By IANS,

Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sunday announced a series of steps to secure the country from the global financial crisis.

The cabinet, headed by Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid AI Maktoum, Sunday approved a series of internal preventive steps and measures "out of keenness to serve national interest, ensure continuity of economic growth and protect national economy", the state-run Emirates News agency (WAM) reported.

By IANS,

Dubai : Dashing all optimism after Thursday's resurgence, markets across the Gulf again plunged Sunday with the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) falling to a 43-month low.

Even as new regulations Sunday fixed a limit to which the Dubai market can fall in a day, the DFM closed Sunday at 3,025.08 after touching 2,991.04, the lowest since March 2005.

The only market to close on the green was the key Saudi Arabian Tadawul, which closed at 5,814.60 points, a marginal rise of 0.34 percent from Wednesday's close.

By Anik Basu, IANS,

New Delhi : Where is the Indian equity market headed and when will the current mayhem end? This is the question an estimated 20 million investors in the country were asking Sunday as they nervously hoped for solutions to tackle the global financial meltdown that has pulled Indian equities down over 16 percent last week and tripped industrial growth to its lowest in a decade.

By IANS,

New Delhi : An expert panel under Finance Secretary Arun Ramanathan meets here Monday to find solutions to help India weather the global financial turmoil, which has led stocks to crash and industrial growth trip to its lowest in a decade.

The panel, which has to submit a report to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in a week's time, will also visit Mumbai to hold deliberations with financial sector regulators, including the central bank and the market watchdog, officials said.

By Xinhua,

Shanghai : Chinese companies had contracts to provide outsourced services abroad to a value of $1.9 billion in the first eight months, up 17 percent from the same period last year, according to the ministry of commerce.

By the end of August, the number of outsource service companies in the country was about 1,800 with about 330,000 employees, the ministry's statistics showed.

In 2007, total contracts abroad for outsourced services were $2.09 billion, up 118 percent over 2005.

By IANS,

Lucknow : In a major development ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to her constituency of Rae Bareli, the Uttar Pradesh government has reportedly withdrawn the land it sanctioned for a rail coach factory.

Gandhi, along with Railways Minister Lalu Prasad, had jointly laid the foundation stone of the factory last February. She is scheduled to perform a "Bhoomi Poojan" at the site on Tuesday.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state government has withdrawn 400 acres land it had given, an official said. The factory was slated to come up on 1,200 acres.

By IANS,

Hyderabad : Satyam Computer Services, India's fourth largest software exporter, has denied reports that the World Bank has barred it from doing offshore work.

The reports in international media said the bank had taken this decision after noticing reported intrusions into systems.

A statement issued by Satyam here said the story ran by some agencies was wrong and was riddled with falsehoods and errors. "The story cites misinformation from unattributed sources and leaked e-mails that are taken out of context," the statement said quoting a World Bank spokesperson.

By IANS,

Lucknow : In a major development ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to her constituency of Rae Bareli, the Uttar Pradesh government has reportedly withdrawn the land it sanctioned for an ambitious rail coach factory project of the party-led United Progressive Alliance central government.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state government has withdrawn 400 acres land it had given. The factory was slated to come up on 1,200 acres.

By IANS,

New Delhi : India's love affair with gemstone carvings dates back nearly 5,000 years ago when Alexander the Great invaded the country. They flourished during the reign of the Mughals, though never finding a place in the genre of conventional Indian art - but they will now be available to aficionados.

Jaipur-based Ma Passion, a house of gemstone crafts, is giving this ancient Indian tradition the legitimacy of contemporary Indian miniature art with the country's first-ever auction of gemstone sculptures in Mumbai Oct 22.

By Anik Basu, IANS,

New Delhi : Where is the Indian securities market headed -- where will the current mayhem end?

This is the million-rupee question that an estimated 20 million investors in the country were asking Sunday as they nervously hoped for positive signals from the government following the recent global financial meltdown that saw the Indian equities markets suffering the worst-ever mauling in recent times Friday, and the Sensex, a key index, falling 16 percent during the week.