Sachin Tendulkar to take oath as Rajya Sabha member on June 4

NEW DELHI: Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will take oath as member of Rajya Sabha on June 4. 

Tendulkar, who turned 39 recently and was nominated to the Upper House in April, is scheduled to take oath as member in the chamber of ChairmanHamid Ansari, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said today. 

Two others--actress Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga--who were nominated to Rajya Sabha along with Tendulkar had already taken oath earlier this month when the House was in session. 

Tendulkar was busy with the IPL season, which had just ended earlier this week.

CBI court dimisses bail pleas of Janardhana Reddy and 4 others

A CBI court on Wednesday dismissed the bail pleas of former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, his personal assistant Mehfuz Ali Khjan and three others arrested in connection with an illegal mining case involving Associated Mining Corporation.

Judge BM Angadi dismissed the petitions on the ground that the accused had committed an economic offence of "high magnitude affecting the very economy of the country".

In its order, the court said as the matter was under investigation, the possibility of the accused tampering with evidence or threatening the witnesses cannot be ruled out.

The judge then adjourned the matter to June 5.

The court had on May 23 extended till June 5 the judicial custody of Reddy and others.

Julian Assange loses extradition appeal

Britain’s Supreme Court has endorsed the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, an important turning point in the Internet activist’s controversial career.

Assange, 40, has spent the better part of two years fighting attempts to send him to the Scandinavian nation, where he is accused of sex crimes. The U.K. end of that struggle appeared to come to a messy conclusion on Wednesday, with the nation’s highest court ruling five to two that the warrant seeking his arrest was properly issued and Assange’s lawyer arguing that the case should be reopened.

Supreme Court President Nicholas Phillips, speaking for the majority, acknowledged that Assange’s case “has not been simple to resolve,” but that the court had concluded that “the request for Mr. Assange’s extradition has been lawfully made and his appeal against extradition is accordingly dismissed.”

Assange won’t be extradited immediately no matter what happens. His lawyer, Dinah Rose, stood up after the verdict to say that the decision was based on evidence that was not argued during the appeal and requested time to study the verdict further with an eye toward trying to reopen the case.

Phillips said he would give Rose two weeks to make her move.

Even if the Supreme Court refuses to reopen the case, Assange could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, although extradition experts have said that route wasn’t likely to block his removal to Sweden in the long run.

Assange is best known for revealing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. documents, including a hard-to-watch video that captured U.S. forces gunning down a crowd of Iraqi civilians and journalists that they’d mistaken for insurgents. His release of a quarter—million classified State Department cables outraged Washington and destabilized American diplomacy worldwide.

But his secret-spilling work came under a cloud after two Swedish women accused him of molestation and rape following a visit to the country in mid—2010. Assange denies wrongdoing, saying the sex was consensual, but has refused to go to Sweden, claiming he doesn’t believe he’ll get a fair trial there.

Swedish lawyer Claes Borgstrom, who represents the two women who accuse Assange of sex crimes, expressed relief at the Supreme Court’s decision, but said the British judicial system should have dealt with the case more quickly.

“I think they should have resolved this earlier,” Borgstrom told The Associated Press, adding that the long wait had been stressful for his clients.

DMK will not rock the Govt: Karunanidhi

In a flip-flop, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today made a veiled threat of pulling out of the UPA government but shortly later made it clear that his party would not rock the government in view of the Presidential election.

Addressing a meeting here to protest the steep increase in petrol prices, he lashed out at the Centre and said when his party's principles were trampled upon during earlier alliances, he had not hesitated to walk out of the coalition, whether it be the VP Singh cabinet or the BJP-led NDA.

"We have never hesitated to raise voice of opposition whenever the basic principles were hurt and if we cannot solve it by being an ally, we have not hesitated to come out and uphold those principles," he said.

"The DMK is in the coalition. But (being in) alliance is different. It is our duty to voice concern against policies that will affect the people," he told the meeting which was also called to protest hike in power tariff and prices of milk and bus fares announced by the Jayalalithaa government.

