By Sanjeev Choudhary and Swati Pandey NEW DELHI/MUMBAI | Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:54pm IST NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – State Bank of India, the country’s top lender, has not extended further loans to debt-crippled Kingfisher Airlines, a bank official said, denying reports that the state-owned creditor was close to offering a lifeline. Several newspapers reported that State Bank of India (SBI) would throw a lifeline to Kingfisher, which is majority…

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Angus MacSwan AMMAN | Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:27am EST AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s forces rained rockets and bombs down on opposition-held neighborhoods of the city of Homs on Wednesday, reducing buildings to rubble and killing more than 80 people, including two Western journalists. The barrages marked an intensification of a nearly three-week offensive to crush resistance in Homs, one of the…

By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI | Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:46pm IST NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Aakash, the “$35″ computer launched last year in India as the world’s cheapest tablet, has run into problems and companies will be invited to bid again to make the device after complaints of poor performance and hiccups rolling out a pilot model. The government has hailed the Aakash tablet as an achievement of…

By Nadia Damouni NEW YORK | Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:10pm IST NEW YORK (Reuters) – A series of technology companies, including security software maker Palo Alto Networks, are preparing to go public on the heels of Facebook’s $5-billion filing, sensing a window of opportunity as the stock market rallies. Technology management software maker ServiceNow, human resources software provider Workday, machine data software company Splunk and flash memory maker Violin…

By Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI | Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:39pm IST NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Easing inflation and a revival in stock markets could dent gold imports by India, the world’s biggest consumer, pushing shipments down by about 35 percent in value terms in 2012/13, a government panel said on Wednesday. Indians found gold a better investment than stocks and an effective tool to hedge against inflation in the…