Washington, May 23 (IANS/EFE) Immigration reform that plans to legalize some 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US passed its first test as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-5 to approve a bipartisan bill to overhaul the system. More »US senate panel approves immigration reform
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd slumped as much as 6.97 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. ... More »Ranbaxy shares slump after Daiichi Sankyo says misled
Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), May 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) China will import gas from the world's second largest gas reserve in the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan. More »China to buy gas from Turkmenistan
Brussels, May 23 (IANS/EFE) The heads of state and government of the European Union held a summit Wednesday in an effort to make more progress in fighting tax evasion and tax fraud. More »European leaders hold summit on tax evasion
London, May 23 (IANS) American author Lydia Davis was declared the winner of the fifth Man Booker International Prize at an award ceremony held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. More »Lydia Davis wins Man Booker Prize
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. ... More »China's Lenovo buys and diversifies to outshine PC rivals
Reuters Markete Eye - The BSE Sensex falls 0.66 percent and the broader Nifty is down 0.8 percent, heading towards their fourth consecutive session of declines. Asian stocks slid and the dollar rose to a 4-1/2 year high after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks sparked worries of a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus and after data showed China's factory activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May. Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd slumps 6 percent after majority shareholder Daiichi Sankyo Co said it believes former shareholders of the Indian company hid information regarding U.S. ... More »BSE Sensex falls; Ranbaxy, L&T slump
Washington, May 23 (IANS) Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 gruesome triple murder outside Boston along with a Chechen killed during a confrontation with law enforcement officers, More »Dead Boston bomber involved in 2011 slayings: Report
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 for the playoffs, they got the perfect antidote with the Pacers pushing Miami all the way and raising the prospect of a tight best-of-seven set. ... More »NBA - James saves Miami in last-gasp win over Indiana
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. ... More »Singapore Q1 GDP growth surprises on surge in financial services
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. ... More »U.S. industry touts 'drone' promise as public debate flares
New Delhi, May 23 (ANI): President Pranab Mukherjee will undertake a three-day visit to Himachal Pradesh from today. More »President Mukherjee to visit Himachal today
Washington, May 23 (ANI): Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, a UC Irvine-led research has revealed. More »Colliding young galaxies create 'missing link' mega-galaxy
Washington, May 23 (ANI): A new study has found that widely-used fish oil supplements modestly increase amounts of a hormone that is associated with lower risk of diabetes and heart disease. More »Fish oil supplements may help cut risk of diabetes, heart disease
Sydney, May 23 (ANI): New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling has been ruled out of the second and final Test against England at Headingley starting from Friday because of a knee injury. More »Kiwi keeper Watling ruled out of Headingley Test with knee injury
By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday becoming the oldest person to conquer the world's highest mountain. Yuichiro Miura, who took the standard southeast ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 60 years ago, reached the top of the 8,848 metre (29,028 feet) mountain at roughly 9:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). He was accompanied by three other Japanese, including his son, and six Nepali sherpas. ... More »Japanese octogenarian becomes oldest to reach Everest summit
By Linda Sieg and Ruairidh Villar SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from the yoke of Western imperialism. Seven decades later, the 91-year-old retired Christian pastor says it's his mission to speak out about the injustice of the war and the sufferings of women, mostly Asian and many Korean, forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels. "I feel like a war criminal. ... More »Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran
By Masayuki Kitano and Hideyuki Sano SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds plunged on Thursday, taking yields to their highest in a year and leading a selloff in bonds globally after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks sparked worries of a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus. Bernanke's comments, suggesting the Fed's massive bond purchases could be scaled back in the next few policy meetings if the economy improves further, triggered a reaction across a swathe of markets, lifting the dollar to a three-year high versus a basket of currencies and the U.S. ... More »Asian shares extend losses after China HSBC flash PMI
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. ... More »Switching from scandals, Obama to address drones and Guantanamo
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 survey of purchasing managers showed, adding to concerns that a recovery in the world's second-largest economy is sputtering. 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. A sub-index measuring overall new orders dropped to 49. ... More »China HSBC flash PMI hits seven-month low, fans growth fears