With the veiled threat causing political ripples, the 88-year-old leader later resorted to damage control, saying he had not said his party will walk out but had only recalled it had been forced to walk out following clash of policies while being an ally of BJP-led NDA or in the VP Singh government in the past.

"It is the time of Presidential polls. So we will not create a crisis for the government. We will remain in the alliance with bitterness," he said.

Romney clinches GOP nomination with Texas primary win

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.

According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 88 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

Romney would be the first Mormon nominated by a major party. His religion has been less of an issue than it was during his failed bid four years ago.

"We did it!" Romney proclaimed in a message to supporters, noting that "it's only the beginning."

"I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee," he said in a statement.

"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us," Romney said. "I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity."

Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy.

Romney went on the attack Tuesday, releasing a Web video citing the Obama administration's loan-guarantee investments in four renewable-energy firms that lost money and laid off workers.

The message -- "President Obama is fundamentally hostile to job creators" -- has been a theme of the Romney campaign since he launched his presidential bid. But sensing an opportunity to reach a new audience, the campaign planned to highlight Obama's support for the failed renewable energy company Solyndra, among other private ventures the Obama administration helped support.

"We need to have presidents who understand how this economy works," Romney told reporters Tuesday. "Sometimes I just don't think he understands what it takes to help people. I know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what he's got to do."

Romney's message and his big day, however, were somewhat overshadowed by real estate mogul Donald Trump and his discredited suggestions that Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Trump, who had toyed with the idea of running for president. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump's repeated insinuations to the contrary.

"If Mitt Romney lacks the backbone to stand up to a charlatan like Donald Trump because he's so concerned about lining his campaign's pockets, what does that say about the kind of president he would be?" Obama's deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, said in a statement.

Asked Monday about Trump's contentions, Romney said: "I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in." He added: "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

Republicans won't officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Fla. Romney has 1,174 convention delegates.

He won at least 88 delegates in Texas with 64 left to be decided, according to early returns. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Solicitor General Ted Cruz were headed to a runoff in July.

Dewhurst led in Tuesday's voting but fell short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate -- but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the threshold on March 4, after Romney had dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year's primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar, new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state and a Republican electorate that built up several other candidates before settling on Romney.

Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Trump -- all of them sat atop the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann peaked for a short time, too. But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

 Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney's status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year's version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.

Both initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney but Gingrich is now actively promoting Romney's campaign.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

 Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should help Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn't, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.

"Romney's been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he's ever going to be," Galen said. "Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/30/romney-clinches-gop-nomination-with-texas-primary-win/#ixzz1wLuZlPNZ

Joy as Suu Kyi greets Myanmar migrants in Thailand

MAHACHAI, Thailand — Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday told an ecstatic crowd of Myanmar migrants in Thailand she would do all she could to help them, as she kicked off her first trip abroad in 24 years.

"I can give you one promise -- I will try my best for you," Suu Kyi told a crowd of hundreds packing a narrow street in Samut Sakhon province south of Bangkok to see the opposition leader, who had not left her homeland since 1988.

"May you be able to return to the country soon," she said to the cheering migrants, many of whom held up banners with Suu Kyi's picture and signs in Burmese and English that read "Free Burma" and "We want to go home".

The opposition leader was given a rapturous welcome in Mahachai, a key seafood processing area that is home to one of the highest concentrations of Myanmar migrants in Thailand.

"I am very happy and I want to cry. I feel that we will get democracy in Myanmar," said one migrant worker in the crowd, who only gave her name as Phyu.

Suu Kyi praised the strong "spirit" of workers from Myanmar, also known as Burma, "in spite of the many troubles they have been through" in comments to journalists after the speech.

"All of them say one thing -- we want to go back to Burma as soon as possible. That of course is part of our responsibility," she said.

Suu Kyi's foray beyond Myanmar's borders is a significant show of confidence in dramatic changes that have swept her homeland since a near 50-year military dictatorship was replaced with a quasi-civilian regime last year.

The former political prisoner, who won a seat in parliament in historic April by-elections, is expected to meet Thailand's prime minister and attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia during several days in the country.

