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26 July 2012

MCX GOLD October contract trades lower

Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 14:20

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MCX GOLD October contract trades lowerAt 14:14 hrs MCX GOLD October contract was trading at Rs 29608.00 down Rs 31.00, or 0.10%. The GOLD rate touched an intraday high of Rs 29621.00 and an intraday low of Rs 29554.00. So far 563 contracts have been traded. GOLD prices have moved up Rs 658.00, or 2.27% in the October series so far.Share . Email . Print . A+A-

GOLD prices on MCX slipped today. At 14:14 hrs MCX GOLD August contract was trading at Rs 29264.00 down Rs 25.00, or 0.09%. The GOLD rate touched an intraday high of Rs 29275.00 and an intraday low of Rs 29185.00. So far 9653 contracts have been traded. GOLD prices have moved down Rs 496.00, or 1.67% in the August series so far.

At 14:14 hrs MCX GOLD October contract was trading at Rs 29608.00 down Rs 31.00, or 0.10%. The GOLD rate touched an intraday high of Rs 29621.00 and an intraday low of Rs 29554.00. So far 563 contracts have been traded. GOLD prices have moved up Rs 658.00, or 2.27% in the October series so far.

At 14:14 hrs MCX GOLD December contract was trading at Rs 29944.00 down Rs 19.00, or 0.06%. The GOLD rate touched an intraday high of Rs 29945.00 and an intraday low of Rs 29877.00. So far 55 contracts have been traded. GOLD prices have moved up Rs 644.00, or 2.20% in the December series so far.

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Will AT&T Charge For 3G FaceTime? CEO Randall Stephenson Says It’s ‘Too Early’ To Know

Anthony Ha is a writer at TechCrunch, where he covers media, advertising, and startups. Previously, he was a staff technology writer at Adweek, worked as a senior editor at the tech blog VentureBeat, and was also a reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing.... ? Learn More

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson took the stage this afternoon at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, where he was asked about a recent report in 9toMac that AT&T might charge customers extra if they want to use FaceTime over 3G cellular networks (a feature that was announced for iOS 6).

The company previously offered a generic “we’ll share more information with our customers as it becomes available” statement with 9to5Mac. Stephenson didn’t go too much further, but he certainly didn’t rule the charge out.

“I’ve heard the same rumor,” he said, insisting that for now, AT&T is focused on working with Apple to get the technology stabilized, so “it’s too early to talk about pricing.”

Speaking of controversial pricing news from AT&T, Stephenson was also asked about the “toll free” data idea that been the company has been discussing, where app developers pay for their users’ data usage, either with a direct payment or by giving AT&T a cut of ad revenues.

Stephenson acknowledged that this is something people get “emotional” about (when the idea was first reported, our own Jordan Crook called it a “boondoggle”), but he compared it to toll-free, 1-800 phone numbers. Just as it helps Sears to pay the bill for calls from its customers, there are mobile companies that have “business models premised on traffic,” so why not pay to remove any barriers to that traffic? In fact, Stephenson claimed this is something that some of the content providers are asking AT&T for.

AT&T is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, and DSL Internet access in the United States and the second largest wireless service provider in the United States.

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Vaults A and B opened at temple

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Vaults A and B opened at temple

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The much-anticipated opening of two vaults (kallaras) inside Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple here, which were supposedly last opened more than a century ago, had an anti-climactic ending on Wednesday with one vault being nearly empty and the other proving inaccessible beyond a point.

It was widely believed that these two vaults contain large quantities of gold, diamonds, other precious stones and invaluable artefacts. A civil engineer and a fire safety official inspected the vaults and surrounding areas for structural stability before they were opened.

Vault B located on the southwest corner outside the Chandanamandapam inside the Nalambalam was the first to be opened. Once the grill and the teak door on the outside were opened, the chamber was found to contain numerous silver pots. Though the vault led on to another chamber, access was blocked by a thick metal door resembling that of a strong room. It was decided to requisition the services of a blacksmith on Thursday to open this door.

Vault A on the southern side of the Nalambalam inside the Chandanamandapam was found to be virtually empty. A golden ‘anki,' a handful of other ornaments and a few jars were all that were found inside. It could not be immediately ascertained whether this vault had any secret ante-chambers. This is expected to be done on Thursday.

