The dollar was at INR55.03 late Monday in Asia, up from INR54.42 late Friday. It rose to a record high of INR55.05.

A wave of global risk aversion sparked by the specter of Greece s possible disorderly exit from the euro zone had pushed Asian currencies lower in tumultuous trading sessions last week. The rupee was the hardest hit.

While sentiment remains weak, a final statement from the meeting of the Group of Eight major economies affirming they want Greece to remain in the euro zone assuaged sentiment regionwide.

Still, experts warn headlines from Europe will continue to dominate investment decisions.

"In coming weeks, all depends on the external environment, mostly Europe. If it deteriorates, there is nothing stopping the rupee from reaching 55-56 or beyond," Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole, said in a note.

Investors are extremely bearish on the rupee, due to complicated and sometimes counterproductive regulatory changes and policy indecision that may last until elections in 2014. This has led Indian companies to short the rupee, which is already weighed by a large trade deficit, he notes.

"Only a sharp improvement of global risk appetite will take the currency back below 54. It is difficult to envisage the rupee below 50 in the next 12 months," Kowalczyk said.

In the government debt market, bonds fell in a dull session, as traders awaited details on the next bond sale worth INR150 billion to be held Friday.

The benchmark 8.79% 2021 bond ended at INR101.58, down from INR101.69 at Friday s close.

Traders anticipate the government will announce issuance of a new 10-year benchmark bond as the residual maturity of the current one is less than 10 years now.

The market hopes the Reserve Bank of India will continue its bond repurchase program to ease cash availability.

"With the global backdrop remaining weak, concerns about the rupee will remain. We think the RBI will likely sterilize its intervention in the currency market to ensure stable liquidity conditions," a Barclays note said.

Barring buybacks, supply pressure on bonds will be acute over the next month or so, putting upward pressure on yields, the house said.
 

Protecting the vital infrastructure around its oil reserves, the world s fourth largest, is crucial as Iraq rebuilds an industry battered by years of war and sanctions against former dictator Saddam Hussein.

"Iraq s navy has purchased U.S. drones to protect the country s oil platforms in the south, from where most of Iraq s oil is shipped," said an official from the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, which is part of the U.S. embassy.

The OSCI did not give further details of the number or type of unmanned aircraft. But Iraqi security officials confirmed plans to use drones to protect oil infrastructure.

Iraqi forces took over responsibility for protecting the oil infrastructure in 2005, but until the withdrawal of the last American troops in December, the U.S. military had provided aerial surveillance and other logistical support.

Violence in Iraq has ebbed since the height of the war in 2006 и 2007 when thousands were killed in daily suicide bombings and sectarian slaughter, but insurgents still often target oil infrastructure.

"According to the energy police plans, we intend to use the drones by the end of this year," head of the energy protection force, Major General Hamid Ibrahim told Reuters. "We are in the process of training engineers."

Iraq opened a new offshore export terminal in the south earlier this year which helped push exports to their highest level since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion at 2.317 million barrels per day in March. A second Single Point Mooring floating platform was scheduled to further increase exports in April.

Crude exports are forecast to reach 2.75 million bpd by the end of 2012, the world s biggest source of new oil supplies over the next few years.

The southern oilfields around Basra are the heart of Iraq s production, where majors like BP, Exxon Mobil and Italy s are working.

Security is generally better in the south of the country, where one Shi ite militia ended its fight after the last U.S. troops left in December. But the oil industry has not been immune from attacks from other insurgents.

Three bombs hit a pipeline in December, disrupting output at the huge Rumaila oilfield.

Ирак s 40,000-strong energy police stepped up protection to deter attacks it expected from Sunni Islamist armed groups linked to al-Qaeda. But officials long complained they were poorly equipped for the task of protecting the vital sector.
 

He said and would watch the IPL final on May 27 in Chennai, more than three years after ties were suspended.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Zaka Ashraf said he had received an invitation from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and would watch the IPL final on May 27 in Chennai, more than three years after ties were suspended.