Her decision to begin the trip by meeting some of the hundreds of thousands of Myanmar migrants who work in low paid jobs in Thai homes, factories and fishing boats, shines a spotlight on a group that has long been marginalised and prone to exploitation.

Thailand's workforce is heavily reliant on low-cost foreign workers, both legal and illegal, with Myanmar nationals accounting for around 80 percent of the two million registered migrants in the kingdom. There are thought to be a further one million undocumented foreign workers.

"Most of the workers here want to go back home but we can't afford that. There are no jobs back there and it's difficult to eat, difficult to live," said Aung Htun, 28, a rice mill worker.

Suu Kyi met several migrant workers as part of her visit, hearing stories that conveyed a range of experiences and promised to discuss the issues raised with the Thai authorities.

Myanmar, which activists estimate has about 10 percent of its population living overseas, is in the process of trying to rebuild an economy left in tatters by military dictatorship, while encouraging increased remittances from the diaspora.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Japan's Kyoto University, said the veteran activist was looking to "reconnect" with Myanmar expatriates.

"There are a lot of Burmese exiles in Thailand, Burmese dissidents and immigrant workers, that is why she chose to go there," he said.

Suu Kyi's ventures overseas, which also include a European tour in June, are seen as the completion of her transformation from prisoner to global politician.

The 66-year-old, who spent 15 of the past 22 years under house arrest, refused to travel abroad in the past even when the former junta denied her dying husband a visa to visit her, because of fears she would never be allowed to return.

Suu Kyi also said she would meet refugees in northern Thailand, where roughly 100,000 people live in camps after being displaced by ethnic conflict in Myanmar's eastern border areas.

She is set to meet business leaders at the World Economic Forum and appear at two events at the Bangkok forum on Friday.

Suu Kyi's European travel plans include an address to an International Labour Organization conference in Geneva and a speech in Oslo to finally accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991 for her peaceful struggle for democracy.

She also intends to travel to Britain, where she lived for years with her family, and will address parliament in London.

Supreme Court dismisses WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's extradition appeal

The founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, accused of the sex attacks by two former volunteers, had argued that the European Arrest Warrant issued for him was invalid because it was made by prosecutors rather than a judge.

The Supreme Court, Britain's highest court, on Wednesday rejected his claim in a ruling made by a 5-2 majority of senior judges.

Lord Phillips, the president of the court, said 'judicial authority' could mean a prosecutor.

But lawyers for the maverick Australian, responsible for the publication of thousands of American diplomatic cables and sensitive military files, indicated they may try to have the case reopened.

They said it was decided on a point not raised in the hearing, and were given 14 days to lodge a claim.

KKR in way of CSK's hat-trick of IPL titles

Finally the D-Day is here. After seven weeks of non-stop cricket, some entertainment on the field and more than a few controversies off it, Chennai Super Kings will host the biggest game of IPL 5 - the final. The two-time and defending champions will face first-time finalists Kolkata Knight Riders in what promises to be a high voltage encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

Chennai are overwhelming favourites to beat KKR and win their third successive IPL crown, keeping in mind the form they have shown in the last two matches against Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils. The tournament was turned on its head when Chennai were lucky to have qualified for the playoffs after Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore slipped in their league encounters late on.

Chennai's batting, particularly the top order, has been in scintillating form and their average in last three matches batting first is more than 200. Their last match on Friday against Delhi was remarkable for the ease with which CSK dismantled the team that was ranked No. 1 on the league table. Their stunning 86-run demolition of Delhi would have surely enhanced their confidence for the finals.

The CSK top order is in form with Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay and MS Dhoni all coming to form at the right time. Dhoni's fifty was the key to victory over Mumbai in the Eliminator, and before him the fightback was scripted by Hussey and Subramaniam Badrinath. In their win over Delhi, it was a one man show with Vijay going berserk and taking the game away from Delhi. His 113 off just 58 balls was one of the best knocks of IPL 5 and CSK will be hoping that he along with other batsmen shine on the day it matters most. And playing in home conditions will give the bowlers a psychological boost to neutralise KKR's superiority in bowling.

