Dr Reddy’s said the bonus debentures are to be redeemed at the end of 36 months. “The debentures will carry a coupon rate. The total payout would be Rs 520 crore.”

Commenting on the same, GV Prasad, Vice-Chairman and CEO, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, said the payout will be in the form of dividend distribution tax.

The National Association of Realtors released figures Tuesday showing 68,000 sales in the 11-state region in February, and the median sales price fell 2 percent to $128,000.

”There are a lot of buyers right now who are hopping off the fence,” said Realtor Al Stasek with Re/Max Crossroads in the Cleveland suburb of Rocky River.

Stasek said he hopes interest rates will remain at their current levels through summer so that the real estate market can maintain some momentum after the April 30 tax-credit deadline.

In February, Midwest sales improved more than the nation as a whole. Non-seasonally adjusted figures showed total February homes sales increased 8 percent over last year. The median home price nationally fell 2 percent to $165,100.

But sales fell on an annual basis in 10 of the 12 major Midwestern cities tracked in the Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report, also released Tuesday. Omaha had the worst month with a 15 percent drop in sales. Chicago recorded the biggest gain with a 33 percent sales increase.

Jean-Francois Cope, parliamentary leader of the governing UMP party, was quoted as saying the tax “would be Europe-wide or not (exist) at all”.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament that the government should focus on policies that increased France’s economic competitiveness.

France had been rethinking the tax after a court rejected it last year.

The Constitutional Council said there were too many exemptions for polluters in the tax plan, and that a minority of consumers would bear the burden.

But President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government had still been planning to push through a revised version of the measure later this year.

Had the plan been approved, France would have been the largest country to impose a carbon tax as part of efforts to tackle climate change.

“We have to amplify measures that help reinforce the competitiveness of our economy,” Mr Fillon was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

The deal reportedly involves 10 album projects over seven years – including one of previously unreleased material.

The singer died at his Los Angeles home in June, aged 50. He was due to stage a series of comeback concerts in Britain.

Michael Jackson’s death was ruled as homicide, mainly caused by the use of the anaesthetic Propofol.

The contract with Sony could be worth up to $250m if certain conditions are met, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources close to the deal.

It reflects sales of Jackson’s music and memorabilia – which have sky-rocketed in the months since his death, making the late star one of the biggest-earning acts of last year, says the BBC’s Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles.

Sony has sold about 31 million copies of Jackson’s albums worldwide since his death on 25 June, the report said.

His estate may soon be able to pay off some of the huge debts he left behind, our correspondent adds.

According to US media, Jackson also left behind dozens of new songs, which may be released, along with revamped packages of old hits.

Government programs to support housing have been “murky” and when the modifications caused by them come to an end, a lot of supply may come to the market and that’s when the real-estate market is likely to go down, she explained.

Hopes that an improvement in liquidity and continuing investment from China in US assets will prop up mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasurys are exaggerated, Whitney also said.

“The asset classes of MBS and Treasurys are priced for a material correction in my opinion,” she said. “The only buyers of agency MBS are the Fed and banks so you see how precarious that market is.”

“If the Fed pulls back, that’s a really big deal… because there’s no substitute buyer.”

The Federal Reserve can’t make banks start lending again because the business model financial institutions used before the crisis is broken, Whitney also said.

Despite a “slight improvement” in consumer spending, growth was hampered by “severe snowstorms” in many parts of the country, it found.

The book also reported labour markets remaining weak across the country.

But the book did highlight growth in the manufacturing sector, and an increase in demand for services.

“Manufacturing activity strengthened in most regions, particularly in the hi-tech equipment, automobile and metal industries,” it said.

The report painted a more downbeat picture of the property sector and the jobs market.

“Most districts characterised commercial real estate and construction activity as weak or having declined further,” it said.

And although some districts “reported an uptick in hiring or a slowdown in layoffs, labour markets generally remained soft throughout the nation”.

Leading US stocks lost early gains sparked by Greece’s additional austerity measures after the book was published.

It is buying the 40% of 2Entertain which it did not already own from the administrators of failed High Street giant Woolworths.

BBC Worldwide said the move “ended a period of uncertainty triggered by the collapse of Woolworths”.

Programmes published by 2Entertain include Planet Earth and Top Gear.

“This ensures that consumers can continue to enjoy their favourite BBC titles on DVD and Blu-ray as well as protecting the investment made by BBC Worldwide in 2Entertain over the past six years,” BBC Worldwide added.

It said the funds for the deal did not come from television licence fees. and that the sale offered stability to 2Entertain’s retail partners.

Paul Dempsey, boss of 2Entertain, said the firm looked forward “to a more settled period and playing an important role in BBC Worldwide’s future plans”.

Microsoft has kept a relatively low profile in China since Google announced its decision to potentially withdraw from the market over censorship issues and following an attack on its systems that it believes originated in China.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer previously said his company had no plans to pull out of China, indicating it was unlikely to follow Google’s lead in challenging a Chinese system that forces Internet firms to self censor their sites on sensitive topics.

“Regardless of whether or not Google stays, we will aggressively promote our search and cloud computing (in China),” Zhang Yaqin, chairman of Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told Reuters on Friday on the sidelines of the opening of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.