"It is a positive step forward in further normalising bilateral cricket ties between the two countries," Ashraf told reporters in London.

"The invitation will allow me to undertake a two-day visit to India and I plan to use this visit to have informal discussions with the BCCI officials regarding chances of restoring bilateral cricket ties," he said.

The invitation is seen as the second major step towards reviving ties between the two cricketing powerhouses.

Ties were suspended in the wake of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed on militants from Pakistan and left 166 people dead.

The BCCI earlier this month approved Pakistan featuring in this year s Champions League, a tournament between the top three IPL teams and winners from domestic Twenty20 champions from several other countries.

The moves followed a request by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a one-day visit to India last month.

Since taking over in October last year, Ashraf endeavoured to revive cricket between India and Pakistan but without receiving any positive response from the BCCI. However, Зардари s visit seems to have given the process some impetus.

The arch-rivals are due to play this year in the ICC (International Cricket Council) Future Tour Programme but India s hectic schedule is the biggest hurdle to the possibility of holding a series.

Ashraf said he remained optimistic.

"We are positive about it as we want to play India regularly in bilateral matches and we are willing to talk to them at every level to achieve this," he said.

Exuding confidence on the reopening of closed NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, a top aide of President Barack Obama has said that the US is moving in the right trajectory with Pakistan on the issue. "We re moving in the right trajectory and that we can accomplish what is now a shared objective with the Pakistanis at reopening the supply lines," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters in Chicago.

The remarks by the White House official came hours after the meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. "What I will say on the supply lines, for instance, is you ve seen very positive statements out of Islamabad about wanting to get this done. We, of course, have made positive statements as well by wanting to get this done. So now we re in a process of our teams working with through the issues associated with the reopening of the GLOCs (ground lines of communication)," he said.

"We are confident that we re going to be able to accomplish this objective. It s a positive sign that after a difficult period in our relations and a parliamentary review of the relationship between the United States and Pakistan, that we re not sitting down at the table and working through difficult issues like the ground supply lines," Rhodes said.

Appearing at the same press conference, General John Allen, Commander of the NATO and US forces in Afghanistan, said that the closure of the supply routes did not had any impact on their operations in Afghanistan.

"With regard to the ground line of communication, it has not, in fact, negatively affected our prosecution of the campaign. Indeed, in some manner, some ways in which we measure our stockage, if you will, of certain capabilities in the battle space, they’re higher today than they were when the ground line of communications were closed," he said.

"But there have been some very positive indications of late with the government in Islamabad about an interest in entering into negotiations, which I think you re all aware of, to open the ground line of communications. I can t tell you when that will occur — obviously sooner is better than later — but I can t tell you when that will occur," Allen said.

One of the important realizations of that is that, in fact, the two countries are now talking about it. "That, we view as being positive. We think it s a good
indication indicator of an improvement in the relationship. We hope to see that improve even more," said Allen who recently met Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

"I think that the trending right now is in a positive direction with respect to a variety of the conversations between Islamabad and ISAF, and Islamabad and Kabul, and Islamabad and the United States," he said.
 

Inmates of three prisons, located in Colombo city, Kalutara town and in Vavuniya town, are demanding that they be charged for their crimes or be released, Xinhua reported.

The fast began last week with the participation of 80 inmates of the Colombo prison but the number rose to 234 over the weekend with prisoners from two other prisons joining the protest.

Most of the prisoners have been in jail for over three years without being charged, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) legislator M.A. Sumanthiran, adding that a discussion will be held Monday with prison authorities regarding the long-term detainees.

The European Union had earlier this month called for a fair trial for long-term detainees in Sri Lanka.

Jean Lambert, chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with countries in South Asia, has said that the EU Parliament s position on long-term detainees in Sri Lanka is that they should be either charged or released.

Hundreds of suspected Tamil Tiger rebels and other political prisoners are in Sri Lankan prisons, some of whom have not faced trial or a charge for years or months since being arrested, according to minority Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka.

Most of the prisoners were arrested while emergency regulations were in place during the war between the Tamil rebels and the military.