Kolkata, on the other hand, have been the most balanced and consistent team in the tournament so far. And that balance was evident as they finished second in the points tally. Gautam Gambhir with the bat and Sunil Narine with the ball have been the stand-out performers for the Shah Rukh Khan-owned team. Yusuf Pathan hit some form at the right time against Delhi in the first Qualifier and will surely be one of the key in the finals. KKR have four potential match-winners in their bowling line-up in Narine, L Balaji – who has the second best economy rate after Narine - Shakib Al Hasan and Brett Lee. Rajat Bhatia too has been a consistent in the team with his steady line and clever changes of pace. The best shot for KKR to win this match is that their batsmen get them off to a flying start.

Chennai will surely want to make a hat-trick of titles whereas KKR will hope to shed their under-achiever tag. Chennai has the best record while playing in their home ground and are sure shot favourites for this one.

Probable XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, S Badrinath, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, Manvinder Bisla, Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Laxmi Shukla, Rajat Bhatia, Brett Lee, Sunil Narine

Pak wants US to respect decision to imprison doctor who helped CIA find Osama

The United States should respect a Pakistan court's decision to imprison a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

"I think as far as the case of Mr. Afridi is concerned, it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts, and we need to respect each other's legal processes," Moazzam Ali Khan told reporters.

'Obama admin handled Dr Afridi issue poorly’

Washington: Peter King, Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the US House of Representative, has expressed concern over Obama administration's inaction to protect a Pakistani doctor, who was imprisoned for 33 years for helping Washington to track down Osama bin Laden. 

"This has been handled very poorly right from the time of the raid," Fox News quoted King as saying. 

The doctor, Shakil Afridi, ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify Laden's presence in Abbottabad, where US commandos killed the Al Qaeda chief. 

The operation annoyed the Pakistani officials, who said that the doctor's help was an act of treachery by a supposed ally. 

"They put him out there. I'm focused on that they disclosed his identity," King said. 

The doctor was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday for conspiring against the state, verdict officials believe is likely to strain Pakistan's relations with Washington. 

Senior US officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. 

A senior US official with knowledge of counter-terrorism operations against al Qaeda in Pakistan said the doctor was never asked to spy on Pakistan. 

"He was asked only to help locate al Qaeda terrorists, who threaten Pakistan and the US," the official said. 

However, many Pakistani officials have claimed that the doctor's help was an act of treachery. 

"He was working for a foreign spy agency. We are looking after our national interests," a Pakistani intelligence official said. 

Afridi's conviction comes at time when the US and Pakistan relations are already strained over Pakistan’s refusal to re-open NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. 

The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. 

ANI 

Modi has his way as Sanjay Joshi quits ahead of BJP national meet

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had his way forcing the resignation of his bete noire Sanjay Joshi from the BJP National Executive after which he decided to attend the two-day meeting which he had earlier planned to boycott.

Party chief Nitin Gadkari, who had brought Joshi back into the executive, announced the end of a "small controversy" and declared that he and the Gujarat strongman will work together to strengthen the party, setting the stage for deliberations in the executive.

Modi announced in Udaipur that he will go to Mumbai in the afternoon for the meeting of the executive, which will pave the way for giving another term to Gadkari as Party President.

Gadkari said with the end of this row, he and Modi will work "shoulder to shoulder" to strengthen the organisation in the changed political scenario.

The BJP chief also praised Joshi for showing "large heart" in resigning from the executive in the interest of the organisation to "end" any controversy.

"Joshi has in a letter to me has said that he is resigning in the interest of the party," the BJP President said projecting a picture of unity in the organisation at a time when it is planning a major agitation against UPA government over petrol price hike.

There were apprehensions that the absence of Modi could cast a shadow over the meet which is expected to pave the way for a second three year for Gadkari as BJP chief.

The conclave is the first major gathering of the party top brass ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the two party-ruled states, scheduled by year-end.

Modi had not attended the last meeting of the National Executive held in Delhi in September apparently peeved over the induction of Joshi into Uttar Pradesh election campaign by Gadkari. He had also not campaigned in the UP polls.

The talk in BJP circles is that Modi had threatened to resign from the National Executive if Joshi is retained in the body where he is an invitee member.

