Rupee hits 50/dlr for first time in over 2 years

Mumbai: The Indian rupee tumbled by 34 paise to an almost 28-month low of Rs 49.82 per US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on Friday as the American currency firmed up against other major rivals overseas.

Forex dealers attributed the rupee's fall to a level last seen in May, 2009, to strong dollar demand from importers and some banks and dollar gains against other currencies.

They said the continued slide in the equity market also put pressure on the Indian rupee

on Thursday, the rupee had fallen by 124 paise to close at at a two-and-a half-year low of Rs 49.57/58 against the American currency.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex was down by 204.71 points, or 1.25 per cent, at 16,156.44 in opening trade day.

US suspects ISI behind Kabul Embassy attack: report

Washington: US suspects that Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI could be behind the attack on its Embassy in Kabul this week and is looking for direct evidence in this regard.

A senior US defence official said that given the ISI's history of supporting and sheltering the Haqqanis, it was "almost reflexive" to see if the spy agency had any role in the latest Kabul violence that left 27 people dead.

"The possibility of ISI involvement was already being considered within hours of the attack's conclusion when President Barack Obama's National Security Council met Wednesday, said a US official," The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The American suspicions are being partly fuelled by growing concerns that deteriorating bilateral relations, and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, may be pushing elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency to more closely embrace the Haqqani network, the Taliban faction blamed for this week's violence and a spate of attacks in and around Kabul.

Neither the ISI nor the Pakistani military, of which the spy agency is part, immediately responded to the US suspicions, the WSJ said, adding that Pakistani government officials dismissed the suspicions as insulting and unfair.

Top US officials, including Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, have already blamed the violence in Kabul on the Haqqani network, an Afghan insurgent faction whose history is intertwined with the ISI. The Pakistani spy agency has aided Haqqani network attacks in Kabul in past years, officials say.

The US has warned the Pakistanis of stronger action if the group wasn't reined in.

Afghan officials say mobile phones found on the slain attackers in this week's commando-style raid in Kabul indicate they were in contact with people from "outside Afghanistan" a typical Afghan way of indirectly pointing to Pakistan.

Even so, US and Afghan officials have stopped short of publicly linking the attack to the ISI, as they did after past attacks in Kabul, such as the 2008 and 2009 bombings of the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

In those and other cases, US officials said that communications intercepts and other intelligence directly linked the ISI to the attacks. Yet it took months to reach that conclusion and publicise it.

What is different this time is the speed with which some US officials publicly said they were exploring ISI links, a sign of the growing frustration of US officials who in recent months have become more public in their finger-pointing at Pakistan for its coordination with Islamist militant groups.

According to the daily, a senior US defence official said there is currently no "actionable intelligence" linking Pakistan's spy service to this week's attack.

"But we're looking for it closely," the defence official said shortly after the violence ended," the official was quoted as saying.

"That illustrates the deep vein of mistrust now running through the relationship between Washington and Islamabad," the officials said.

"The level of patience has just gone out the window," Seth Jones, a political scientist at the Rand Corp, who has spent much of the past two years working with the US military in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying.

"People aren't keeping it inside anymore and containing it in a circle that, for a while, was just private," he said.

"US officials say they are looking for evidence that directly links elements of Pakistan's powerful spy agency to this week's assault on the US Embassy and coalition headquarters in Kabul, a sign of just how rancorous relations have become between the two allies in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban," the daily said.

A direct attack on an American embassy "isn't something we can treat as business-as-usual," said the US defense official.

Even if no ISI link is found, the Pakistani relationship with the Haqqanis is "long past unacceptable," the official said.

"Missteps by both the US and Pakistan this year have led to a sharp deterioration in relations, which may also be prompting Islamabad to more closely embrace militant groups from which it has sought to publicly distance itself in recent years, according to US officials and Mr Jones of Rand," the daily said.

Passenger: Was cuffed, searched over 'appearance'

AP – 6 hours ago

Detroit: A US woman said Tuesday that she endured nearly four hours in police custody that included being forced off an airplane in handcuffs, strip-searched and interrogated at Detroit's airport on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks — all, she believes, because of her Middle Eastern appearance.

Shoshana Hebshi, 35, told The Associated Press she was one of three people removed from a Denver-to-Detroit Frontier Airlines flight after landing Sunday afternoon. Authorities say fighter jets escorted the plane after its crew reported that two people were spending a long time in a bathroom — the two men sitting next to Hebshi in the 12th row.

Hebshi said she didn't notice how many times the men went to the bathroom. "I wasn't keeping track," she said.

"I really wasn't paying attention," said Hebshi, a freelance writer, editor and stay-at-home mother of twin six-year-old boys who lives in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. "I was minding my own business — sleeping, reading, playing on my phone."

