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Heavy rain and landslide stops life in Uttarakhand

58 dead, over 58,000 trapped as rains batter Uttarakhand, UP

Lucknow/Dehradun, June 18 (IANS) Rains lashed Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday, taking up…

  • Rupee trading below 58, not far from record low Reuters
    Rupee trading below 58, not far from record low

    Reuters Market Eye - The rupee is not far from its record low of 58.98 hit last week. The rupee is at 58.41/42 versus 57.87/88 at Monday's local close. A large private corporate USD seller is capping gains for the pair, say several dealers. The pair faces resistance at 58.42, which, if it holds good, may result in a downmove to 58.05 levels, says a senior trader with a foreign bank. Local stocks down 0.4 percent, in line with MSCI ex-Japan index losses. USD/INR NDFs surge overnight, closing NY trade at 58.56-58.59. ...

  • Sensex falls on caution ahead of Fed meet Reuters
    Sensex falls on caution ahead of Fed meet

    Reuters Market Eye - The BSE Sensex falls 0.4 percent while the Nifty is 0.44 percent lower. Lenders fall, retreating from gains on Monday, ahead of the Fed's meeting ending on Wednesday as an early end to U.S. monetary stimulus is raising worries about a weaker rupee and hence a delay in any potential RBI rate cuts. The Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates unchanged on Monday, warning of upward risks to inflation as its currency is among the hardest hit amid a global emerging markets sell-off. ...

  • Gold slips on weak physical demand; Fed meet eyed Reuters
    Gold slips on weak physical demand; Fed meet eyed

    By A. Ananthalakshmi SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold fell on Tuesday for a second straight session as muted physical demand weighed on prices, alongside fears of any cut in the U.S. Federal Reserve's $85 billion monthly bond purchases. Investors are closely watching the Fed's two-day policy meet that begins later on Tuesday as a string of healthy U.S. data has increased speculation the bank could scale back its bond buys, hurting gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. ...

  • Google settlement clears way for new Class C stock Reuters
    Google settlement clears way for new Class C stock

    By Tom Hals REUTERS - Google Inc has settled a shareholder class action lawsuit that clears the way for the company to issue a new class of nonvoting stock, giving the company a currency for acquisitions that would not dilute the founders' control. The online search engine leader had planned to issue Class C shares as a dividend to investors. A shareholder, the Brockton Retirement Board, sued and claimed the plan gave the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, added control without paying for it. ...

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    By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Individual charitable giving in the United States grew almost 4 percent last year, while corporate donations rose at triple that rate, according to a report that shows donations by Americans to nonprofit groups mirroring the slow recovery of the larger economy. Overall, U.S. donations to bolster the arts, health, religion and other activities totaled $316.2 billion in 2012, a 3.5 percent increase from the $305.5 billion donated in 2011, according to the report, "Giving USA." That was just a 1.5 percent increase when adjusted for inflation. ...

  • Obama says Bernanke has 'stayed a lot longer' than he wanted at Fed Reuters
    Obama says Bernanke has 'stayed a lot longer' than he wanted at Fed

    By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama hinted in an interview aired on Monday that he may be looking for a new chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, saying current Chairman Ben Bernanke has stayed a lot longer than he had originally planned. Obama, speaking to Charlie Rose, host of a PBS interview program, compared Bernanke to longtime FBI Director Robert Mueller, who agreed to stay two years longer than he had planned and is to leave in the coming months. "Well, I think Ben Bernanke's done an outstanding job. ...

  • INSIGHT - FBI relies on secret U.S. surveillance law, records show Reuters
    INSIGHT - FBI relies on secret U.S. surveillance law, records show

    By John Shiffman, Kristina Cooke and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI has used secret evidence obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to prosecute at least 27 accused terrorists since 2007, according to a Reuters review of public records. While the recent spotlight has been on the use of the FISA law by the U.S. National Security Agency for surveillance programs following disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the FBI also makes extensive use of the law for domestic counterterrorism. ...

