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Software exporter Infosys posted on Thursday a 14.1% rise in consolidated net profit, lagging forecasts as a strong rupee and wage costs offset improved outsourcing demand. Net profit for the Nasdaq-listed firm rose to 17.8 billion rupees ($397 million) during the three months to December from 15.6 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenues, by international accounting norms, for the Bangalore-based outsourcer rose 24% to 71.06 billion rupees, the company said in a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange. Analysts had expected Infosys, India's second largest software exporter, to show an 18% rise in quarterly profit. Infosys shares fell 3.2%, or 106 rupees, to 3,268 rupees in early trade after the earnings were announced. The company, which is closely watched by investors as a barometer for the country's technology sector, added 40 clients and a net 5,311 staff in the quarter.

South Asia's growth engine India is expected to slow down a tad to 8.4% this year from an estimated 9.5% in 2011 before rising again to 8.7% in 2012, the World Bank has forecast. South Asia as a whole is still projected to continue to post robust growth of 7.7% and 8.1% over the forecast horizon in  FY2011/12 and FY2012-13, respectively-albeit a deceleration from the 8.7% growth recorded in FY2010/11, it said. The projected slowdown in South Asia's real GDP growth this year follows its acceleration from 7.0% in FY2009-10, buoyed by very strong growth in India, up 1.8%age points from 7.7% in 2009, the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects 2011  released Thursday noted. Excluding India, which represents 80% of regional GDP, growth (on a fiscal year basis) firmed, but to a more modest 5.1% from 4.3% the year before. On a calendar year basis, GDP for the region as a whole is estimated to have expanded 8.4% in 2010 after 5.3% in 2009, and to 4.8% in 2010 from 3.8% in 2009 if In

A look at the top food trends of 2011 has revealed that pies, hot dogs, gourmet airport food will be the flavour of the year. Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine picked up the top trends for the upcoming year and the list has a New York flavour as most of the staff live in the five  boroughs.   "We are always eating out, cooking at home or checking out what other people are putting in their mouths," the  New York Daily News   quoted Liz Vaccariello, the magazine's editor-in-chief, as saying. She picked out three of her magazine's top food trends for 2011 that can already be seen in New York. 1. Gourmet airport food As the TSA ramps up efforts to pat down every inch of passengers' bodies, airports are doing their best to provide epicurean dining options to harried travellers. "Food is comforting, and with all the hassles of flying these days, that is more important than ever," Vaccariello explained. "Also, airport dining is one last opportunity to ge

Be it behind the bike sheds or at the school disco, you are more likely to remember your first romantic kiss with your partner than even losing your virginity. But, the art is so complex that scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum has written a book about it. In  The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us , Kirshenbaum writes that men see kissing “as a means to an end” and possibly with a “view to swapping other bodily fluids later.” Women try to “extricate the significance of a relationship based on a single kiss and often that leads to miscommunication.” Men are more aggressive kissers, as they are trying to pass on a “testosterone bomb” to a lover. However, testosterone passed on during sessions of smaller but frequent kisses stays in the body longer, and can push a woman to falling in love more quickly. The author, a researcher at the University of Texas, measured the magnetic current in brains of men and women in response to images of people kissing.

Cricket Schedule of ICC World Cup 2011. Fixtures of Cricket World Cup 2011 schedule has been announced. The first schedule match of ICC World Cup 2011 between India vs Bangladesh begins Feb 19, 2011 onwards. Keep viewing CriSchedule for latest updates on Cricket Schedule and Fixtures of upcoming ICC World Cup 2011. Good times are here for India. The country will get to host the tenth world cup of its most loved sport in 2011 along with co-hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be the first time co-hosting for Bangladesh in a cricket world cup. Fourteen national teams are scheduled to compete for the coveted cup between February and early April 2011. According to the announced fixtures of ICC World Cup 2011, the first match will be played among co-hosts India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The formerly announced time-table of 2011 world cup also included Pakistan as a co-hosting nation but the 2009 attack on Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore which left seven