The FBI has said the three didn't know each other. One man felt ill and got up to use the restroom and another man in the same row also left his seat to go to the bathroom. The FBI said they never were inside together.

Hebshi has written extensively on her blog about the incident, saying she felt "violated, humiliated and sure that I was being taken from the plane simply because of my appearance."

Hebshi, who describes herself as half-Arabic, half-Jewish with a dark complexion, told the AP after they landed, she noticed police first surrounding, then storming the plane. She said she was surprised when they stopped at her row and ordered her and the men to get up.

Her Twitter posts from Sunday bear that out. At one point, she wrote: "A little concerned about this situation. Plane moved away from terminal surrounded by cops. Crew is mum. Passengers can't get up."

Later she wrote, "I see stairs coming our way...yay!" Her last post said, "Majorly armed cops coming aboard."

It's then than she says the officers ordered her and the men, whom she described as Indian, to get up.

She said she was patted down and taken by car to a holding cell. A uniformed female officer eventually came in and told Hebshi to take off her clothes.

After the strip search, another officer who identified herself as a Homeland Security agent led Hebshi to another room, Hebshi said. There, a man who identified himself as an FBI agent asked her a series of questions while a female agent took notes, Hebshi said.

Hebshi said that when she asked what was going on, the male agent told her someone on the plane reported that she and the men on her row were "conducting suspicious activity."

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said the three passengers were questioned but not arrested before the FBI determined there was no reason to suspect or hold them. She also said FBI agents who questioned the passengers were not involved in any strip searches.

"We received a report of suspicious activity on that particular plane," Berchtold said. "We did not arrest ... these passengers. ... We didn't direct anybody to arrest them."

Airport police are under the supervision of the Wayne County Airport Authority, which operates Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

In an email to the AP, agency spokesman Scott Wintner said airport police "responded appropriately by following protocol and treating everyone involved with respect and dignity. "

Wintner said the decision on how to respond was a call made by the Airport Authority's CEO, who he said is Arab-American.

Hebshi said that finally, after being fingerprinted and allowed to call her husband, she was told she and the men were being released and that nothing suspicious was found on the plane. She said an official apologized and thanked her for understanding and cooperating.

Hebshi said she received another call of apology from an FBI agent Monday, before she wrote her blog post.

"I can understand they were just doing their job," she told the AP. "My beef is with these laws and regulations that are so hypersensitive. ... Even if you're an innocent bystander, you have no rights."

AP left email and phone messages seeking comment Tuesday night with Frontier.

The flight was one of two for which fighter jets were scrambled Sunday after crews reported suspicious activity on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials said. In both cases, it involved bathroom use. In neither case did authorities find anything to substantiate the suspicions.

On American Airlines flight 34 from Los Angeles, three passengers who made repeated trips to the bathroom were cleared after the plane safely landed at New York's Kennedy Airport.

Also Sunday, a GoJet Airlines flight bound for Washington was still on the runway in St. Louis when the pilot returned the aircraft to the gate and requested all passengers be re-screened after crew found paper towels stuffed in a toilet, according to a United Airlines spokesman. GoJet is a regional carrier for United.

Passenger de-planed for opening craft's emergency door

By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – 23 hours ago

New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) A New Delhi-bound flight was delayed for three hours at the Lucknow airport after a passenger opened the emergency exit of the plane, the Kingfisher Airlines said Wednesday.

'As guests were being boarded on Kingfisher Airlines flight IT 4660 on Tuesday night, it appears that a guest on board opened one of the emergency doors,' the company said in a statement.

'The aircraft was stationary at that time as boarding was still in progress. The guest was de-planed and handed over to the authorities. After a thorough examination, the aircraft was cleared for departure,' it added.

Switzerland to tax black money in UK citizens' secret accounts

London: The Swiss government has agreed to tax black money held by UK citizens in Swiss bank accounts for the first time, while still hiding their identity.

According to a BBC report, the deal could see between 3 billion pounds and 6 billion pounds a year being handed to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) by the Swiss authorities.

The agreement is a part of the HMRC's latest efforts to track down and tax money hidden in offshore bank accounts.

It follows a similar deal agreed earlier this month between Germany and the Swiss authorities.

UK officials said the agreement was a landmark one.

"The world has changed for tax evaders," said Dave Hartnett of HMRC.

"A few years ago, nobody would have anticipated that we would conclude an agreement with Switzerland to tackle tax evasion. We will secure significant sums of tax that some had thought we would never see," he added.

Meanwhile, David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said, "The historic agreement will enable us to collect billions of pounds from those who have for too long evaded their responsibility to pay UK tax by abusing Swiss banking secrecy."