The war ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebels. Most of the emergency regulations were also subsequently lifted.

With new elections looming next month in Greece and Spain s crippling recession showing no sign of abating, the eurozone crisis dominated talks in Berlin between German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his new French counterpart Pierre Moscovici.

"We agreed that we have to do everything to keep Greece in the euro club," Schaeuble told a joint press conference.

"We both believe that Greece has its place in the eurozone," Moscovici said, adding that "the commitments undertaken had to be respected" in reference to reforms demanded in return for huge bailout packages.

Europe has to support investment and economic growth in Greece "at a time when it is going through a violent recession," the French minister added.

The pair sought to present a united front ahead of a summit of EU leaders on Wednesday in Brussels, after a weekend G8 meeting left Berlin looking increasingly isolated with its austerity-driven solution to the crisis.

But they did not shy away from the main topic that divides them, with Moscovici reiterating his support for eurobonds — the pooling of eurozone debt to enable indebted countries to borrow more easily on the financial markets — which Berlin vehemently opposes.

Moscovici said that new French President Francois Hollande, who last week met German Chancellor Angela Merkel just hours after his inauguration, wanted to "put everything on the table, even topics that not everyone agreed on."

Eurobonds are a "strong idea," he said.

He stressed Europe had to come up with concrete results by a June summit.

Schaeuble said Germany "would participate in all constructive ideas to strengthen sustainable growth" but cautioned that budgetary consolidation was "a necessary precondition" for bolstering this growth.

Moscovici also insisted that France would play its part in reducing its own budget deficits, pledging: "The commitments made by President Francois Hollande during his campaign on public finances will be kept to."

France aims reduce its deficit to below the EU limit of three percent of gross domestic product by 2013 and balance its budget by 2017.

World leaders at the G8 summit Saturday stressed their unity on keeping Greece in the eurozone but acknowledged that "the right measures are not the same for each of us" — a sign of growing opposition to German-led austerity.

EU leaders will seek to bridge their differences at an informal summit on Wednesday, aiming to lay foundations for a new "growth" strategy and agree cross-border borrowing to kick-start targeted investment.

And in a reminder that the crisis was not limited to Greece, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos predicted that Spain s economy, already mired in recession with record-high unemployment, would shrink again in the second quarter.

Madrid already unsettled markets by revising higher its 2011 public deficit on Friday, projecting 8.9 percent of gross domestic product instead of 8.51 percent as reported earlier.

Schaeuble said he was "completely confident that Spain will take the necessary decisions to put it back on the right path and regain the confidence of the financial markets."

The French minister dodged a question about whether Paris would support Schaeuble as president of the eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers when Jean-Claude Juncker s term ends in July.

He said the decision would be made as part of a "package" of personnel choices, which includes appointing a new member of the European Central Bank s Executive Board.

There was certainly nothing personal against Schaeuble, Moscovici stressed, going out of his way to express admiration for the veteran German politician and his "European commitment."

Debate is currently raging over whether the EU s new fiscal pact, a treaty pushed through by Merkel to enshrine greater budgetary discipline, is enough to chart Europe out of its troubles.

Hollande has said he wants to renegotiate the pact to include more measures to boost economic output.

With markets still on edge as they wait for signs at Wednesday s informal EU summit that leaders are getting to grips with the crisis, Berenberg Bank analyst Holger Schmieding cautioned that time was short.

"Merkel and Hollande know that they cannot afford to argue for long," he said in a research note.

European stock markets mostly rebounded on Monday as G8 support for Greece to remain in the eurozone boosted sentiment after last week s sharp sell-off, traders said.

London s benchmark FTSE 100 index closed up 0.70 percent to 5,304.48 points after tumbling by five percent last week.

In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 added 0.95 percent to 6,331.04 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.64 percent to 3,027.15 points.

By early afternoon, the stock fell more than 11 percent to $33.81.

Investors and technology industry watchers are closely tracking the Menlo Park, California-based company s shares. The world s largest online social network was one of the most anticipated initial public stock offerings ever, and now serves as a bellwether for other social media companies.

