UPDATE 1-Australia govt, Telstra agree on broadband project

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CANBERRA June 20 (Reuters) – Australian phone giant Telstra Corp (TLS.AX) agreed on Sunday to help build a national broadband network worth up to $37 billion, a deal that could win votes for the government and ease uncertainty for Telstra investors.

Under the deal, Telstra agrees to convert its old copper-wire network into a superfast web of optic-fibre and then rent it out to the government’s National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) in return for A$11 billion ($9.6 billion) in long-term payments.

Australia has slower and more expensive Internet services than many rich nations, a problem viewed as a serious economic bottleneck, but Telstra had been reluctant to become involved with such a costly, political and state-planned project.

That changed last year when the government threatened to split Telstra up and force it to sell one of its crown jewels, a stake in pay-TV firm Foxtel, unless it cooperated. Since then Telstra shares have mostly underperformed the wider market.

“The war is over,” Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said in announcing the heads of agreement with Telstra.

The details of the non-binding deal have yet to be finalised but it envisages NBN Co effectively leasing Telstra’s fixed-line network. In today’s money, the long-term income stream would be worth a total A$11 billion for Telstra, the two parties said.

Telstra will not take equity in the broadband network, which still faces an uncertain future, given the conservative opposition has promised to scrap it if they defeat Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at general elections expected to be held in October.

“It is a commercial transaction which commits NBN to pay for certain prices for access to Telstra assets,” Conroy said. “There is no equity involved,” Conroy said.

PM HOPES BROADBAND PLAN WILL WIN VOTES

Rudd hopes the Telstra deal will remove the last major roadblock for the broadband network, which he promised on assuming power in 2007, and will enable him to tell voters at the next election that he is fulfilling his pledge.

Rudd’s popularity has been sliding in the run-up to the election, with opinion polls suggesting he could lose. Voters are particularly upset at his recent decision to shelve another 2007 election pledge: to set up a national carbon-reduction scheme.

For Telstra shareholders, the agreement at least eliminates a major source of uncertainty over Telstra’s share price.

By signing up to the government’s broadband network plan, Telstra can now keep its stake in Foxtel.

“This agreement reflects a commitment by all parties to reaching a mutually beneficial outcome for Telstra investors, customers, employees and the industry,” Telstra Chairman Catherine Livingstone said in a statement.

The Telstra agreement must still be vetted by the competition regulator, which will want to be sure that the government-controlled NBN Co is a neutral body that allows private operators to compete fairly over the new network.

Under the overall network plan, the government plans to invest A$26 billion over seven years to develop the network and then look to fully privatise it five years after it is launched.

Once crucial details of Sunday’s Telstra deal are hammered out in coming months, shareholder approval will also be needed.

“Should those (detailed) agreements be finalised, Telstra expects they would be put to shareholders in the first half of calendar 2011,” the company said.

(Writing by Mark Bendeich) ($1 = A$0.87)

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“Last exit” curtails Palestinian highway access

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Israel on Friday began allowing Palestinians onto a major highway in the occupied West Bank for the first time in eight years, but barred them from using it to gain easy access to their main city, Ramallah.

Just a few kilometers (miles) east of the new checkpoint where Palestinians are now allowed on to Route 443, big yellow road signs warn them to get off again, at the “last exit for Palestinian vehicles” to the West Bank’s commercial capital.

Around the bend, Israeli troops at a new three-lane checkpoint ensure that “only Israeli citizens and permit holders” may continue onwards to Jerusalem.

Cut off before they can reach the fast route to Ramallah, the Palestinians must go back onto narrow country roads.

Palestinian access to 443, one of two main routes linking Israel’s coastal plain with the uplands of Jerusalem, was blocked in 2002 after several fatal shooting attacks on Israeli cars during the Palestinian intifada (uprising).

The level of violence has subsided significantly and last December Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of a Palestinian petition that highway segregation was illegal. It gave the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) six months to end it.

“This morning the IDF opened Route 443 to the movement of Palestinians,” said army spokesman Peter Lerner at a new roadblock and ramp where troops oversee access to Route 443.

“The movement from here to Ramallah is via rural routes,” he said. “The average check of a vehicle is about four minutes. It’s not such a stringent check but it’s sufficient to make sure that there are no arms and no security threats.”

Activists say the costly new arrangement is a disappointment to Palestinians and an irritant to those Israelis who say they will not feel safe sharing this short section of the highway.