Gadkari did not want to give any handle for Modi to stay away from the Mumbai meet which is expected to pass a resolution seeking a change in BJP constitution giving a consecutive three year term to the party chief.

Gadkari and Modi have not been on the best of terms in recent times and the party chief had in an interview conceded that they have little interaction .

After a gap of six years, Joshi, who has been a former party general secretary, had been asked by Gadkari to assist party in UP assembly polls. This decision had not gone down well with Modi who has never seen Joshi eye-to-eye.

Modi had all these years stiffly resisted moves to bring back Joshi.

Mumbai has proved unlucky for Joshi for the second time. In 2005, Joshi was forced to resign following a controversy over a CD purportedly showing him in poor light. The CD surfaced during the silver jubilee celebrations of the party in the megapolis.

Joshi was at that time a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ‘pracharak' nominee in the party in the powerful position of general secretary (organisation).

Petrol price hike: TDP, Left and BJP stage protests

Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh including Telugu Desam, CPM and CPI and BJP staged protests in Vijayawada city and Krishna district against the government's decision on petrol price hike.

The TDP, BJP and CPM leaders in the city staged 'rasta roko' at different places and demanded to roll back the hike. They questioned why the Union government was not willing to cut excise and customs duties on crude oil instead of raising the price.

Even the state government was not willing to cut its sales tax on petroleum price to relieve the common man from the hike, they said.

The leaders expressed fear that the government may also hike diesel and LPG prices within a few days.

The petrol price hike will definitely have an impact on the bypolls in the state and the people will teach a lesson to Congress in the bypolls, to be held for 18 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat on June 12, the protesting leaders said.

Meanwhile, police arrested workers of all political parties who staged 'rasta roko'.

On the other hand, some local Congress leaders, on conditions of anonymity, expressed shock over the petrol price hike and said the voters would definitely go against the party during the forthcoming byelections.

UPDATE 1-Indian rupee hits record low, central bank cautious

The Indian rupee dropped to a record low against the dollar on Wednesday, sparking mild intervention from a central bank seen by traders as reluctant to be more aggressive against such a strong down trend.

The rupee touched the symbolically significant level of 56 to the dollar as concerns about the euro zone prompt global risk aversion and expose India's domestic vulnerabilities, most prominently a widening current account deficit and sluggish policy reforms.

The rupee has now fallen more than 5 percent this year against the dollar to make it the worst-performing Asian currency monitored daily by Reuters. It has dropped more than 13 percent from its 2012 high reached in February.

Currency traders say the slide in the rupee in recent sessions has been made easier by a cautious Reserve Bank of India, the central bank, which has refrained from heavy dollar selling.

"If there is global risk aversion, how can the RBI defend the currency? The conditions prevailing are such that the fall in the rupee is justified," said Ashtosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank.

However, inaction carries dangers of its own, traders said, because it would deepen an impression of a central bank that is unwilling to take action. It does have measures to hand, such as selling dollars to oil importers, they said.

Still, it is important for the central bank to intervene in the market from time to time to be able to stem any steep fall, C. Rangarajan, the chairman of the prime minister's economic advisory council, told television channel CNBC-TV18.

"Sometimes markets always have a tendency to overshoot. I think if the impression goes that it will not intervene at all, it will have an adverse impact," Rangarajan said.

The drop on Wednesday to 56 per dollar marked the sixth consecutive day that the currency had hit a record low. The central bank's intervention, which dealers described as mild, was the first since Thursday.

The currency was weighed down by relentless dollar demand from oil importers and other companies.

Traders are looking ahead to an RBI board meeting scheduled for Thursday in the northern Indian city of Mussorie, although the central bank tends not to make major announcements following such meetings.

The central bank has taken several measures to stem the rupee's slide, including raising deposit rates for non-resident Indians and forcing exporters to convert half of their foreign currency holdings into rupees, but none has had any notable imp a ct.

The central bank has shied away from action that traders believe would make a significant difference, including most immediately selling dollars directly to oil importers.

Nomura argues such a move would reduce market dollar demand by $8.8 billion per month, or the average monthly value of petroleum and crude imports in the last fiscal year.