Prior to the commencement of the Wednesday's proceedings, the former IPS officer and Supreme Court lawyer, T.P. Sundara Rajan, submitted a written complaint to the panel chief M.N. Krishnan pointing out that the inventory was not being taken in a proper manner.

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12,000 more may get engineering seats

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12,000 more may get engineering seats

Deepa Kurup AICTE has said the eligibility cut-off will be reduced from 50 to 45 per cent — file Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Cet session:According to sources in the Higher Education Department, the AICTE has assured the Government that a notification in this regard will be issued in a few days.

BANGALORE: Over 12,000 more students are likely to qualify for engineering admissions this year if the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) makes good on its promise to the State Government. The AICTE has agreed to reverse its decision and slash the eligibility cut-off for engineering courses from 50 to 45 per cent.

Highly placed sources in the Higher Education Department told The Hindu that following its appeal to the apex body, the AICTE has assured the Government that this will be notified in a few days.

Earlier this year, the AICTE stepped up the eligibility requirement from 45 per cent (40 per cent for SC/ST category students) to 50 per cent (45 for SC/ST). This notification, part of the AICTE's key reforms aimed at increasing the quality of engineering graduates, is likely to be rescinded.

Appeal

The number of engineering ranks allotted in the State, through the Common Entrance Test, dipped from 73,600 in 2010 to 64,962 this year.

Following this, the State Government appealed to the AICTE to bring down the eligibility criterion. Since around 15,000 seats were unfilled last year, a trend that has manifested itself in recent years, the State Government was eager to bring down the eligibility criterion.

Many other States have reportedly made similar appeals to the apex body, and some private institutions have even taken the matter to court.

When contacted, top AICTE officials in the Karnataka regional office declined to comment. However, unofficial sources said that a decision to this effect was likely to be taken at the AICTE executive council meeting on Thursday. A final decision on the seat matrix, including increase in intake and new approvals, will be taken at this meeting.

Earlier, the State Government had to postpone its counselling because the AICTE refused to notify the approved seat matrix in June.

Karnataka Examinations Authority officials told The Hindu that according to its database, if the eligibility criterion is revised, over 12,000 more students would become eligible for CET ranks. Of this, an estimated 8,000 are students from the SC/ST category.

“We are ready with the additional rank list and are awaiting final notification from the AICTE to go ahead with this,” the official said.

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Greek crisis looms large for Lagarde

International

Greek crisis looms large for Lagarde

Paris/Beijing: Christine Lagarde begins her five-year term as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on July 5, and will find herself immediately immersed in efforts to head off a Greek debt default that could spark an international crisis.

She takes up her new post, following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing sexual assault charges in New York.

Ms. Lagarde must move fast on the Greek debt crisis and to open the IMF up to emerging countries, press comment on her appointment to head the fund said on Wednesday.

Newspapers warned that Ms. Lagarde must satisfy aspirations by emerging countries to obtain an increased role within the International Monetary Fund and assuage concerns that she might favour Europe. “The name is correct, the method is not,” Italian business newspaper Il Sole-24 Ore said on its front page, commenting that Europe did not deserve the post owing to its “incapacity” in handling the Greek crisis. In Japan, the Nikkei newspaper said “emerging nations were seen promising to give her support on conditions that they significantly gain influence” in IMF affairs. Reports also widely lauded the IMF for putting a woman in the top job for the first time.

Meanwhile, China voiced its support for Ms. Lagarde on Wednesday, and called for reforms at the global agency to give emerging-market economies a bigger voice. The Chinese central bank said in a short statement that the country hoped the International Monetary Fund would play a positive role in promoting global financial stability.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the next IMF chief as an “excellent choice”. — Agencies.

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Environmentalists' fears over regularising Lavasa coming true

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Environmentalists' fears over regularising Lavasa coming true

Amruta Byatnal

PUNE: With Adarsh Society's lawyers pleading before the Bombay High Court that the scam-hit society too deserved consideration for post-facto environmental clearance similar to that to be granted to the Lavasa hill city in Pune, the warning of activists and environmentalists that regularising Lavasa would set a disastrous precedent seems to be coming true.