SHORT AND POINTLESS

Hailed at first as a victory for justice, the Supreme Court ruling now looks like a “human rights travesty”, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said this week.

The 25 km (15 mile) four-lane highway begins near Ben Gurion Airport, a short distance inland from Tel Aviv. About 14 km of it runs through the occupied West Bank up to Jerusalem. About 40,000 Israeli drivers travel it daily.

Palestinian villagers living near the route said the eight-year ban on using it had tripled their travelling time to Ramallah, where there are jobs, hospitals, banks and government offices. They had to take narrow roads over the hills.

But they feel today’s arrangement will be no better: they foresee they will end up using a mere 4 km (2.5 miles) of the road between Israel’s main westbound and eastbound checkpoints, and not even that if it proves faster to use existing tunnels under 443 rather than queue up to be security-checked.

“The route will still be a major highway for Israelis but no more than an internal service road for the Palestinians,” said ACRI chief legal counsel Dan Yakir earlier this week.

Farouk Antawi, a Palestinian driving from his village of Beit Sira, told Israeli radio the checks “take a long time and I prefer to use the road that goes through the villages”.

He noted that Israeli and Palestinian vehicles share all the other main roads in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers travel to and from their homes and farms, “and there is no difference between them”.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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‘7-month’ itch a big roadblock for loved-up couples

April 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 29 (ANI): It takes just seven months for couples to become complacent about their relationship, claims a survey.

According to the survey of 1,000 adults by personal grooming company Remington, more than half of those who participated in the study said they made a special effort to keep well groomed in the first few months.

However, after seven months men stopped bothering about being seen unshaven and women stopped dressing to impress, reports The Daily Express.

The participants said they were less concerned about their partner seeing them do even offensive things, like farting.

But 9 in 10 women admitted letting themselves go after the honeymoon period, while 88 per cent of men confessed to making less of an effort. (ANI)

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Molecule that keeps skeletal stem cells ‘young’ could treat osteoporosis, fracture

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 31 (ANI): Scientists have found how to control a key molecular player to keep stem cells in a sort of extended infancy, which could pave the way for new methods to fight maladies ranging from arthritis and osteoporosis to broken bones.

For a long time, researchers wanted to control and delay development of the cells, known as mesenchymal (pronounced meh-ZINK-a-mill) stem cells.

It’s a necessary step for doctors who would like to expand the number of true skeletal stem cells available for a procedure before the cells start becoming specific types of cells that may – or may not – be needed in a patient with, say, weak bones from osteoporosis, or an old knee injury.

“A big problem has been that these stem cells like to differentiate rapidly – oftentimes too rapidly to make them very useful. It’s been very hard to get a useful number of stem cells that can still become any one of several types of tissue a patient might need. Having a large population of true skeletal stem cells available is a key consideration for new therapies, and that’s been a real roadblock thus far,” said Dr. Matthew J. Hilton, the leader of the team at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The researchers discussed how it was able to increase the number and delay the development of stem cells that create bones, cartilage, muscle and fat.

They showed in mice that a molecule called Notch, which is well known for the influence it wields on stem cells that form the blood and the nervous system, is a key factor in the development of mesenchymal stem cells, which make up a tiny fraction of the cells in the bone marrow and other tissues.

The team showed that Notch prevents stem cells from maturing.

When scientists activated the Notch pathway, the stem cells didn’t progress as usual, but they remained indefinitely in an immature state and did not go on to become bone cells, cartilage cells, or cells for connective tissue.

The team also settled a long-standing question, fingering the molecule RBPJ-kappa as the molecule through which Notch works in mesenchymal stem cells.

The knowledge could make scientists understand precisely how Notch works in bone and cartilage development.

Earlier it was shown that Notch is a critical regulator of the development of bone and cartilage.

The latest study extends those observations, providing important details that suggest appropriate activation and manipulation of the Notch pathway may provide doctors with a tool to maintain and expand mesenchymal stem cells for use in treating disease.

“This research helps set the foundation for ultimately trying new therapies in patients. For instance, let’s say a patient has a fracture that simply won’t heal. The patient comes in and has a sample of bone marrow drawn. Their skeletal stem cells are isolated and expanded in the laboratory via controlled Notch activation, then put back into the patient to create new bone in numbers great enough to heal the fracture. That’s the hope,” said Hilton.