For decades, Swiss banking laws have provided complete secrecy to foreigners operating bank accounts there.

The account holders have been able to use the accounts to hide money from the own tax authorities, without even having to pay any Swiss tax.

From 2013, the Swiss will tax the bank accounts of UK citizens and transfer the money directly to the Treasury, but without revealing the identity of the account holders.

The UK citizens' accounts in Swiss banks will be taxed at between 19 percent and 34 percent on the principal sum hidden, depending on how long the account has been running.

The Swiss have agreed to make an initial downpayment of 500 million Swiss francs toward the tax liabilities of UK citizens with Swiss bank accounts.

From 2013, the account holders will also face an annual levy of between 27 percent and 48 percent on the income from their accounts, depending on whether it has arisen as capital gains, dividends or interest.

The UK authorities will also have the right to request the banking details of 500 UK individuals a year for further investigation.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) said the deal was "very innovative".

"This is a wake-up call to tax dodgers and will flush some of them out of the woodwork," he said.

UK citizens will only be able to avoid the new tax measures in Switzerland if they come forward and make a full disclosure of their finances there to HMRC.

Ronnie Ludwig, of accountants Saffery Champness, said the UK's agreement was a huge step forward in the search for untaxed income offshore.

But he said people hiding their money in Switzerland would still be getting away with substantial tax evasion.

"The Swiss agreement is a pragmatic move by the UK Treasury that will certainly help bring an immediate boost to tax revenues, but it is a quick fix measure," he said.

"It means some tax revenues from secret accounts will flow into Treasury coffers, but the fact remains that only a small proportion of the total tax that would have been due on the money stashed away in secret accounts in Switzerland over the years can be recovered under these latest proposals," Ludwig added.

Since 2007, HMRC has been targeting people in the UK who have failed to pay tax on money kept in offshore bank accounts.

In 2009, the UK authorities struck a deal with the government of Liechtenstein, a notorious tax haven.

If UK citizens hiding cash there confess, they will face penalties amounting to just 10 percent of the tax they have evaded.

They will still have to pay their back-taxes and interest, going back up to 10 years.

As many as 5,000 British investors are thought to have stashed an estimated 3 billion pounds in secret accounts in Liechtenstein.

Those who do not take advantage of the disclosure "opportunity", which runs to the end of March, 2015, will face fines amounting to 200 percent of their unpaid tax, as well as back-taxes and interest.

Chris Oates of Ernst and Young said: "As a side effect of today's announcement, we could also see an increase in people moving their assets to Liechtenstein rather than paying up to the Swiss authorities."

"The Liechtenstein Disclosure Agreement only requires a back payment of taxes from 1999/2000 onward, rather than the total value of assets held in Switzerland.

"This could prove a more cost-effective way to resolve past tax liabilities for UK individuals than the new Swiss arrangement," he added.

PTI

Washington Monument Cracked, Closed Indefinitely

Yesterday's relatively exciting magnitude 5.8 East coast quake didn't tilt the D.C.'s Washington Monument, but it cracked it enough to concern the National Park Service. So a centerpiece of the National Mall will now be closed indefinitely for public safety reasons, the Associated Press reported. The damage was found by structural engineers "where the 555-foot landmark narrows considerably."

The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials are also closed for further inspection, Politico relayed. The newly unveiled Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture will remain open. And the rest of the nation's capital dwellers will talk about where they were during quake for the forseeable future--or at least until Congress is back in session.

Mumbai blasts toll rises to 19

Mumbai: The toll in the Mumbai triple blasts rose to 19 with a victim succumbing to his injuries at Saifee Hospital early Saturday, an official said.

The victim has been identified as Babulal Das, the official from Birihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Disaster Control Centre told a news agency.

Das died around 3 am.

On Friday evening, another victim, Avinash Tanka, 24, had succumbed to his injuries.

The three blasts that rocked central-to-south Mumbai Wednesday evening -- Dadar, Zaveri Bazar and Opera House -- was the first terrorist attack in the financial hub of the country after 26/11.

Of the 129 injured, 21 continue to be in a critical state and are under treatment in various hospitals.

Norway horror: 80 die in camp shooting, 7 in blast

Oslo: A homegrown terrorist set off a deadly explosion in downtown Oslo before heading to a summer camp dressed as a police officer to commit one of the deadliest shooting sprees in history, killing at least 80 people as terrified youths ran and even swam for their lives, police said on Friday.

Police initially said about 10 were killed at the forested camp on the island of Utoya, but some survivors said they thought the toll was much higher. Police director Oystein Maeland told reporters early Saturday they had discovered many more victims.

