Yahoo! News India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government is not short of options to tackle the fall of the rupee and will take actions as necessary, the top adviser in the finance ministry told reporters on Thursday, after the rupee fell to a record low. Raghuram Rajan also said the central bank would take action to support the rupee as appropriate. The rupee fell a day after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed the Fed would begin winding down its stimulus spending later this year, and data showed China's factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June. ...

By Chikako Mogi and Wayne Cole TOKYO/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets buckled badly on Thursday after the Federal Reserve heralded an eventual end to free money and China turned the screw on credit even as factory activity in the world's second largest economy hit a nine-month low. Shares, currencies and commodities all crumbled as spooked investors rushed to unwind crowded trades in emerging markets. ...

By Kevin Lim SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's air quality deteriorated to "hazardous" levels on Thursday as smoke from forest fires in Indonesia obscured skies over the wealthy city-state and parts of Malaysia and disrupted some businesses and travel. In Singapore, air traffic controllers gave more time for aircraft between taking off and landing at Changi Airport, a major aviation hub, because of poor visibility. Work at several Singapore construction sites slowed with few workers seen outdoors and fast-food operator McDonald's suspended its delivery service across the city-state. ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has no plans to increase the size of its inflation-indexed bond issuance in the first half of the current fiscal year, a senior finance ministry official told Reuters on Thursday, declining to be identified. The Reserve Bank of India has said it will sell 10 billion rupees of 1.44 percent 2023 inflation-indexed government bonds on June 25. The sale would mark the second tranche of up to 150 billion rupees of inflation-linked paper scheduled to be offered at monthly intervals during the current fiscal year, which started in April. ...

Reuters Market Eye - Shares of large cap private banks fall as traders fear that high foreign holding in these stocks makes them more vulnerable, as a sell-off after the Federal Reserve heralded an eventual end to free money. ICICI Bank Ltd , with 37.94 percent FII holding, falls 4 percent, while HDFC Bank , where FIIs hold 34.07 percent of total shares, is down 3 percent. "A liquidity squeeze by Fed if US economy grows will obviously reduce the flows that were coming to EMs like India, making stocks with high FII holding vulnerable for the short term, analysts say. ...

By Ivan Castro and Lomi Kriel MANAGUA/PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - For centuries since the colonization of the New World, entrepreneurs have dreamed of building a canal spanning Nicaragua to make it easier to tap Asia's riches. Sixteenth century Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes yearned to cleave the isthmus, and ever since, French, American and Dutch financiers have all made abortive, Quixotic attempts to bisect the Central American country's volcano-studded terrain. Now it's the turn of the Chinese. And skepticism is as strong as ever. ...

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Lawyers for James Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 12 moviegoers in a Colorado theater last year, cannot be present during his court-ordered psychiatric examination, the judge in the murder case ruled on Wednesday. Arapahoe County District judge Carlos Samour Jr. rejected a motion by Holmes' public defenders, who argued that they should be allowed to attend the exam - especially since prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against their client. ...

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The founder of the outlawed Megaupload file-sharing site denounced on Thursday "the largest data massacre in the history of the internet", after a European firm wiped out private photos, videos and documents stored on servers used by the site. Dutch firm LeaseWeb said it had in February erased 630 servers rented by Megaupload, about a year after U.S. authorities closed the site and charged its operators with facilitating online piracy, racketeering and money laundering. ...

By Stephanie Simon (Reuters) - Watch out Ivy League, there's a new generation of elite universities on the rise around the globe, according to a new "100 Under 50" report from Times Higher Education magazine. The report, published on Wednesday, ranks the best young universities - defined as those founded no more than 50 years ago - in categories including research prowess, student-to-faculty ratio and international reputation. South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology came out on top. ...

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)

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. ...

Cancun (Mexico), June 20 (IANS/EFE) Police at the Mexican sea resort of Playa del Carmen arrested one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, a former college professor accused of sexually exploiting children.

Chennai, June 20 (IANS) Tamil actor Dhanush, who is awaiting the release of his first Hindi film "Raanjhanaa", says even though superstar Rajnikanth has a lot of influence on him, he doesn't like being compared with his father-in-law because he considers him a "legend".

Mexico City, June 20 (IANS/EFE) Archaeologists have discovered a previously unknown Mayan city in the southeastern state of Campeche, which for its vastness and characteristics is believed to have been a seat of government some 1,400 years ago.

La Paz, June 20 (IANS/EFE) Petroandina, a 60/40 joint venture of Bolivian state oil company YPFB and Venezuelan counterpart PDVSA, will invest an additional $35 million this year in a search for oil and gas in La Paz province.

Thiruvananthapuram, June 20 (IANS) The Kerala-headquartered Mind Media Innovations Pvt. Ltd has developed a new smartphone app on baby care to help young parents with baby rearing tips.

Bhubaneswar, June 20 (IANS) Prashant Dash, head of an Odisha-based business group, has been arrested in Mumbai in connection with an alleged chit fund scam, police said Thursday.

Mexico City, June 20 (IANS/EFE) He's only 10-years old but thanks to an IQ similar to Albert Einstein's, Luis Roberto Ramirez will begin the next school year studying applied quantum physics at Harvard University.

Moscow, June 20 (IANS/EFE) Brad Pitt will open the 35th Moscow International Film Festival with the apocalyptic movie "World War Z", recently premiered in New York.

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.