The study has been published online in the journal Development. (ANI)

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Leaders tight-lipped on Gunns’ troubles

March 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Tasmania’s political leaders are refusing to talk about the uncertainty facing timber company Gunns.

Gunns has been a staple subject for political debate in Tasmania for years, with recent attention focussed on the company’s planned Tamar Valley pulp mill.

But with the election only two days away, near silence has descended.

Premier David Bartlett was reluctant to comment on recent calls for the resignation of Gunns Chairman John Gay after the company’s share price took a dive.

“Of course I’m always concerned about that project because I want to see that project go ahead,” he said.

“I don’t know the ins and outs and certainly would not be commenting on leadership in a publicly listed company.”

Opposition Leader Will Hodgman is also staying quiet on the issue.

“Whatever happens internally with Gunns is a matter for them,” he said.

Even Greens leader Nick McKim was refusing to celebrate a potential roadblock to the pulp mill.

“I’m not going to speculate about what’s going on within Gunns,” he said.

Mr McKim says more broadly, market forces will eventually bring change to Tasmania’s timber industry.

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CFA backs volunteer guilty of police assault

March 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Country Fire Authority volunteer (CFA) Donald Carter is being backed by his local brigade after being convicted of assaulting a police officer at a roadblock on Black Saturday.

Carter was fined $1,000 in the Horsham Magistrates Court yesterday but will appeal against his sentence.

Police say he nudged the officer with his car at a roadblock on Golf Course Road, as he tried to return to his Haven house.

The Laharum CFA unit’s Bill Gardner says recommendations by the Bushfires Royal Commission, to make police roadblocks more flexible, are not enough.

“There’s been no consultation with the volunteer CFA firefighters, there’s just been regulations that a committee has put together without reference to anybody,” he said.

“I don’t think they actually exist in law and we’re now faced with a situation when police think they’ve got the ability to do this.”

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Senate umpire faces tough calls on healthcare

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A key figure in the battle to revamp U.S. healthcare may soon be the U.S. Senate’s little-known, mustachioed and highly respected umpire, Alan Frumin.

Barack Obama | Health | Healthcare Reform

If Democrats, as anticipated, resort to a seldom-used procedure to ram such a bill through the Senate, it will be up to Frumin to make the tough calls on whether a long list of provisions are in or out of bounds.

“You end up making all sorts of enemies,” said Bob Dove, Frumin’s predecessor in the $170,000-a-year post formally known as Senate parliamentarian.

Dove speaks from some experiences. In 2001, then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired Dove after Republican frustration with some of his calls on tax and budget matters.

Just months earlier, Dove had riled Democrats by declaring that a proposed tax cut could be considered under a tactic that prevented them from raising a procedural roadblock.

Here are some facts about Frumin, his job and his task:

* A graduate of Colgate University in New York with a double major in economics and political science and Georgetown Law School, Frumin succeeded Dove as parliamentarian in 2001. Frumin has the same style as Dove, said Senate Historian Don Ritchie. “He’s scrupulously neutral.” He is also keeps a low profile and declines interviews with the news media.

* Senate Democrats are headed toward trying to pass President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul using a procedure called reconciliation. The tactic allows passage by 51 votes in the 100-member Senate. It also forbids procedural roadblocks, which take 60 votes to clear.

*Under “The Byrd Rule,” named for Senator Robert Byrd, reconciliation is limited to budget issues. The rule states: “A provision shall be considered extraneous if it produces changes in outlays or revenues which are merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision.” Frumin will handle Republican challenges regarding such questions as what’s “merely incidental,” “extraneous” or even a “provision”?

* In private and high-stakes meetings known as “Byrd baths,” Frumin will take a look at these and other questions. Segments of a bill that are eliminated are called “Byrd droppings.”

* Frumin would make the calls, but not make the rulings. The Senate’s presiding officer — Vice President Joe Biden, Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd or another designated Democratic senator — would rule after getting Frumin’s advice. The last time a ruling by the presiding officer was overturned on a Senate vote was October 3, 1996. There have been other attempts, but they were defeated.

* The parliamentarian is appointed by the secretary of the Senate, whom the chamber elects at the recommendation of the majority leader. The parliamentarian, as evidenced by the firing of Dove, serves at the pleasure of the majority leader. Dove said of Frumin: “He’s a straight shooter, an excellent parliamentarian, and I don’t envy him.”