"It's taken time to search the area. What we know now is that we can say that there are at least 80 killed at Utoya," Maeland said. "It goes without saying that this gives dimensions to this incident that are exceptional."

A suspect in the shootings, and the Oslo explosion that killed seven people, was arrested. Though police did not release his name, Norwegian national broadcaster NRK identified him as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and said police searched his Oslo apartment overnight. NRK and other Norwegian media posted pictures of the blond, blue-eyed Norwegian.

A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police.

"It seems it's not Islamic-terror related," the official said. "This seems like a madman's work."

The official said the attack "is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Centre." Domestic terrorists carried out the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City, while foreign terrorists were responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The official added, however, "it's still just hours since the incident happened. And the investigation is going on with all available resources."

The attacks formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings, when shrapnel-filled bombs exploded, killing 191 people and wounding about 1,800.

The motive was unknown, but both attacks were in areas connected to the ruling Labor Party government. The youth camp, about 20 miles (35 kilometres) northwest of Oslo, is organised by the party's youth wing, and the Prime Minister had been scheduled to speak there on Saturday.

A 15-year-old camper named Elise said she heard gunshots, but then saw a police officer and thought she was safe. Then he started shooting people right before her eyes.

"I saw many dead people," said Elise, whose father, Vidar Myhre, didn't want her to disclose her last name. "He first shot people on the island. Afterward he started shooting people in the water."

Elise said she hid behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock," she said.

She said it was impossible to say how many minutes passed while she was waiting for him to stop.

At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi wore pants stained with blood. He said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims "had pretended as if they were dead to survive," Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

"I lost several friends," said Berzingi, who used the cell phone of one of those friends to call police.

The blast in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings. Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise where Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his administration work were shattered. Other buildings damaged house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway's leading newspapers.

The dust-fogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of September 11.

Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel, said people "just covered in rubble" were walking through "a fog of debris”.

"It wasn't any sort of a panic," he said, "It was really just people in disbelief and shock, especially in a such as safe and open country as Norway. You don't even think something like that is possible."

Police said the Oslo explosion was caused by "one or more" bombs.

The police official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Oslo bombing occurred at 3:26 pm local time (1:26 pm GMT), and the camp shootings began one to two hours later. The official said the gunman used both automatic weapons and handguns, and that there was at least one unexploded device at the youth camp that a police bomb disposal team and military experts were working on disarming.

The suspect had only a minor criminal record, the official said.

National police chief Sveinung Sponheim said seven people were killed by the blast in downtown Oslo, four of whom have been identified, and that nine or 10 people were seriously injured.

Sponheim said a man was arrested in the shooting, and the suspect had been observed in Oslo before the explosion there.

Sponheim said the camp shooter "wore a sweater with a police sign on it. I can confirm that he wasn't a police employee and never has been."

Aerial images broadcast by Norway's TV2 showed members of a SWAT team dressed in black arriving at the island in boats and running up the dock. Behind them, people who stripped down to their underwear swam away from the island toward shore, some using flotation devices.

Sponheim said police were still trying to get an overview of the camp shooting and could not say whether there was more than one shooter. He would not give any details about the identity or nationality of the suspect, who was being interrogated by police.

Oslo University Hospital said 12 people were admitted for treatment following the Utoya shooting, and 11 people were taken there from the explosion in Oslo. The hospital asked people to donate blood.

Stoltenberg, who was home when the blast occurred and was not harmed, visited injured people at the hospital late Friday. Earlier he decried what he called "a cowardly attack on young innocent civilians”.

"I have message to those who attacked us," he said. "It's a message from all of Norway: You will not destroy our democracy and our commitment to a better world."

NRK showed video in Oslo of a blackened car lying on its side amid the debris. A reporter who was in the office of Norwegian news agency NTB said the building shook from the blast and all employees were evacuated. Down in the street, he saw one person with a bleeding leg being led away from the area.

A reporter headed to Utoya was turned away by police before reaching the lake that surrounds the island, as eight ambulances with sirens blaring entered the area. Police blocked off roads leading to the lake.

The United States, European Union, NATO and the UK, all quickly condemned the bombing, which Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called "horrific" and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen deemed a "heinous act”.

"It's a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring," President Barack Obama said.

Obama extended his condolences to Norway's people and offered US assistance with the investigation. He said he remembered how warmly Norwegians treated him in Oslo when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

Nobel Peace Prize Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said it appeared the camp attack "was intended to hurt young citizens who actively engage in our democratic and political society. But we must not be intimidated. We need to work for freedom and democracy every day."

A US counterterrorism official said the United States knew of no links to terrorist groups and early indications were the attack was domestic. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was being handled by Norway.