Advocate Mukul Rohatgi stated on Monday that Adarsh and Lavasa cases should be considered on the same grounds. Earlier this month, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had stated that if Lavasa Corporation Limited met the conditions laid down by the MoEF, the project could get a go-ahead.

NAPM challenges clearance

However, Vishwambar Choudhari and Suniti S.R. of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) have challenged the idea of a ‘post-facto clearance' stating that such a sanction is outside the ambit of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 1994.

In a letter to Bharat Bhushan, Director of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) dated June 27, 2011, NAPM has said that an Office Memorandum (OM), which the MoEF has used as the basis for ‘regularising' the environmental violations by Lavasa, and can now be used by the Adarsh Society as well, is illegal.

The OM, issued by S.K. Aggarwal, Director, MoEF on November 16, 2010 states that there are instances where “substantial physical progress relating to the construction of the project has been made and significant investments have been made…without obtaining the prerequisite prior environmental clearance.” As a ‘solution' to such projects, the OM states that such cases of violations should be subjected to an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), and then processed by a ‘competent authority.' The matter of violations will then be put before the Board of Directors of the project; where the project proponent will be asked to ‘consider' its environment-related policy. Thereafter, a ‘written commitment' in the form of a formal resolution is to be submitted to the MoEF stating that the violations will not be repeated.

The activists argue that Mr. Aggarwal, who has issued this OM, is not a competent authority to do so. “It is against the fundamental provisions of Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and EIA Notification 2006. The Environment (Protection) Act 1986 has been enacted by Parliament of India and the EIA Notification, 2006 is published through an Extraordinary Gazette of India, which is signed by the Joint Secretary to the Government of India who is much senior in hierarchy to the issuing authority, i.e. the Director. Therefore the said OM does not supersede the Environment (Protection) Act and EIA Notification in any case, thus standing null and void,” the activists have stated.

Dangerous precedent

It is in this letter that NAPM points out that if the MoEF issues a post-facto environment clearance to Lavasa, it will establish a ‘disastrous' precedent. “Any project proponent would complete his project by causing irreversible damage to the environment and will then seek Post Facto Environmental Clearance from MoEF taking advantage of the OM. This completely defeats the purpose and objectives of Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and the EIA Notification there under,” it states.

In the letter to MoEF, NAPM has asked the Ministry to issue appropriate orders to quash the “illegal Office Memorandum.” Added to that, “NAPM will be challenging this OM in court separately,” Dr. Choudhari told The Hindu on Wednesday.

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What if Nelson Mandela Used Facebook to Fight Apartheid? [VIDEO]

Nelson Mandela, the first black South African president, is celebrating his 94th birthday — no small feat for a man who spent 27 years as a political prisoner in a country torn apart by apartheid for decades.

To commemorate the occasion, Prezence Digital Production created an information-packed but easily digestible video detailing the events of Mandela’s life. The four-minute video is a quick tour of Mandela’s timeline, told through a combination of hypothetical Facebook status updates, tweets, Instagram photos and Foursquare check-ins. It contains archival photos and actual quotes from Mandela, relatives, friends, political figures and media outlets.

For instance, a Facebook update about Mandela’s divorce from his wife elicits sympathetic reactions from friends, including fellow anti-apartheid activist Walter Sisulu. ”First you get arrested and now Evelyn leaves you,” says Sisulu in the video. “These are hard times my friend, keep strong!”

Mandela “replies” with a famous quote: “”The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”

Fondly called “Madiba” – his honorific clan name - in his homeland, Mandela was a powerful figure in the anti-apartheid movement. The video, backed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, runs on the premise that Mandela may not have spent 27 years in captivity if social media platforms were available back then. Earlier this year, the Centre put Mandela’s archive online as an interactive multimedia experience.

Do you think social media can really prevent or alleviate a hostile political situation? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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26 July 2012

MCX GOLD October contract trades lower

Will AT&T Charge For 3G FaceTime? CEO Randall Stephenson Says It’s ‘Too Early’ To Know

Vaults A and B opened at temple

12,000 more may get engineering seats

Greek crisis looms large for Lagarde

Environmentalists' fears over regularising Lavasa coming true

What if Nelson Mandela Used Facebook to Fight Apartheid? [VIDEO]

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