(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Neutralizing antibodies that recognize HIV-1 envelope protein, lipids produced

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 2 (ANI): The U.S. Military has announced that its researchers have for the first time experimentally induced antibodies that neutralize HIV-1, and simultaneously recognize both HIV-1 envelope protein and lipids.

Dr. Gary Matyas and Dr. Carl Alving, U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) researchers, have revealed that they conducted the exploratory study using small synthetic HIV-1 peptides encapsulated in liposomes containing lipid A as an adjuvant.

The researchers have revealed that the monoclonal antibodies they produced after immunizing mice have binding characteristics that look similar to two well-known broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies, known as 2F5 and 4E10, which also bind to HIV-1 protein and lipid.

They have also revealed that their study employed widely used, clinically acceptable, well-tolerated and relatively inexpensive generic antigen-adjuvant constituents that potentially could be used as part of a human formulation.

Dr. Carl Alving, Chief of the Department of Adjuvant and Antigen Research, said: “Some of the strongest naturally occurring antibodies that broadly neutralize HIV have the unique characteristics of recognizing both HIV protein and lipid. It has been believed that it might be difficult to induce such antibodies experimentally, and historically, this has been considered a potential roadblock to creation of an effective HIV vaccine. This study demonstrates that such antibodies might be induced with immuno-stimulating liposomes.”

A research article describing the study has been published in the online version of the journal AIDS. (ANI)

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Punjab border farmers complain of official neglect

August 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Noshehra Dhalla (Indo-Pak Border), Aug.9 (ANI): India and Pakistan has a long stretch of border where a barbed wire works as a fence to prevent any militant from sneaking in. But the same wire is also a major roadblock for Punjabi farmers who want to tend to their own land.

Resident farmers living in the few villages, situated just a few metres from the barbed fencing in the Attari and Ajnala sector, today rue the fact that the Punjab Government has not taken their livelihood concerns into consideration.

These farmers are now unable to cultivate their land which is spread beyond fencing.

These farmers can cultivate their land but only with the permission of Border Security Force (BSF) and the other state department officials.

The villages namely Noshehra Dhalla, Bidhi Chand Chhina and Haveliayan, Kakkar have more than 1500 acres of land beyond the fencing. But the non-issuance of tubewell connections by the electricity board prevents the farmers from cultivating their land, say border farmers.

Farmers like Harbhajan Singh, who has 10 acres of land beyond fencing, allege that some of them have already deposited the fee while others are ready to deposit it. But the department has not provided them with the connections.

He adds that they are not allowed free access to their land and there are only select entry points. Some farmers have to cover a distance of two to three kilometres to reach their fields.

Besides, farmers say that it felt like a double set back to them when the government stopped paying them rupees 2,500 as compensation money that was paid 10 years ago the last time.

Farmers say they are not even allowed to grow crops and have to depend on traditional crops, wheat and paddy.

Kuldeep Singh, who owns nearly 30 acres of land beyond the fencing, says he harvested sesame for 20 years. Now, he says the security personnel are not allowing him to harvest the crop.

He contends that the sesame crop can be cultivated even when there is a shortage of water.

The farmers have urged the government to either acquire their land across the barbed fencing or take their land on contract. The farmers today fear low produce due less electricity supply and a delayed monsoon.

Perturbed by the erratic electricity supply, Kehar Singh, the village head of Noshehra Dhalla, pointed out that farmers who are keen to take labourers for cultivation, also face harassment. A major portion of the land across the fencing is not utilized due many hurdles including the non-friendly attitude of the electricity department.

But State electricity officials deny having wronged the farmers.

Rajiv Kumar, Chief Engineer, Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Border Zone, said that those who had applied before 1990 were given the connections and none of the applications was pending in the border areas.

Kumar said that normally throughout the year the PSEB supplies electricity either between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 10a.m. to 5 a. m. according the availability of the electricity.

Kumar informed that in the coming five years, the PSEB would provide a transformer to each tubewell.

He, however, assured that if he received the representation from the farmers he would try to rectify their problems in a better manner.

India had fenced the Punjab frontier in the early 1990s by erecting barbed wire along the Indio-Pak international border to keep terrorists and smugglers at bay.

The 553-kilometres-long international border between India and Pakistan, which has 300 gates along the electrified barbed wire fencing in Punjab, also involves thousands of acres of land of the Indian farmers. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)

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Roadblock in Nepal over sacking Army chief

May 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, May 30 (ANI): The work management advisory committee of the Nepal parliament today decided not to take the ‘commitment proposal’ registered by the Unified CPN (Maoist) to the parliament for discussion.