At least two Islamic extremist groups had tried to take credit for the attacks. Many intelligence analysts said they had never heard of Helpers of Global Jihad, which took initial credit. The Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam also took credit on some jihadist web sites.

Norway has been grappling with a homegrown terror plot linked to al Qaeda. Two suspects are in jail awaiting charges.

Last week, a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he is deported from the Scandinavian country. The indictment centred on statements that Mullah Krekar — the founder of Ansar al-Islam — made to various news media, including American network NBC.

Terrorism has also been a concern in neighbouring Denmark since an uproar over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad six years ago.

Man’s name in sand visible from space

Here's a big idea: Writing your name in the sand so large that it can be seen from space. Of course, you're much better position to carry off this sort of vanity project if you're Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Ahyan, a super-rich Arab sheikh who is the president of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates. He also happens to own an island--an ideal canvas for what is essentially the world's largest self-referential graffiti tag.

The letters were crafted by a crew who worked for weeks to create them. The inscription measures half a mile high and two miles long--and the letters are dug so deep that they form waterways. The writing won't be immediately washed away, but even Hamad--whose fortune is only surpassed by his monarchial rival in the region, Saudi King Abdullah--can only defy the elements for so long.

Did we mention his name can be seen from outer space?

Hamad, according to Forbes, is a guy who lives large. A member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, the man known as the Rainbow Sheikh owns 200 cars that are stored in a giant pyramid. (What, you use a garage?) Forbes also noted that Hamad also hand-built a motor home in the shape of a giant globe "one-millionth the size of the Earth."

It should also be noted that the 63-year-old sheikh also has deep pockets when it comes to philanthropy. But don't worry about thanking him -- it seems he's come up with a perfectly good way to give himself a shout-out.

Blast rips Mumbai, Minister enjoys fashion show!

New Delhi: “We should continue doing whatever we are doing”, said India’s Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay yesterday, while the financial capital of India reeled under a terror jolt yet again and the Minister brazenly attended a fashion show in the capital.

Possibly, the national leader was only trying to lead by example! About how we can continue to live it up even under the shadow of terror.

So when Mumbai was burning, the elected representatives of our nation were busy watching models wearing sequinned dresses and gowns.

Along with the tourism minister also present at the fashion gala was Delhi’s former mayor Aarti Mehra. Apparently, they had assembled at Hotel Grand, on insistence of Ashok Kumar Pradhan, former Union minister and senior BJP leader, whose daughter, a fashion designer, was presenting her debut collection of classic romance.

It was also learnt that some Mumbai celebs including, Suresh Oberoi, Madhur Bhandarkar, Mugdha Godse and Anushka Sharma, were having gala time with their Delhi friends.

When a journalist tried to speak to Aarti Mehra, she said, “I am feeling sad about it (the Mumbai blasts). But again, life must go on. Ashok is like a big brother to me. I am here only for him."

"Even after incidents like these, life doesn`t come to a standstill. We should continue doing whatever we are doing," said a gung-ho Subodh Kant Sahay.

Now, that’s quite a statement Mr Sahay, considering your position and the ‘occasion’.

Gold hits record, extends gains to 9th day

Singapore: Spot gold hit a record high above USD 1,589 on Thursday, buoyed by a sharp drop in the dollar after Moody's warned the US may lose its top credit rating, the possibility of more Federal Reserve stimulus and Europe's deepening debt crisis.

Spot gold rose to a record of USD 1,589.56 an ounce, before easing to USD 1,584.51 by 0609 GMT. Gold was on course for its ninth consecutive day of gains, matching a similar winning streak in 2006.

US gold also hit a record at USD 1,590.80 an ounce. It was trading at USD 1,585.30, little changed from the previous close.

Sovereign debt concerns spread from the euro zone to the United States, as Moody's threatened to cut the US sovereign credit rating as debt talks stalled in Washington.

"There is a lot of capital flight," said a Singapore-basedtrader.

"Lacking a really reliable destination, a lot of the funds leaving the bonds market are going into precious metals on the notion that their value will be retained even if policymakers are pressured to go to further extremes to work against contagion."

Uncertainties around the US debt talks, together with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment on the potential for further monetary easing, battered the dollar, helping support commodities.

The ongoing euro zone debt crisis added to gold's lustre. Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded Greece deeper into junk territory, citing the absence of a new and fully funded financing program for the country.

"Gold flourishes when there is uncertainty on the macro side, and across the globe there are quite a few problematic hot spots," said Xinyi Chen, an analyst at Barclays Capital.

Gold prices are likely to refresh the record highs in the short term, with the immediate target at USD 1,600 within a stone's shot, traders and analysts said.