However, such a move would expose the central bank to greater market risk and erode its already diminishing stockpile of dollars.

Some observers expressed sympathy with the RBI's position, given stronger actions carry their own risks.

"There are costs associated with each response and these in any case will only be stop-gap measures that won't address the underlying macro imbalances including the unsustainably large CA (current account) deficit," CLSA economist Rajeev Malik wrote in a recent note. (Additional reporting by Subhadip Sircar; Writing by Rafael Nam; Editing by Tony Munroe)

Qaeda Ally Says Yemen Bomb Was Payback for Attacks

WASHINGTON — A huge suicide bombing in the heart of Yemen’s capital Monday left more than 100 people dead and hundreds wounded, stunning the country’s beleaguered government and delivering a stark setback to the American counterterrorism campaign against Al Qaeda’s regional franchise, which has repeatedly tried to plant bombs on United States-bound jetliners.

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The bodies of soldiers were brought to a hospital morgue after the bombing in Sana on Monday.

Militants allied with Al Qaeda quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, in which a man disguised as a soldier blew himself up in the midst of a military parade rehearsal near the presidential palace in Sana, the capital. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in years in Yemen, the dirt-poor south Arabian country that is now central to United States concerns about terrorism.

The militant group, which goes by the name Ansar al Shariah, said in a Facebook post that the attack was aimed at Yemen’s defense minister and was intended to retaliate for the government campaign against Al Qaeda’s southern sanctuaries that began this month. The militants appear to be holding out and inflicting heavy losses on Yemen’s weak and divided army, despite a stepped-up United States campaign of drone strikes and military assistance.

By Tuesday, the death toll stood at 105, hospital officials said. The fatalities spread gloom and mourning over the planned national unity day celebrations for which the slain and injured soldiers had been rehearsing. The day commemorates the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990. A full military parade in the vast Saba’een Square, where the attack took place, was replaced by a smaller ceremony at the air defense college close to the presidential residence, Sana residents said.

The suicide bombing brought scenes of horrific carnage to the square in Yemen’s capital, which is heavily fortified and had been spared the worst of the insurgent violence.

“I saw arms and legs scattered on the ground,” said one young soldier named Jamal. “The wounded people were piled on top of each other, covered with blood. It was awful.”

A video of the parade ground posted on YouTube showed throngs of rehearsal participants running in panic and a pile of motionless uniformed bodies after the explosion.

The bombing came a week after President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, visited Sana and soon after the discovery of the third attempt to smuggle a bomb aboard a United States-bound jetliner by Qaeda militants based in Yemen.

The attack took Yemen’s security forces completely by surprise and was likely to further weaken morale among troops who are already angry about poor pay, ill treatment and corruption in the top ranks. Hours afterward, Yemen’s new president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, announced the ouster of four high-ranking commanders and delivered a televised address in which he pledged to continue the fight against Al Qaeda “until their eradication, no matter what sacrifices are required.”

Mr. Hadi took power in February from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the longtime autocrat whose unwillingness to cede power had long been an underlying cause of increasing mayhem in the country.

Although Mr. Hadi appears to be cooperating more eagerly with the United States in the fight against Al Qaeda than his predecessor, he faces extraordinary challenges, including a secessionist movement in the south and a legacy of corruption that has severely weakened efforts to take on the militants.

“This changes everything — the soldiers will be so angry and upset,” one midlevel officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The politicians are playing dirty political games, and we are the ones who die. In the south, they are sending soldiers who have fired five bullets in their whole life against Al Qaeda, who fight constantly.”

Monday’s carnage followed an attack on Sunday against three American civilian contractors helping to train Yemen’s Coast Guard in the port city of Hodeida. The contractors escaped with light injuries, State Department officials said.

Witnesses said the attacker on Monday walked from the western part of Saba’een Square, dressed in military clothes, and detonated a suicide belt just before the defense minister, Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, and his immediate subordinates had been expected to greet the troops. Most of the casualties were members of the Central Security Organization, a paramilitary force commanded by Yahya Saleh, a nephew of the former president, according to several survivors.