A meeting of the committee held at Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Nemwang’s office, decided not to take the motion against the President’s move to block the erstwhile government’s decision to dismiss the army chief to the parliament as the motion had been registered without a national consensus.

21 out of 24 parties in the Constituent Assembly are against taking the proposal to the parliament.

The Maoists have said they would not allow the speaker to end the on going session of the parliament if the motion is not taken to the parliament for discussion.

Meanwhile, vice chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) J.P Gupta has accused the NC-UML combine of trying to split the MJF.

Talking to reporters here, Gupta said the decision of the Nepali Congress and UML leaderships to accept Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar as the leader of the MJF team in the new cabinet was intended to create a rift in the party.

Gupta’s reaction came after Gachchhadar, who is the party’s parliamentary leader, handed over a letter to the Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, informing that the parliamentary party had chosen him to lead the party in the government, Nepalnews reported. (ANI)

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Mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world

May 25, 2009 By 1 Comment

Melbourne, May 25 (ANI): The mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world, and can affect everything from health and self-esteem to all other relationships, say experts.

A Pennsylvania State University had found that despite conflicts and complicated emotions, 80 to 90 per cent of women at midlife reported a good relationship with their mother.

According to Dr. Christiane Northrup, author of the book ‘Mother-Daughter Wisdom’, the bond between mother and daughter sets the stage for all other relationships.

“The mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world, for better or for worse. It sets the stage for all other relationships,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as saying.

She said that no other childhood experience could be as compelling as a young girl’s relationship with her mother.

“Each of us takes in at a cellular level how our mother feels about being female, what she believes about her body, how she takes care of her health, and what she believes is possible in life,” she added.

Jennie Hannan, executive general manager of services at counselling provider Anglicare WA, agreed with Northrup.

“How a woman sees herself, how she is in her adult relationships with partners, and how she mothers her own children, is profoundly influenced by her relationship with her own mother,” she said.

She, however, insists that the world’s strongest bond hits a roadblock when the daughter reaches adolescence.

“The time you are going to start having major problems with your daughter will be around adolescence,” said Hannan.

“Adolescence is a very difficult, tumultuous time for children and their parents, and it tends to happen in girls earlier than in boys.

“If the mother and daughter can hang in there during adolescence, your relationship moves to a different level and becomes more of a respectful friendship,” she added.

But Hannan still stresses that having a less-than-perfect relationship with mother doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t have a good relationship with your own daughter.

“It gives you a head start if you had a good relationship with your mother, but lots of women who have had bad relationships with their mothers have had really positive relationships with other women in their lives,” she said.

“The idea that you can have a perfect relationship with anybody is flawed. Mothers do get blamed an awful lot if something’s wrong with their kids.

“But being aware of things that were good and not good in your relationship with your mum is really important in not repeating any mistakes,” she added.

“The relationship between mothers and their adult daughters is one in which the participants handle being upset with one another better than in any other relationship,” said researcher Karen Fingerman, author of Aging Mothers And Their Adult Daughters: A Study In Mixed Emotions (Springer).

“There is value in the mother-daughter tie because the two parties care for one another and share a strong investment in the family as a whole,” she added. (ANI)

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Becks smitten by Hungarian nude model?

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 30 (ANI): David Beckham and Victoria’s strained marriage hit another roadblock after a nude model claimed that the footie ace made a play for her.

Blonde Mariann Fogarassy insists that the 33-year-old hunky sportsman has been emailing her with “private party” invites ever since they got close after an AC Milan match last week.

The sexy Hungarian has graced the cover of several magazines all over the world and is a successful glamour model.

She said that Becks was smitten when he spotted her last week after a match in Budapest between Inter Milan and a Hungarian team.

Mariann insisted that Becks had made it clear what he wanted after he “squeezed her elbow and smiled”.

“Beckham squeezed my elbow for a moment and smiled,” the Daily Star quoted her as saying.

“Then I put my business card into his pocket. I knew he must have felt it. And in fact an email arrived today, saying that just in case I’d be in Milan next week, I’m invited to the club’s party. Luckily, I’ll be shooting in Milan next week,” she added.

However, Becks’ spokesperson dismissed the claims.

“There is no truth in this story. I was there and there was no interaction with this woman at the stadium,” said the rep.

“There is also no party in Milan. She is a fantasist seeking publicity,” he added.