"There must have been some sober second thoughts about this," said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a "Sell" rating on Facebook s stock.

It s not that he thinks Facebook is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it s just too expensive for the amount of risks associated with what s still a young company with an unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or "target price," is $30.

Facebook s market debut Friday suffered some hiccups, with trading on the Nasdaq delayed for a half hour and issues with traders  orders. The stock closed Friday just a few cents above where it priced Thursday night, when many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop. The shares opened Friday at $42.05, and fluctuated throughout the day before closing at $38.23.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an "Outperform" rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he thinks the underwriters overestimated demand for the company s stock. Last week, the underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, increased the offering price range. On Wednesday, Facebook s early investors and other stockholders increased the number of shares they were selling in the IPO. Both had seemingly been signals that there was strong demand for shares.

"The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price," Pachter said in a note to investors.
On Monday, Facebook Inc. s stock fell $4.20 to $34.03 in late morning trading. Shares dropped as low as $33 earlier.

Shares of some related social media companies also declined Monday. Zynga Inc., which makes FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars, and gets the bulk of its revenue from Facebook users, fell 4 percent to $6.87. The stock earlier touched as low as $6.36, its lowest level since the San Francisco company s December IPO. LinkedIn Corp., a network for professionals, dropped 2 percent to $96.97.

The PCB s director of international cricket, Intikhab Alam, said Monday that Malaysia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are the other contenders.

Pakistan has to look for an alternative venue after Sri Lanka last week pulled out of hosting the series because it is organizing the Sri Lanka Premier League in August.

"They (Sri Lanka) had their own problems so we have to look for alternative venue," Alam told The Associated Press.

The PCB is planning to host the five ODIs and three T20s against Australia close to the World Twenty20 to be hosted by Sri Lanka in September.

Alam said that PCB might schedule the series against Australia for after Ramadan, which ends the third week of August.

"We are looking into it, but the venue will be finalized by the end of this week."
The PCB has been forced to organize its home series at neutral venues after foreign teams refused to tour Pakistan because of security concerns since 2009 when gunmen attacked Sri Lanka team bus at Lahore.

Pakistan has organized its home series against South Africa, Sri Lanka and England in the UAE over the last three years.
 

If they infringe again during the second Test at Trent Bridge starting Friday, all-rounder Sammy could be banned from the third and final Test of the series at Edgbaston.

An International Cricket Council statement issued after close of play said match referee Roshan Mahanama of Sri Lanka had ruled the West Indies were four overs short of their target when time allowances were taken into consideration.

Under the ICC code of conduct, players are fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.

As such, Sammy was fined 80 percent of his match fee while his players received 40 percent fines.

The ICC statement added: "If Sammy is found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence in Tests over the next 12 months, he will receive a one-match suspension as per the provisions of the ICC code of conduct."

West Indies  team at Lord s had no specialist spinner although Sammy said afterwards that occasional off-break bowler Marlon Samuels had been pressed into service in part to speed up the over-rate.

The second Test starts on Friday.
 

Ingredients:

½ Kg beef Pasanday (filets)

2 Tablespoon unripe papaya (grinded)

1 Teaspoon ginger (Adrak) paste

1 Teaspoon garlic (Lehsan) paste

1 Teaspoon salt (according to taste)

2 Tablespoon yogurt

1 Teaspoon chili (Lal Mirch) powder

1 tablespoon chopped green chilies 1 Tablespoon oil (Preferably mustard oil)

Directions: Mix all the spices, yogurt and papaya and coat beef with it. Leave to marinate overnight. Barbeque over charcoal or you can also bake it in oven. For garnishing use onion rings, ginger, green chilies and lemon juice. Serve with Naan and Mint Chutney.

Protest of Pakistan Railways loco shed employees has entered 8th day. The workers observed 4-hour hunger strike and set up strike camp.

Pakistan Railways management moved the engines from the sheds to avoid trains delay. The engines of Ghauri Express and Jaffar Express bound for Faisalabad and Quetta were moved out of the sheds at 6am. 