"There is so much disquiet about bond market that it is likely to keep investors interested in precious metals," said the Singapore-based trader, while warning that a price breakout could trigger greater volatility.

The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, on spot gold hovered around 70, seen as a technical sign that the market is overbought.

Technical analysis suggested a bullish picture. Spot gold is likely to rise to USD 1,613 an ounce, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Spot silver rose to USD 38.61 per ounce, the highest since May 31, before trading up 0.7 percent at USD 38.52, tracking gains in bullion and extending the 5.6 percent rise in the previous session.

US silver gained 1 percent to USD 38.56.

Ex-Cameron aide, Andy Coulson, arrested in UK hacking scandal

London: London police on Friday arrested Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who also served as the prime minister's former communications chief, in relation to Britain's tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

London police said a 43-year-old man was arrested Friday morning over allegations of phone hacking and police bribery and was in custody at a London police station. They did not name him but offered the information when asked about Coulson.

The Murdoch media empire on Thursday shut down the 168-year-old muckraking tabloid. The paper has been engulfed by allegations its journalists paid police for information and hacked into the phone messages of celebrities, young murder victims and the grieving families of dead soldiers.

It comes just as media baron Rupert Murdoch is seeking U.K. government clearance for a euro12 billion ($19 billion) bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting, a prize far more valuable than his British stable of newspapers.

Earlier Friday, Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that British politicians and the press had become too cosy and promised to hold two full investigations into activities at the News of the World tabloid and into future media regulation.

Cameron said press self-regulation had failed and a new body, independent of the media and the government, was needed to properly enforce standards

"The truth is, we've all been in this together," Cameron said at a news conference a day after the announcement that the News of the World was closing down. "Party leaders were so keen to win the support of newspapers that we turned a blind eye to the need to sort this issue. The people in power knew things weren't right but they didn't do enough quickly enough."

Cameron said his friend Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the tabloid, should have resigned as chief executive of News International, the British unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.. He also said there were questions to be answered by James Murdoch, the heir-apparent to his father's media empire.

"I want everyone to be clear: Everything that has happened is going to be investigated," Cameron said.

He said a judge will be appointed to lead a thorough investigation of what went wrong at the News of the World, including alleged bribery of police officers, and a second inquiry to find a new way of regulating the press.

Two employees of the tabloid were sent to prison in 2007 after being convicted of hacking into royal telephones, but the police investigation of the activity at the time has been slammed as incomplete or compromised by new bribery allegations.

Cameron also suggested that a decision on Murdoch's BSkyB takeover is likely to be delayed.

"Given the events of recent days, this will take some time," Cameron said.

The prime minister refused to apologize for hiring Coulson as his spokesman, a move that opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband described Friday as an "appalling error of judgment."

Cameron said Coulson, who resigned from his government post in January, remained a friend.

The prime minister referred to reports that Brooks had offered her resignation. "In this situation I would have taken it," Cameron said.

A reporter asked whether James Murdoch was a fit and proper person to run a company, following his admission on Thursday that regretted authorizing out-of-court payments to some hacking victims.

Murdoch's statement "raises lots of questions that need to be answered," Cameron said.

The scandal exploded this week after it was reported that the News of the World had hacked the mobile phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 while her family and police were desperately searching for her. News of the World operatives reportedly deleted some messages from the phone's voicemail, giving the girl's parents false hope that she was still alive.

That ignited public outrage far beyond any previous reaction to press intrusion into the lives of celebrities, which the paper had previously acknowledged and for which it paid compensation.

Dozens of companies pulled their advertising from the paper this week, fearing they would be tainted by association. James Murdoch then announced Thursday that this Sunday's edition of the tabloid would be its last and all revenue from the final issue, which will carry no ads, would go to "good causes."

News International, the British unit of Murdoch's News Corp., has not said whether it will move quickly to put another paper into the Sunday market which had been dominated for decades by News of the World. But according to online records, an unnamed U.K. individual on Tuesday bought up the rights to the domain name "sunonsunday.co.uk."

Shares in BSkyB, which have fallen all week because of doubts whether the takeover will go ahead, were down more than 4 per cent Friday in London trading at 779 pence ($12.40).

Shares in News Corp. rose 1.6 per cent on the Nasdaq index in New York after Thursday's announcement.

The British government on June 30 already gave its qualified approval allowing News Corp. to purchase the 61 per cent of British Sky Broadcasting that it doesn't already own, on the condition it spins off Sky News as a separate company. News Corp. made an initial offer of 700 pence per share, valuing BSkyB at 12.3 billion pounds ($19.8 billion). Analysts believe News Corp. may have to go as high as 900 pence per share to persuade shareholders to sell out.