The sportstar is no stranger to rumours that he has strayed behind Victoria’s back. The former Spice Girl has admitted how difficult it is constantly fighting off the desperate girls who keep throwing themselves at the England star.

Victoria is still fuming about his alleged affair with PA Rebecca Loos, 31 – again while the couple were living apart. (ANI)

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Scientists put a new spin on electrons

April 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 16 (ANI): In the first demonstration of its kind, researchers at the University of British Columbia have controlled the spin of electrons using a ballistic technique.

For controlling the spin of electrons, the team bounced electrons through a microscopic channel of precisely constructed, two-dimensional layer of semiconductor.

It’s the first time the intrinsic properties of a semiconductor, not external electric or magnetic fields, have been used to achieve the effect.

The findings could have implications for the development of so called ‘spintronic’ circuits: systems that use the directional spin of electrons to store and process data.

“The need to use high-frequency external fields to control spin is one of the major stumbling blocks in using electrons for information processing, or in a spintronic circuit,” according to Joshua Folk, principal investigator on the project and Canada Research Chair in the Physics of Nanostructures.

“We show that the spin of electrons can be controlled without external fields, simply by designing the right circuit geometry and letting electrons move freely through it,” he added.

The new technique uses the natural interactions of the electrons within the semiconductor micro-channel to control their spin – a technique that is a major step, but not yet flexible enough for industrial applications.

Electronic systems that use the spin of an electron – a quantum mechanical property that comes in two varieties: up or down – would work similarly to today’s transistors, but be smaller and use less energy.

Presently, electrical charge alone is responsible for the logic functions in circuits. Power consumption by these circuits is the primary roadblock to faster, more powerful processors.

A spintronic circuit has the potential to use less power by storing and manipulating a bit of information as electron spin.

Spintronic circuits may also be a viable avenue for building quantum information processing devices.

The exponentially faster processing possible with such a device could have applications ranging from code breaking, to dramatically improved drug design, to simulations of complex processes in molecular systems. (ANI)

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GBP/USD Daily Commentary for 4.8.09

April 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Cable continues to show relative strength on the back of surprisingly positive data surfacing from Britain over the past couple weeks. The GBP/USD kept its cool yesterday despite the broad selloff in U. S. equities and the Cable is running with the EUR/USD and U. S. equities Wednesday morning.

We expect to see the Cable’s strength continue as long as Britain’s data outperforms and its major financial institutions stay out of the headlines. If U. S. equities and the EUR/USD head north today, the GBP/USD should follow. On the other hand, if U. S. equities selloff again, we may see the Cable hold up once more.

However, we can’t forget the importance of the financial industry to Britain’s economy. Therefore, if U. S. banks hit another roadblock, the GBP/USD may have no choice but to head lower. Speculation set aside, the Cable is in great shape for the time being. It sits comfortably above our 1st tie uptrend line with no downtrend line in sight.

On the other hand, the failure of the GBP/USD to eclipse February highs and 1.50 is a cause for concern, and we’ll keep this in mind. If the Cable can climb back above March highs today we could see a nice short-term pop.

Even though Britain is quite on the news front today, the Pound could come alive tomorrow with a PPI release coupled with a BOE rate decision. Analysts are expecting the BOE to hold the benchmark rate at .50%. Fundamentally, we maintain resistance of 1.4730 with additional resistances hanging at 1.4770, 1.4834, 1.4883 and 1.4946.

The 1.50 level serves as a key psychological barrier while the 1.45 area acts as a psychological cushion. To the downside, we hold our supports of 1.4676, 1.4612, 1.4571, 1.4538 and 1.4484. The GBP/USD is currently exchanging at 1.4702.

GBP/USD Daily Commentary for 4.8.09

Copyright 2009 FastBrokers, Latest Forex News and Analysis for Forex, Bullion and Commodity Traders.

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. FastBrokers assumes no responsibility or liability from gains or losses incurred by the information herein contained. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading futures and foreign exchange.

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Glitches in negotiations remain, but Jaya to release candidates’ list soon

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CHENNAI: Belying expectations that the standoff over seat-sharing with the CPM and the MDMK in the AIADMK camp would be resolved amicably, the
deadlock continued to persist on Saturday even as AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa announced that the list of her party candidates would be released very soon.