In the past, Al Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch — eager to build its popularity with Yemenis — has tried to avoid deadly attacks on rank-and-file soldiers, and has used frequent online posts to urge them to defect. This year, it kidnapped 75 soldiers in southern Yemen and later released them, saying it was doing so on the orders of the group’s commander, Nasser al Wihayshi.

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In its Facebook statement, Ansar al Shariah tried to justify the attack by saying that the Central Security forces “committed massacres against demonstrators during the recent revolution” in addition to its attacks against jihadist militants.

The group appears to be less concerned about negative publicity now that it is engaged in an all-out battle to defend the territories it has controlled for more than a year in southern Yemen’s Abyan Province.

That campaign began this month, with the Yemeni military carrying out airstrikes and a heavy ground assault and reaching the outskirts of Jaar, the most important of the militant-controlled towns. But in recent days, many soldiers have been killed, and the effort to retake the town appears to have stalled, witnesses said. Yemen’s most elite counterterrorism unit, trained with American assistance, does not appear to have been deployed.

A senior American official in Washington acknowledged on Monday that the Yemeni military’s southern offensive was experiencing “fits and starts” as army units made up of largely untested conscripts encountered stiff resistance from entrenched militant forces.

“This is an ongoing struggle,” said the official, who follows Yemen closely and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomatic environment. “We need to be patient.”

More ominously, the official said, Monday’s attack in Sana reflects the ability of a militant group like Al Qaeda to “strike when it wishes.” He added, “There is an escalation of attacks, and we’re all worried about the level of violence.”

Monday’s bombing came against a backdrop of increasing American military and counterterrorism assistance in Yemen. About two dozen members of United States Special Operations forces are providing target information for Yemeni airstrikes against militants, senior American military officials said.

Operating from a Yemeni base near Aden, in the southern part of the country, the American troops are using satellite imagery, drone video and electronic intercepts to identify targets for a Yemeni offensive against the insurgents that has intensified this month, the officials said.

“We’re pursuing a focused counterterrorism campaign in Yemen designed to prevent and deter terrorist plots that directly threaten U.S. interests at home and abroad,” Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. “We have not, and will not, get involved in a broader counterinsurgency effort — that would not serve our long-term interests and runs counter to the desires of the Yemeni government and its people.”

Responding to reporters at the NATO summit meeting in Chicago, Mr. Obama said, “We are very concerned about Al Qaeda activity and extremist activity in Yemen,” adding that “there’s no doubt that in a country that is still poor, that is still unstable, it is attracting a lot of folks that previously might have been in” Pakistan’s tribal areas before the United States began pressuring Qaeda fighters there.

Obama snubs Zardari over Afghan supply routes

CHICAGO: In an unmistakable snub, President Barack Obama left Pakistan off a list of nations he thanked for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan.

The omission speaks to the prolonged slump in US relations with Pakistan that clouded aNATO summit where nations were eyeing the exits in Afghanistan.

Obama readily acknowledged that the tensions raise questions about whether Pakistan will help or hurt the goal of a stable Afghanistan. Continued mistrust between the United Statesand Pakistan also threaten cooperation to eliminate al-Qaida sanctuaries and could undermine U.S. confidence in the security of Pakistan's growing nuclear arsenal.

"We need to work through some of the tensions that have inevitably arisen after 10 years of our military presence in that region," Obama said Monday. "I don't want to paper over real challenges there."

Pakistan is not a NATO member but was invited to the summit on Sunday and Monday because of its influence in next-door Afghanistan and its role until last year as the major supply route to landlocked NATO forces there. Pakistan closed those routes after a U.S. attack on the Pakistani side of the border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

The last-minute invitation from NATO to join the Chicago talks was a sign of hope that the rift had healed.

But it hasn't. And Obama's dealings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari made that clear on Monday.

Zardari came to Obama's home town expecting a separate meeting with the US leader like the one accorded to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But without a final deal to reopen the supply lines, no such meeting was to occur.

Obama, along with Karzai, did speak briefly with Zardari on the sidelines of a large group meeting on Monday. Karzai dismissed the encounter in an interview with CNN as a "three-way photograph taking ... just a photo opportunity."

