TOKYO: The dollar edged up in Asian trade Monday as dealers await the outcome of a crucial US Federal Reserve policy meeting, looking for clues to the future of its monetary easing programme. The greenback bought 94.74 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 94.22 yen late Friday in New York, where it lost ground on mostly disappointing US economic data.
India’s central bank keeps interest rates unchanged
MUMBAI: India’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged on Monday after three successive cuts this year, due to inflationary concerns, weak global factors and a falling rupee. After meeting in the financial capital Mumbai, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the benchmark repo rate, at which it lends to commercial banks, would be on hold at 7.25 per cent, as expected by most economists.
May 11 remarks: SC wants to know Altaf’s legal standing
ISLAMABAD: During Monday’s hearing of a petition relating to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain’s statement of May 11, the Supreme Court directed the submission of a response on the party supremo’s legal standing in Pakistan. A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has been hearing a petition filed by Barrister Zafarullah of the Watan Party which alleges that in an address over phone from London to his party’s leaders and workers at Nine Zero on the night of May 11, Hussain, a British national, had demanded Karachi’s secession from the country.
India’s Jet Airways shares fall as Etihad approval delayed
MUMBAI: Shares of India’s private carrier Jet Airways slumped nearly 12.3 per cent on Monday morning, after authorities last week delayed approval for Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad to acquire a stake. Jet shares fell as much as 12.27 per cent to a low of 411.6 rupees at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
French govt humiliated in poll for disgraced minister’s seat
PARIS: France’s socialist government suffered the indignity of a first-round exit in a parliamentary by-election to replace a disgraced minister forced out over a tax-dodging scandal. Former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who is facing charges of tax fraud, stepped down from his parliamentary seat in April.
Britain ‘spied’ on G20 delegates: report
LONDON: Documents leaked by US former spy Edward Snowden appeared to show Britain spied on G20 delegates during meetings in London back in 2009, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported Monday. Among the officials targeted were delegates from Nato ally Turkey and from South Africa. Britain used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to monitor communications between officials at the two meetings in April and September of 2009, the paper reported.
Nisar presents preliminary report on Ziarat attack in NA
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday presented a preliminary report on the attack on Jinnah’s Ziarat residency in the National Assembly. Speaking on the floor of the House, the interior minister said a joint investigation team had been constituted to investigate the attack on the building in which the Quaid-i-Azam spent the last days of his life in 1948. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the strike.
Bangladesh opposition clean sweeps key city elections
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Islamist-backed main opposition on Sunday swept mayoral elections in four cities in a major setback for the ruling party ahead of general polls. The centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won by big margins in the major cities of Khulna, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Barisal, Election Commission spokesman S.M. Asaduzzaman told DNA.
N. Korea proposes high-level talks with US: state media
SEOUL: North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the US aimed at discussing nuclear weapons programmes and easing of tension on the peninsula, state media said Sunday. “We propose high-level talks between the North and the US to secure peace and stability in the region and ease tension on the Korean peninsula,” the North’s powerful National Defence Commission said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
You don’t turn into a bad team overnight: Whatmore
BIRMINGHAM: India put already-eliminated Pakistan out of its misery in the Champions Trophy by thrashing its fierce rival by eight wickets in a rain-hit match on Saturday, clinching a third straight win for the tournament favorite. In-form opener Shikhar Dhawan caressed a fluent 48 at Edgbaston to help guide the Indians to their target, revised three times because of persistent showers in Birmingham, of 102 with 17 balls of their maximum 22 overs remaining.