Analysts expect the BSkyB deal approval to be delayed now until at least September.

Despite the public outcry, many analysts think Britain will still sanction the takeover, since officials have already said that threats to competition will be resolved with Sky News' spin-off.

Direct subsidy: Poor to get cash through banks, ATMs

New Delhi: Beneficiaries of kerosene, LPG and fertiliser subsidies will be able to get direct cash transfers through banks, ATMs or even mobile banking after the UIDAI's recommendations to plug leakages in the system are implemented.

Pilot projects for transfer of a direct cash subsidy will be launched in seven states -- Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Orissa -- from October, according to the roadmap suggested by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

A comprehensive 70-page interim report suggesting ways to plug leakages in the subsidies was submitted to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee by UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani.

"Pilot project will take approximately six months' time and taking into account the experiences which they will gather, they will submit the final report by the end of this year," Mukherjee told reporters.

The report has suggested creation of an IT-drive 'Core Subsidy Management System (CSMS)', which will be able to detect fraud and diversions.

"Beneficiaries can report malpractices to the government directly, making it possible for the government to react in a timely manner," the report said.

The government, through the CSMS, will transfer the cash component of the subsidy directly and in real-time into the bank account of the beneficiaries.

The government spends about Rs 73,637 crore a year on fuel and fertiliser subsidies, but a significant portion does not reach the beneficiaries.

PTI

Writer to file Strauss-Kahn rape complaint

PARIS (Reuters) - A French writer will file a legal complaint against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday alleging that he tried to rape her more than eight years ago, her lawyer told Reuters.

Lawyer David Koubbi said the complaint by Tristane Banon, 32, a journalist and author, related to an incident that took place when she went to interview Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, in an apartment in Paris.

"Tristane Banon will file a complaint on Tuesday for attempted rape in Paris," Koubbi said.

"These acts are extremely serious," he added. "These events were combined with a violence that was absolutely striking for these kinds of situations."

Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest in New York on Friday after prosecutors said they doubted the credibility of a hotel maid who alleges he tried to rape her.

A lawyer for Strauss-Kahn told Reuters he had been instructed by the former IMF head to bring a counter-action against Banon for falsely accusing him.

"The facts that she recalls are imaginary," said attorney Henri Leclerc.

Koubbi, the attorney for Banon, would not say whether the timing of her complaint was affected by the developments in New York. Until his May arrest, Strauss-Kahn was seen as the left's best chance of winning the 2012 election.

Under French law, a complaint of attempted rape can be brought up to 10 years after an alleged attack.

Koubbi had said several times in recent weeks that his client was considering taking action against Strauss-Kahn over the incident, which he said on Monday took place in early 2003, not in 2002 as had previously been reported.

Banon's mother Anne Mansouret, a Socialist councilor, has said she regrets talking her daughter out of filing a complaint at the time.

The incident first surfaced publicly in 2007, when Banon discussed it on a television talk show, with Strauss-Kahn's name bleeped out.

During the show, which has been widely circulated online in recent weeks, Banon said he had insisted on holding her hand during the interview, before making advances that led to her fighting him off as he tried to undo her clothing.

'US no longer a superpower'

Washington: Two out of three Americans taking part in a poll do not believe that the United States is the sole remaining superpower in the world.

The poll, released by Time magazine and the Aspen Institute, also indicates that Americans want their leaders to focus more on domestic challenges and less on foreign issues, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Over two-thirds of Americans consider the last 10 years to have been a decade of decline for America. Three-fourths of American people say economic weakness poses a greater danger than national security threats, the report said.

In May, a Pew Research Centre poll found that majorities in every partisan group of the population including, for the first time in the decade of 9/11, conservative Republicans agreed with the statement that the US ‘should pay less attention to problems overseas and concentrate on problems here at home.

Last month, President Obama declared, in announcing his plans for a troop drawdown in Afghanistan said, “America, it is time to focus on national-building here at home.”

NY motorcyclist dies on ride protesting helmet law

ONONDAGA, N.Y. (AP) — Police say a motorcyclist participating in a protest ride against helmet laws in upstate New York died after he flipped over the bike's handlebars and hit his head on the pavement.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon in the town of Onondaga, in central New York nearSyracuse.

State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.

Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.

Defiant Gaddafi threatens attacks in Europe

Tripoli(Libya): A defiant Moammar Gaddafi threatened Friday to carry out attacks in Europe against "homes, offices, families," unless NATO halts its campaign of airstrikes against his regime in Libya.

The Libyan leader, sought by the International Criminal Court for a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, delivered the warning in a telephone message played to thousands of supporters gathered in the main square of the capital Tripoli.

