal to support its struggling core operations. ...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border on Tuesday, opposition activists said. They said fighting was raging in Qusair, as well as in areas to the east where several army bases are located, and in the Hezbollah-held southern and western approaches to the town. ...

By Nidhi Verma and Meeyoung Cho NEW DELHI/SEOUL (Reuters) - India has slashed Iranian oil imports by almost a fifth since December, the sharpest cut among Asian buyers, in a move that should increase its chances of winning a new U.S. waiver next month on sanctions targeting oil trade with Iran. Sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe to force a halt to a controversial nuclear programme that Tehran says is for peaceful purposes saw Iran's oil exports more than halve last year, costing it $5 billion a month in lost revenue. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Dutch author Gerbrand Bakker has won the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize awarded by Britain's Booktrust charity for "The Detour", a tale of infidelity, exile and isolation. Bakker will share the 10,000 pound prize with translator David Colmer for the story of Emilie, a translation professor and Emily Dickinson scholar, who retreats from her life in the Netherlands to an isolated farmhouse in Wales following an affair with a student. ...

Mumbai, May 21 (IANS) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) global development centre in suburban Goregaon east here Tuesday.

Dharamsala, May 21 (IANS) A US report said people of Tibet faced severe religious repression and societal discrimination throughout 2012 in China, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said here Tuesday.

Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) US Ambassador Nancy Powell Tuesday called for greater economic opening and more foreign investments for India's higher economic growth, saying "there is more yet to do" in the area of reforms to return to 10 percent growth.

London, May 21 (IANS) Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was named the Premier League manager of the year and accepted the award from the League Manager Association Monday.

Lucknow, May 21 (IANS) The ruling Samajwadi Party's decision to withdraw cases against terror accused and slap cases against police officers, apparently to appease Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh, would play havoc with the morale of the police, serving and former officers say.

New York, May 21 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russian police reforms have proved so successful that, in some areas, Moscow outperforms New York on safety, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has boasted while on a visit to the US.

Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) On the eve of the UPA completing four years in office, the Left Front Tuesday accused the regime of having failed to frame pro-people policies and instead favouring the "khaas aadmi" (special interests).

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) American crooner Kelly Rowland and Latin singer Paulina Rubio will join Demi Lovato and Simon Cowell in the judge's panel of the US reality show "The X Factor".

Bangalore, May 21 (IANS) US-based IT services company iGate Corp. Tuesday said it has sacked Chief Executive Officer Phaneesh Murthy on the charges of sexual harassment by a woman employee.

Los Angeles, May 21 (IANS) Singer Kesha attended the Billboard Music Awards 2013 in a little black dress, but without an underwear. She says it was a conscious decision.

New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) The Delhi High Court is likely to hear Wednesday a plea seeking a ban on Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches till fool-proof measures are taken to stop alleged corrupt practices in sports.

Moscow, May 21 (IANS) India, with its "time-tested relationship" with Russia, expects greater backing from Moscow in its quest for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, a diplomatic officical said here Tuesday.

Shimla/Manali, May 21 (IANS) As life in the plains of northern India has started becoming unbearable with the temperature hovering around 46degree in some places, the the snow-clad peaks of Himachal Pradesh's popular tourist resorts are luring visitors to the state.