Amid speculations of a Washington-led military invasion:

US deploys aircraft carrier off Syria

SYRIA: The US has deployed its newest aircraft carrier off the Syrian coast amid mounting speculations of a Washington-led military invasion against the Arab nation. A US naval task force, led by the USS George H.W. Bush, parked off just outside Syria’s territorial waters, just after the US embassy in Damascus urged Americans to “immediately” leave the country,

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India to open up its vast retail sector

To global supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart, Tesco:

India: India prepared Friday to announce details on how the nation’s vast retail sector would be opened to global supermarket chains, after the cabinet backed the long-awaited reforms. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma was expected to make a statement in parliament to outline legislation,

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Female journalists covering Egypt unrest sexually assaulted

A group of men dragged them towards tahrir square :

EGYPT: Two female foreign journalists on Thursday described harrowing sexual assaults carried out by crowds or police as they tried to cover demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy said she was sexually assaulted by police during hours under detention after taking part in protests on the sprawling square that has become a landmark of the Arab Spring.

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