  • Batteries hold key to wearable device revolution Reuters
    Batteries hold key to wearable device revolution

    By Alexei Oreskovic and Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Longer-lasting batteries are crucial for a new crop of wearable computers whose rise may upend Apple and Google's dominance of mobile devices, two of the field's pioneers say. Wearable devices - from bracelets that monitor physical activity and sleeping patterns to clothing with built-in sensors and Web-ready glasses - may mark the next big technology shift, just as smartphones evolved from personal computers. That transition has put the unglamorous battery in a starring role. ...

  • Japan says G8 stance is sign of approval for "Abenomics" Reuters
    Japan says G8 stance is sign of approval for "Abenomics"

    By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese cabinet ministers welcomed the Group of Eight summit's stance on Tokyo's sweeping stimulus policies as a vote of confidence in the government's strategy to end 15 years of entrenched deflation and revive a lacklustre economy. Japan's economics minister also moved to parry any suggestion that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies, known as "Abenomics", are aimed at intentionally weakening the yen to benefit the country's exports. ...

  • U.S. identifies Guantanamo prisoners it wants to hold indefinitely Reuters
    U.S. identifies Guantanamo prisoners it wants to hold indefinitely

    By Jane Sutton GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday publicly identified for the first time 46 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay whom it wants to hold indefinitely without charge or trial because it says they are too dangerous to release but cannot be prosecuted. The Defense Department released the names on Monday after the Miami Herald and a group of Yale Law School students sued for its release in a U.S. District Court in Washington. ...

  • Obama sees Iran's election of moderate as hopeful sign Reuters
    Obama sees Iran's election of moderate as hopeful sign

    By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that Iran's election of a moderate as its next president is a sign that Iranians want to move in a different direction, but he was uncertain whether it would lead to a breakthrough over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. In an interview with public television anchor Charlie Rose, Obama said the United States and its allies would be willing to hold talks with Iran over its nuclear program, as long as Tehran recognized that international sanctions would not be lifted unless Iran proved it is not building a nuclear weapon. ...

  • US right to arm Syrian rebels, says Israeli president Reuters
    US right to arm Syrian rebels, says Israeli president

    By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres has thrown his weight behind U.S. plans to arm Syrian rebels, shrugging off fears the weapons could be turned on Israel and exacerbate the conflict. In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters before his 90th birthday, Peres dismissed the idea that Israel could launch a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities and urged Palestinians and Israelis to forge immediate peace. ...

  • Jury finds no negligence in trial over man's 8-month erection Reuters

    By Myles Miller WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - A jury on Monday cleared a doctor of negligence in a lawsuit filed by a Delaware truck driver who underwent a penile implant procedure and ended up with an erection that lasted eight months. "We're stunned," attorney Michael Heyden said as he left the New Castle County courthouse, where his client Daniel Metzgar, 44, of Newark, Delaware, was suing urologist Thomas Desperito of Wilmington, Delaware. In April 2010, four months after the procedure was performed, Metzgar experienced swelling and went to a hospital, where he underwent testing. ...

  • Nikkei turns down as market wary ahead of Fed outcome; Sony gains Reuters
    Nikkei turns down as market wary ahead of Fed outcome; Sony gains

    By Dominic Lau TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average reversed early gains on Tuesday, underscoring the volatility that has roiled the market lately, as investors awaited the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting for clues on whether it will continue to support the U.S. economy. By the midday break, the Nikkei slipped 0.7 percent to 12,941.80 after trading as high as 13,139.48. It climbed 2.7 percent on Monday, lifting the index out of a bear market. "There was no reason to be bullish this morning, other than a couple of reverse trades," a Tokyo-based trader said. ...

  • EBay CEO confident of getting China payments license Reuters
    EBay CEO confident of getting China payments license

    By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc's PayPal division will become the first foreign company to secure a payments license in China, CEO John Donahoe predicted, but the e-commerce giant is taking a cautious approach to expansion in the country. Donahoe sees "encouraging signs" from the Chinese authorities, but said it remained next-to-impossible to guess when its fast-growing PayPal unit would finally get the green light to operate in the world's second largest economy, he told the Reuters Global Technology Summit on Monday. (For a video of the interview, click on http://reut. ...