The AIADMK supremo, who interacted with party’s ticket aspirants for the Lok Sabha seats at her party headquarters, reportedly asked them to strive for the victory of the party and its allies irrespective of whether they got the ticket or not. The candidates’ list would be finalised in a day or two, she told the party men. Later, she told reporters that the candidates list would be released “very soon.”

Though Jayalalithaa was quick to form an electoral alliance by roping in the Left parties and the PMK, along with the existing ally MDMK, and finalise a seat-sharing agreement with the CPI and the PMK, the talks with the CPM and the MDMK hit a roadblock with both the sides remaining firm on their demands.

There were wide expectations that the AIADMK chief would hold talks with MDMK leader Vaiko and CPM state secretary N Varadarajan on Saturday and resolve the issue amicably. Though Jayalalithaa had reportedly invited CPM leaders for talks, the meeting failed to happen, keeping the allies guessing.

Political circles were agog with speculation that a resolution adopted by the CPM state council in Madurai on Friday, authorising the state unit to decide on the next course of action if the seat-sharing agreement with the AIADMK did not materialise, would not have gone down well with the AIADMK leader.

While the CPM, which has been offered three seats, was very firm on getting Tirupur, along with Madurai and Kanyakumari seats, the MDMK wanted at least five seats against the three reportedly offered to it.

Despite being the last entrant into the alliance, the PMK was the first to clinch a pact with AIADMK and walk away with 7 seats including Puducherry. The CPI has been allocated north Chennai, Nagapattinam and Tenkasi (res) seats.

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Dispute over a few paise costs couple lakhs

April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai: For the sake of a few paise, lakhs were lost. A Mumbai businessman had to pay a hefty price after a bank refused to accept his pay orders
because they were not rounded off to the nearest rupee. The pay orders were for his income-tax dues. Unable to get the new, rounded-off cheques in time, the businessman failed to meet his March 31 tax deadline and ended up paying a stiff penalty of Rs 2.06 lakh.

The State Bank of India, which turned businessman Samson Paul away, says that its computerised system does not accept paise. And it wasn’t just a whimsical cashier who had the paisa problem. The matter was bumped up to the level of assistant general manager. The bank refused to relent even after the income tax department itself pleaded with the bank that it accept the pay order.

The taxmen have now taken up the matter with the RBI and the finance ministry. RBI spokesperson Alpana Killawala told TOI that banks could not refuse a pay order on the ground that the paise had not been rounded off to the nearest rupee.

Paul and his wife Piedade, who are South Mumbai residents, run a diamond and garments brokerage business. They were raided by the income tax in December last year, following which their accounts in several banks were frozen. The Pauls were asked to pay tax dues of Rs 2.82 crore.

On March 31, the last day of the financial year, the couple went to I-T officials and said they would adjust the amount in their accounts against their dues. “Since the accounts were frozen, our officials instructed the banks to activate the accounts.

The Pauls broke their fixed deposits and instructed the banks to issue pay orders in favour of SBI, which was permitted to collect the dues,’’ an I-T official said.
The arrangement ran into trouble when the couple went to the SBI’s capital market branch to deposit nine pay orders issued by various banks. “The officials accepted only two pay orders. In the others, there was a mention of paise. We tried to argue with the bank that they could not refuse the orders, but in vain. The bank insisted that the couple go back to the various issuing banks and get fresh pay orders rounded off to the nearest rupee,’’ the I-T official said.

Short of time, the Pauls decided to go to HSBC Bank, which had issued pay orders of nearly Rs 2 crore. Here they ran into a different roadblock. “HSBC refused, saying it was quite legal to issue pay orders that had paise after the decimal point,’’ said the official. Caught in a bind, the couple could only pay Rs 30.22 lakh by the end of the day. “Finally, on Thursday (April 2), SBI accepted the pay orders but refunded the paise to income tax,’’ said the I-T official.

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Is KP’s international career over?

April 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

St. Lucia (West Indies), Mar.31 (ANI): England batsman Kevin Pietersen’s international career has probably hit a major roadblock, and speculation is rife that he may be sacked if he persists with his self-centered attitude.

Pietersen is officially on record as saying that all he wants to do is go home.

There is no doubt that he is still England’s best batsman, and remains committed to the cause. When he left the field during the fourth one-day international against West Indies complaining of a back spasm there was not sympathy but scepticism.
According to The Independent, one text message from England seeking information summed it up: “Injured or petulance?”

That he departed while bowling at Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a man whom he had illogically criticized for frequently failing to take the field and not being a team player, multiplied the incredulity.

