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By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressman who has been blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's main champion in Washington said people working for New York University have tried to keep him from meeting Chen, barging into a meeting on Capitol Hill and pulling Chen out on one occasion. U.S. Representative Chris Smith, an outspoken supporter of Chinese dissidents since the 1980s, described repeated instances of various people he says were from NYU interfering in his attempts to meet with Chen. ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance Minister P. Chidambaram held a meeting with his top civil servants on Thursday about the fall of the rupee, which has plunged to a record low level. The rupee has fallen to 59.9350 to the dollar, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated a tapering of its monetary stimulus, and data showed China's factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Manoj Kumar, editing by Anurag Kotoky)

(Corrects final paragraph to show Singapore's previous reading was 61, not 63) SYDNEY, June 19 (Reuters) - Optimism among Asia's top companies gathered momentum in the second quarter despite lingering concerns about the global economy and rising costs, the latest Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asia Business Sentiment Survey published on Wednesday showed. ...

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian soccer great Pele has called on thousands of protestors demonstrating over poor quality public services and corruption to leave the streets and focus on football, an appeal that was quickly met with derision on social media. Brazil is currently hosting the Confederations Cup which began on Saturday, a tournament seen as a dry-run before it hosts the World Cup next year expected to draw an estimated 600,000 visitors to the country. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian government and state bonds will have no trading bands for Thursday, chief executive officer C.E.S. Azariah told Reuters, after trading in some debt had been halted earlier in the day due to circuit breakers. Trading in the Indian government bond market resumed after the relaxation in limits. The most-traded 8.33 percent 2026 bond rose 15 basis points to 7.60 percent from its previous close. The benchmark 10-year government bond was up 10 bps from its previous close. (Reporting by Archana Narayanan and Mumbai Treasury Desk; Editing by Rafael Nam)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Courts in China's far western region of Xinjiang have sentenced 19 ethnic Uighurs to up to six years in jail for promoting racial hatred and religious extremism online, in the latest crackdown on what China sees as violent separatists. All but one of those jailed were from the heavily Uighur southern part of Xinjiang, including eight from the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, the official Legal Daily reported on its website. ...

By Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June as demand faltered, a preliminary survey showed, heightening risks that a second quarter slowdown could be sharper than expected and raising the heat on the central bank to loosen policy. The flash HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 48.3 in June from May's final reading of 49.2, drifting further away from the 50-point level demarcating expansion from contraction. It was the weakest level since September. ...

REUTERS - U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen, known for her high-calorie Southern cooking, admitted in a deposition that surfaced on Wednesday that she has used racial slurs but her attorney says she does not tolerate prejudice. A former employee of Paula Deen Enterprises, Lisa Jackson, is suing Deen and her brother Earl "Bubba" Hiers for racial and sexual discrimination in the work place, and the video-taped deposition was related to the suit. ...

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee slumped to a record low on Thursday, while stocks and bonds were hit, after the Federal Reserve signalled a tapering of its monetary stimulus, highlighting the country's dependence on foreign capital inflows to fund its current account deficit. Market were also hit by data showing China's factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June. The rupee fell to a record low of 59.9350 to the dollar, breaching past its all-time low of 58.98 on June 11. The rupee was trading at 59.82/81, down from its 58.71/72 close on Wednesday. ...

By Laura Zuckerman REUTERS - Two of America's premier national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, warned visitors on Wednesday about a gastrointestinal illness that has sickened at least 200 people at the start of the summer tourist season. The rare health advisory, tied to a suspected outbreak of the highly contagious norovirus, comes in the early weeks of a season that drew about 6 million people to the parks last year. ...

REUTERS - Serena Williams has apologized for comments she made in a forthcoming interview in which she appeared to assign blame to the 16-year-old victim in the Steubenville, Ohio, rape case for being drunk. The comments were reported in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine and stirred up U.S. media attention on Wednesday. "What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened," the women's world number one said in a statement on her website. ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy and Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - James Gandolfini, the burly actor best known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of a conflicted New Jersey mob boss in the groundbreaking cable TV series "The Sopranos," died on Wednesday vacationing in Italy. He was 51. Gandolfini, whose role as Tony Soprano made him a household name while transforming the HBO network and ushering in a new era of drama on American television, had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday. ...

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A year after Facebook Inc's fumbled IPO, Wall Street remains slow to recognize what Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg argues has been an across-the-board improvement in its business. Facebook's ability to deliver ads to mobile phones, improvements in measuring the effectiveness of its ads and increasing user engagement have all put the world's largest social network in a better position than before the IPO, Sandberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit on Wednesday. ...

Dubai, June 20 (IANS/WAM) Dubai-based Flydubai airline Wednesday announced launch of business class services, based on its passengers' feedback from across its network of 60 destinations.

Mumbai, June 20 (IANS) What Mani Ratnam couldn't do, Aanand Rai has succeeded in doing. Audiences will be getting to hear Bollywood actress Sonam speak in Tamil for the first time in "Raanjhanaa".

Los Angeles, June 20 (IANS) Model Katie Price says she is going through a "difficult" pregnancy as certain things have gone "wrong".

Los Angeles, June 20 (IANS) "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliff wants to play a villain in the popular James Bond film franchise.

Los Angeles, June 20 (IANS) Actor Russell Crowe is set to director his first feature film. The project is set in the aftermath of World War I.

Los Angeles, June 20 (IANS) Actor Johnny Depp, who often sports tinted glasses, has revealed he has been "basically blind as a bat" in his left eye.

Washington, June 20 (IANS) White House Wednesday strongly condemned the "despicable" attack on the UN office in Somalia.

still believes in love. She also hopes that she finds a man who will love her "in the right way" in the future.

Washington, June 20 (IANS) The US, Japan and South Korea Wednesday called for "meaningful" steps on denuclearisation by Pyongyang in exchange for better ties with them, Xinhua reported.

London, June 20 (IANS) Designer label MaxMara has named a coat after the Duchess of Cambridge after the royal wore one of their designs during an official visit in 2012.

Abu Dhabi, June 20 (IANS/WAM) Environment related authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have not been resting on their laurels since receiving an acknowledgment from the World Wildlife Fund in 2010, a UAE daily has reported.

Harare, June 20 (IANS) Zimbabwean president and his main political rivals in the coalition government have agreed to file an application at the Constitutional Court, seeking extention of the general elections' date beyond July 31, 2013.

Lima, June 20 (IANS) At least 30 people were killed Wednesday when a passenger bus fell off 100 metres into a ravine in Peru's Chanchamayo province, Xinhua reported.