Rail Mazdoor Ittehad leaders said that the management did not get the technical approval of the engines.

The loco shed employees announced to enforce wheel-jam strike from May 29 if the just demands of railway workers were not met.
 

Jorge Lorenzo mastered the rain-soaked Le Mans track to win the French Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday, with seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi overtaking Casey Stoner late on to take second place.

The Spaniard, who won here in 2009 и 2010, put in a masterful performance as he surged ahead from fourth place on the grid to beat Rossi by nearly 10 seconds and regain the overall lead from defending champion Stoner.

"Winning in France is fantastic. I kept my concentration because the turns were very slippery," Lorenzo said. "It was great to see all the fans here."

Rossi and Stoner, who will retire at the end of the season, were locked in a frantic battle for second in the pouring rain, with the Italian overtaking the Australian on the final lap to improve on his third-place finish last year.

"I wanted to do better than last year, so I tried to stay calm and then I pushed hard," Rossi said. "I m happy for all my team at Ducati to be on the podium."
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa finished fourth after starting from pole position.

In the overall standings, Lorenzo has 90 points after four races, with Stoner on 82 and Pedrosa third on 65. Rossi is sixth.
 

With Pakistan so far unwilling to reopen supply routes to Afghanistan, NATO faces a potential logistical nightmare as it prepares for a costly withdrawal of military hardware over the next two years.

In the run-up a NATO summit that opened Sunday, US and Pakistani officials had signaled growing optimism that a deal would be clinched on reopening the routes, which Islamabad had closed in November over a botched American air raid.

But negotiations stumbled over Pakistan s demand to charge several thousand dollars per truck, instead of the current rate of roughly $250.

A senior US official told AFP on Sunday the exponential hike in fees, reportedly as much as $5,000 per truck, was "unacceptable" and that Pakistan had failed to present a consistent, coherent negotiating position.

US officials have so far refused a demand from Islamabad for an explicit apology over the air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Since Pakistan shut the northwest border crossing to NATO about six months ago, the US-led force in Afghanistan has managed to endure the closure by relying on cargo flights and a more costly northern route through Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The shift has carried a price, costing two and a half times more per container than the Pakistani route, according to US military officials.

But under NATO s plan to withdraw most of the 130,000-strong coalition force in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 — including a vast fleet of vehicles and equipment — the Pakistani route is considered crucial.

General William Fraser, head of US Transportation Command, told senators in February that the shorter Pakistan route was needed to ensure hardware could be withdrawn on schedule.

"With the amount of equipment we need to move… we need the Pakistan GLOC (ground line of communication) open," Fraser told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February.

Last year, before the Torkham gate border crossing was shut, the United States moved more than 35,000 shipping containers through Pakistan, according to Fraser.

In another complication for NATO s exit plan, countries along the northern route have approved the transit of military vehicles and supplies but have prohibited shipping weapons through their territories.

German Defense Minister Thomas De Maiziere, speaking to reporters in Chicago, acknowledged using the northern route was a "complicated process" because it passed through so many countries.

The most practical and inexpensive route into Afghanistan runs through Iran s port of Chabahar, but that is not an option given the long-running hostility between Iran and the United States.

For Pakistan, the border crossing is a valuable source of revenue and leverage that will dry up once NATO completes its planned departure in 2014.
 

During the previous hearing of the case held in Islamabad, the three-member headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has directed the FC and provincial government to produce the missing persons before the court.

The apex court during the previous hearing has also directed the agencies and provincial home ministry to submit a report about 48 missing persons.
 

Awami National Party’s (ANP) Senator Shahi Syed said that his party was willing to negotiate with all political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for the sake of restoring peace to Karachi.

He was addressing media after meeting with Sunni Tehreek (ST) chief Muhammad Sarwat Ejaz Qadri. Shahi Syed said that it was the responsibility of federal government to restore peace to Karachi.

Speaking on the occasion Sarwat Ejaz Qadri also said that he was ready to consult with all political parties, including the MQM and the Pakistan People’s Party, for bringing an end to the recurring violence in Karachi.