That was after Zardari had to sit by as Obama opened Monday's session with public thanks only to the nations north of Afghanistan who allowed expanded supply shipments to transit their territory to compensate for the closed Pakistani border gates.

"I want to welcome the presence of President Karzai, as well as officials from central Asia andRussia - nations that have an important perspective and that continue to provide critical transit for ISAF supplies," Obama said, referring to the International Security Assistance Force that is fighting the war.

Pakistani officials played down the snub.

"The supply route on Pakistan's side has been suspended for the last six months," Zardari's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told reporters. "There was really no expectation from our side that the US president would appreciate and admire the suspension of the NATO supply lines."

The border crossing dispute is stuck over how much the U.S. will pay Pakistan to allow trucks to transit its territory. Before the airstrike, the U.S. paid about $250 per truck. Now, two U.S. officials said, Pakistan wants $5,000 a truck and an apology for the deaths in the airstrike. The Obama administration has said it was willing to pay as much as $500 per vehicle and has expressed condolences and regret, but no apology. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were being conducted in private.

The prospects for reaching a deal were unclear, even as the stakes grow larger.

Babar said the government had asked negotiators to expedite an agreement, but that "no timeline can be given."

Obama told reporters at the close of the summit that he knew beforehand that there would be no deal on the supply routes now.

"President Zardari shared with me his belief that these issues can get worked through," Obama said. "We're actually making diligent progress on it."

Zardari also met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday and made a beeline across a meeting hall to grasp her hand again on Monday morning. The State Department said Clinton and Zardari "discussed the importance of reopening the NATO supply lines," and of cooperating to fight terrorist threats.

The U.S. and Pakistan have a history of troubled relations that started well before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The road has grown only rockier since then. Pakistan has received billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. over the past decade, but anti-Americanism is widespread in the country. And after years of sometimes meaningful cooperation in hunting down al-Qaida figures, Pakistan is still seen by many U.S. officials as double-dealing and unreliable.

The transit route issue was a distraction and an embarrassment for the United States at the summit, and Obama's cool arm's length treatment of Zardari made it look even worse for the Pakistani president.

"Pakistan has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan, and it is in our national interests to see a Pakistan that is democratic, that is prosperous and that is stable," Obama said.

The quarrel over supply routes is intertwined with several other disputes, including Pakistan's opposition to U.S. drone strikes against terrorist targets inside its borders.

In addition to closing the border crossings in response to the November attack, Pakistan ordered the U.S. to vacate Shamsi air base, which the U.S. was using to launch drone strikes at al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

The top allied commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, has tried to cast the supply route problem in the best possible light, while acknowledging that he'd like to see the border crossings reopened as soon as possible. Allen said Sunday that by some measure, war stocks are higher now than when the crossings were closed.

That is thanks to an increased - and much more costly - use of alternative routes, including a network of northern routes that connect Baltic and Caspian Sea ports with Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia and the Caucasus. And they combine sea, rail and truck transport and are more costly than crossing Pakistan by land.

U.S. officials have offered a range of estimates on how much the closing of the Pakistani land routes have added to the overall supply costs, but it apparently is at least two or three times more expensive to move supplies by air and via the northern route.

To underline the value of those alternative supply routes from the north, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta met Monday in Chicago with his counterparts from the central Asian nations ofKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. He expressed his "deep appreciation for their support" of the northern supply route, Pentagon press secretary George Little said.

At least as troublesome as being forced to use alternative supply routes into Afghanistan is the issue of how to get war materiel out of the country as Allen begins the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops this summer. That's because the withdrawal includes shipment of vehicles and other equipment that would be costly and time consuming to remove by air.

The NATO alliance needs Pakistan's cooperation to ensure Afghanistan's long-term stability and security, NATO's top officer told reporters. That was a mild way of saying that Pakistan can play the spoiler at will and holds cards the fighting force does not. Pakistan shares history, culture and language with Afghanistan's restive southern swath, and maintains support for Taliban-led insurgents who cross the border to kill U.S. and NATO forces.