  • Goya drawing to be auctioned off in London IANS

    Madrid, June 18 (IANS/EFE) The Goya drawing "Si yerras los tiras!" (If you miss the mark!), a political allegory in which the figure may be King Ferdinand VII, will be sold at auction July 2 in London, Christie's said.

  • Half of NASA's new astronaut class are women IANS

    Washington, June 18 (IANS/EFE) NASA announced Monday that it has selected its first new contingent of potential astronauts in four years and half of them are women.

  • Mexico to discuss deals worth $150 mn at Paris Air Show IANS

    Le Bourget (France), June 18 (IANS/EFE) The governor of the Mexican state of Queretaro said Monday that he planned to discuss seven aviation investment projects worth $150 million with different companies during the 2013 Paris Air Show.

  • Colombian bill bans use of wild animals in circuses IANS

    Bogota, June 18 (IANS/EFE) Elephants, lions, bears, tigers, monkeys and other wild animals will no longer be permitted in circuses in Colombia under a bill approved by Congress.

  • 18 Ibero-American films to be screened in Shanghai IANS

    Shanghai, June 18 (IANS/EFE) Ibero-American films will not compete in the Shanghai International Film Festival, or SIFF, but will be represented with 18 films in Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Basque and Catalan, among the more than 300 selected for event.

  • Shiv Sena to celebrate foundation day Wednesday IANS

    Mumbai, June 18 (IANS) The Shiv Sena will celebrate its 47th foundation day at a major function here Wednesday. This is the first time when it will be held in the absence of party founder Bal Thackeray, who died last year.

  • Realtors bat for reforms, urge Girija Vyas to play ball IANS

    Mumbai, June 18 (IANS) An apex body of realtors Tuesday reiterated its commitment to reforms in the realty sector and called upon the new Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister, Girija Vyas, to continue the unfinished task of her predecessor.

  • Cricket match triggers communal clash in Agra IANS

    Agra, June 18 (IANS) Dozens of people were injured in a communal clash that broke out here Monday following a cricket match. Peace was restored by Tuesday morning, said police.

  • Decks cleared for civil terminal in Taj city Agra IANS

    Agra, June 18 (IANS) Ending years of uncertainty, union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has cleared a civil aviation terminal at the Kheria Air Force Base in this Taj city, raising hopes of increased tourist traffic, a senior tourism industry official said. Once it is functional, passengers will not have to pass through the air base to board their aircraft.

  • 58 dead, over 58,000 trapped as rains batter Uttarakhand, UP IANS

    Lucknow/Dehradun, June 18 (IANS) Rains lashed Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday, taking up the toll to 58 and leaving over 58,000 people wet and miserable after they got stranded.

  • Obama defends surveillance of American communications IANS

    Washington, June 18 (IANS) As the US whistleblower accused President Barack Obama of worsening "abusive" practices, Obama defended extensive surveillance of US communications, saying it had disrupted multiple terrorist plots and had adequate checks and balances.

  • Being single doesn't suit me: Katie Price IANS

    Los Angeles, June 18 (IANS) Model Katie Price admits she can't be single, and says she needs to be with a man at all times.

  • 'Suraj Pancholi coping well with jail' IANS

    Mumbai, June 18 (IANS) Locked away with hardened criminals, Suraj Pancholi seems to be coping well with his condition, according to his sister who met him at the Arthur Road Jail here.

  • Tom Hiddleston not in 'The Avengers' sequel? IANS

    Los Angeles, June 18 (IANS) Actor Tom Hiddleston will reportedly not reprise his role as Loki in sequel of "The Avengers".

  • Jennifer Aniston stays naked all day? IANS

    Los Angeles, June 18 (IANS) Actress Jennifer Aniston, who recently moved in with her fiance Justin Theroux to their new mansion here, reportedly stays naked in house.