It was one of the largest pro-government rallies in recent months, signaling that Gaddafi can still muster significant support. A green cloth, several hundred meters long and held aloft by supporters, snaked above the crowd filling Tripoli's Green Square. Green is Libya's national color.

Gaddafi spoke from an unknown location in a likely sign of concern over his safety. Addressing the West, Gaddafi warned that Libyans might take revenge for NATO bombings.

"These people (the Libyans) are able to one day take this battle ... to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes," he said.

"We can decide to treat you in a similar way," he said of the Europeans. "If we decide to, we are able to move to Europe like locusts, like bees. We advise you to retreat before you are dealt a disaster."

It was not immediately clear whether Gaddafi could make good on such threats.

In the past, Gaddafi supported various militant groups, including the IRA and several Palestinian factions, while Libyan agents were blamed for attacks in Europe, including a Berlin disco bombing in 1986 and the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, mostly Americans. Libya later acknowledged responsibility for Lockerbie.


In recent years, however, Gaddafi was believed to have severed his ties with extremist groups when he moved to reconcile with Europe and the United States.

Al-Qaida and other jihadi groups have opposed Gaddafi since he cracked down in the late 1990s on the Islamist Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which sought to replace his regime with an Islamic state.

In Tripoli, supporters unleashed repeated barrages of defiant gunfire into the air after Gaddafi's speech.

A series of powerful explosions later rattled the heart of the capital as supporters cheered and honked car horns in the street. Black smoke could be seen rising from the area near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound. It wasn't clear whether the blasts signaled renewed NATO airstrikes or were bursts of celebratory fireworks.

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said the U.S. would take Gaddafi's threat of attacks seriously, as his regime carried out such actions in the past. Toner said he did not know if there was intelligence to indicate Gaddafi's regime would be able to carry out such attacks.

"This is an individual who's obviously capable of carrying these kinds of threats, that's what makes him so dangerous, but he's also someone who's given to overblown rhetoric," Toner told a news conference in Washington.

Friday's rally came just four days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi for crimes against humanity. International prosecutors allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gaddafi street demonstrations earlier this year.

The popular uprising has since turned into a protracted civil war, with anti-government rebels controlling much of eastern Libya and parts of Libya's western mountains. NATO has been bombing government-linked targets since March.

In his speech Friday, Gaddafi denounced the rebels as traitors and blamed them for Libya's troubles.

He said Libyans who fled to neighboring Tunisia are now "working as maids for the Tunisians."

"Tunisians used to work for Libyans. What brought you to this stage? The traitors," he added.

He called on his supporters to march on rebel strongholds, including the western mountain area and the port city of Misrata, both in the otherwise Gaddafi-controlled western Libya. "We must end this battle fast," he said of the attempts to oust him from power, which began with an uprising in mid-February.

Gaddafi's speech signaled that mounting international pressure, including the arrest warrants against him, have made him only more defiant.

His son, Seif al-Islam, who like his father is a wanted man, denied in a TV interview that either of them ordered the killing of civilian protesters in Libya, as prosecutors charge.

The younger Gaddafi told Russian news channel RT in an interview posted online Friday that "most of the people" died when they tried to storm military sites, and that guards fired on them under standing orders to protect the bases and themselves.

However, documents from the International Criminal Court outline multiple instances in which the tribunal prosecutors allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gaddafi street demonstrations earlier this year.

The younger Gaddafi had once been viewed as a reformer by the West and was being groomed as a possible successor to his father.

Seif al-Islam wore a thick beard and traditional clothes in the interview. He denounced the international court seeking his arrest as controlled by the NATO countries now bombing Libya.

"This court is a Mickey Mouse court ... For me to be responsible for killing people, it was a big joke," he told the Russian state-funded network.

The Netherlands-based tribunal on Monday issued arrest warrants against the Libyan leader, his son Seif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi.

The three are accused of orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Moammar Gaddafi from power, and for trying to cover up their alleged crimes.

Presiding Judge Sanji Monageng of Botswana has said that hundreds of civilians were killed, injured or arrested in the crackdown, and there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Gaddafi and his son were both responsible for their murder and persecution.

But Seif al-Islam denied that he and his father specifically ordered protesters to be killed.

"Of course not," he said, arguing that government troops fired on protesters out of self-defense.

"Nobody ordered. Nobody. The guards fired. That's it. ... The guards were surprised by the attacking people and they start ... firing. They don't need an order to defend themselves," he said.

Seif al-Islam accused Western nations of intervening in Libya because they are after the country's oil and other resources. He said the goal is "to control Libya," and he vowed to fight on.

"Nobody will give up. Nobody will raise the white flag," he said. "We want peace, but if you want to fight, we are not cowards. ... We are going to fight."