INDIA SUMMARIZED

Declining euro precipitated the fall of rupee in the last couple of hours of trading The rupee touched an all-time low of 60.76 a dollar on June 28, breaching its previous historic low of 59.98 (intra-day). It closed at 60.71/72 as compared to its Tuesday’s close of 59.66/67 in the foreign exchange market. “It was a sharp reaction and it was not expected,” said N. S. Venkatesh, Chief General Manager, Treasury, IDBI Bank. Stop-loss The moment the rupee touched 60, there were lots of stop-losses which got triggered and short positions were covered resulting in rupee depreciating further. The dollar has strengthened against all major currencies and the dollar index also strengthened. “The weakness is expected to continue for a couple of days and the rupee is expected to pull back after that on expectation of dollar inflows for the HUL share buyback as also remittances from NRIs,” said Mr. Venkatesh. According to him, it would strengthen to 59.50 levels in the cur...

NEW DELHI: Calamities and pilgrim hotspots seem to be inextricably linked. Even as  Uttarakhand  tries to lurch out of the worst-ever disaster to have hit the region, with hundreds already dead and thousands other missing, heated debates have erupted over the actual cause of what the Uttarakhand chief minister dubbed ‘the Himalayan tsunami’. But the fact is that as soon as the holy temple of Dhari Mata was removed, the havoc took place. It is unfortunate that from Uttarakhand government to government at at Centre is bent upon in hiding the real fact of devastation. While the administration insists that it was a natural calamity,  environmentalists  hold that this was a man-made disaster waiting to happen. Torrential and unrelenting downpour, landslides and floods saw the raging waters sweep away more than 180 people and hundreds of livestock to death. More than 70,000 pilgrims have been stranded even as the Army and Air Force try to rescue them in a hostil...

Hyderabad, June 24 (IANS)  Andhra Pradesh  Police have booked union Home Minister  Sushilkumar Shinde  and union  Finance Minister P. Chidambaram  for allegedly "cheating people of Telangana " by going back on their word over formation of a separate state. A case under section 420 of Indian Penal Code (cheating) was booked Monday at L.B. Nagar police station on the outskirts of Hyderabad against the two central ministers on the direction of a district court, a  police officer  said. The police took the action after a court in Ranga Reddy district pulled up the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station for not following the orders passed Jan 28 this year. The SHO last week appeared before the second metropolitan magistrate's court. The court took cognizance against him under section 166 (a) of the IPC (public servant disobeying the law) on a complaint filed by Telangana Junior Advocates' Association member  Naresh Kumar . T...

  Chandigarh/ Madhopur:  Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra modi was in Punjab on June 24 to address the party’s Sankalp Rally in Punjab’s Madhopur, a border town near Jammu and Kashmir.  Modi spoke with the intent to heal local sentiments even as he spoke of the necessity of youth to join the mainstream. The BJP’s star campaigner stayed away from topics like section 370 making it evident that he wanted to steer clear of controversy.    He mostly concentrated on recalling past alliances and said that he had come to join not just parties but hearts as well.  Modi referred to founder of Jan Sangh Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and also said that his aim was to continue the work done by Atal Behari Vajpayee. He, however, did not mention LK Advani even once.    While his focus was youth, his words were aimed at touching the hearts of the locals gathered. He promised justice to Kashmiri Pundits and praised the young women in particular saying th...

The farcical decision making of the game’s governing body came to the fore again as the lack of a reserve day and plenty of rain meant the final of the Champions Trophy at Edgbaston was reduced to a T20 game. Such was the impact of the weather that the ICC was even forced to extend play by an hour and 15 minutes just to get in the shortened game. But there was still time for plenty of drama as India’s bowlers throttled England in a low-scoring game to win by five runs and leave the hosts still chasing their first 50-over title. England seemed to have the upper hand after asking India to bat first and restricting them to 129/7 on a pitch that was offering plenty of turn for the spinners. Though England lost early wickets, they were cruising with 20 needed from 15 balls and Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara at the crease having added 64 together. India celebrate after winning the Champions Trophy. AP That’s when Ishant Sharma, who had just been walloped for six by Morgan and bowled...