It has come to this because Pietersen has simply protested too much. For weeks it has become increasingly apparent that he is not a happy soul and that being deposed as England captain in such controversial circumstances in January has been eating away at his soul.

Last week, Pietersen told a newspaper: “I’m at the end of my tether now. I can’t wait to get back home.”

Pietersen has not been miserable, or at least not in public, but he has been plainly aloof. And he said in his column in the News of the World on Sunday that the England squad was “a lonely place to be”.

There can be little doubt that Pietersen is in turmoil and that many of his colleagues in the England team have had enough of him.

There is a general weariness with a self-centred approach that has strayed into self-pity.

If Pietersen wishes to stay part of the team he must change. His runs, his class and his dedication to batting will, on paper, guarantee him a place for as long as he wants but his presence is becoming a tedious sideshow. (ANI)

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Sit in protest for abducted engineer bore fruit

March 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Imphal, March 18 (ANI): People in different areas of Manipur have been voicing concern at frequent incidents of kidnapping, extortion and killings for a long time. All of them want that peace should be allowed to prevail.

The recent abduction of Mohammed Liaqat Ali, an assistant engineer with the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (IFCD) and a ransom demand of Rs. 1.5 million rupees caused panic and anguish among his family members and office colleagues.

A sit-in protest, which was organised to highlight commoners’ concern over worsening situation here, bore results when his abducters released Ali on humanity grounds.

The captors — the People’s United Liberation Front (PULF)– released the captive unhurt.

It was conducted in front of Public Works Department complex, where the Irrigation and Flood Control Division is located.

” We want to live in peace without any disturbances. We want to work in peace and we don’t want such things to happen in future,” said Samin Bhanu, one of the protestors.

“He is a good person, and very important and useful person for the department and such harm caused to him is not satisfactory.

He does not have property as well. He does not take into mindless activities as well,” said Mohd. Abdul Hakim, Chairman of the JAC

For a long time, militants have been constantly targeting engineers, harassing them with monetary demands and when the demands are not met they cause physical torture.

Such disturbances caused by militants have become a major roadblock in the path to progress in Manipur. (ANI)

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Security concerns a roadblock for IPL

March 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Thursday, March 05, 2009, (New Delhi)
Just when it seemed that the IPL had got a lifeline and a fighting chance at being held on time, there is a new obstacle.

The sources in the Home Ministry have now said that it will base its final decision about holding the IPL on “an overall security assessment” and on the fact that how many states are willing to handle security arrangements on their own because after the Lahore attack, security is the big concern for the Centre.

On Thursday, claiming that state security was enough, the ministry forwarded a BCCI letter to the top police officials of the states asking if they could provide security.

Sources said that the whole controversy took a new turn when some states asked the Centre for troops. And that is the tricky part.

The Home Minister had already made it clear that he can’t pull out any of the 75,000 troops from election duty or any others from the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders.

The IPL stakeholders and even the BCCI argue that they don’t need permission from the Centre and they are willing to reschedule some match dates but have refused to postpone the tournament till after the elections.

Some states like Punjab have said that they can provide security to IPL matches but only if they don’t give their personnel to the Centre for election duty. Thus, that may not be an option.

However, West Bengal has said that even the re-scheduled matches aren’t acceptable.

So, the Centre now has to take the final decision whether India’s biggest cricket tournament can be safely held along with the biggest political event, the general elections.

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Pak action against Mumbai accused hits “30 questions from India” roadblock

February 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Feb.18 (ANI): The Mumbai terror attack probe has apparently hit a deadlock as Pakistan has said that it would start the prosecution of the arrested persons ‘allegedly’ involved in plotting the attack, only after India replies to its dossier of 30 questions.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior, Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi has said Islamabad would pursue the persons allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks in court after getting replies to the questions raised in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) report, The Daily Times reports.

Talking to reporters here, Qureshi said the investigations of 26/11 were still-on, and agencies could not arrive to a conclusion unless New Delhi co-operates and answers the queries raised in the initial probe.

“India would have to cooperate for an effective investigation and conclusion. The government was serious in bringing the culprits to justice,” Qureshi said.

Pakistan, while admitting to use of its soil for plotting the Mumbai attacks had sought answers from India on thirty questions including the details of fingerprints of the 10 gunmen, their intercepted phone conversations with their handlers and the DNA samples of lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab. (ANI)

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