Nikko Asset Says India May Let Rupee Advance to Curb Inflation
By Anoop Agrawal
April 21 (Bloomberg) — India's rupee will advance this year to near the highest in a decade as the central bank allows appreciation to help temper inflation running near a three-year high, according to Nikko Asset Management said.
Nikko Asset, Citigroup Inc.'s Japanese fund unit, expects the rupee to advance to 39.7 per U.S. dollar by the end of June and to 39.5 by year-end. The currency was at 39.93 on April 17, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. India's markets were shut on April 18 for a holiday.
The Reserve Bank of India last week ordered banks to set aside more money to cool lending and help reduce the inflation rate that has more than doubled in the past four months amid soaring commodity and food prices. The level of inflation is unacceptable and the central bank will announce a response in its April 29 monetary policy statement, RBI Governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy said on April 15.
“I wouldn't be surprised if there is more intense speculation it will tolerate a much stronger rupee,'' said Gavin Redknap, a London-based emerging market currency strategist at Nikko, in a telephone interview. “I expect the central bank to further use that tool rather than increase rates.''
The Reserve Bank on April 17 raised the so-called cash reserve ratio to 8 percent from 7.5 percent in two phases by May 10 to drain $4.6 billion from the banking system, adding to government efforts to rein in inflation.
Soaring food and crude oil prices spurred India's annual inflation rate to 7.14 percent in the week ended April 5 from a year earlier, hampering Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's efforts to cut poverty in the world's second-most populous nation.
Record Oil Prices
Crude oil, trading near a record on the New York Mercantile Exchange, has risen 21 percent this year. India relies on imports of oil to meet about 75 percent of its annual energy needs. Asia's third-largest economy depends on imports to meet half its edible oil needs.

bloomberg.com

Freshwater Fishing Trends
Trout: Very good. Troll from the surface down to 55 feet using trolling spoons or large plugs. Also drift large live shiners in the same zone. Night fishing continues to be productive with large fish and good numbers being caught; troll the rivers for best success. The season finale Jocassee Outdoor Center Trout Tournament is this Saturday, April 12 - afterwards there will be a barbecue provided by JOC. Read about March 8 tournament.
Largemouth and Redeye Bass: Excellent. Bass are moving towards the banks and biting aggressively. The hot lure is dark swamp crawler green pumpkin Zoom worms.
Largemouth Bass: Very good. Warmer weather has moved fish shallower and fish are preparing to move onto beds in some areas. Try flipping plastic crawdads under boat docks. Also use 3 1/2 inch live magic shad colored Lake Fork Swim baits and topwater jerkbaits.
Spotted Bass: Very good. Fish the upper part of the lake around Mile Creek and High Falls. Early in the morning throw a buzz bait or a top water jerk bait. Switch to a Carolina Rig worm in pumpkin seed or watermelon colors as the sun rises. Live baiting with medium shiners is also productive fishing vertically over structure.
Crappie: Fair. It’s still early for Upstate crappie but try minnows and jigs in 15-20 feet of water around brush piles and other structure. Some very large crappie are being caught but not numbers.
Striped and Hybrid Bass: Good to very good. There are reports of 20 to 30 pound fish being caught in 8 to 15 feet of water off points. Monitor water temperatures and look for the warmest water that isn’t muddy. Striper are attempting to spawn right now and moving into the tailwaters of the upstream dam, river or large creeks and feeding along key main-lake structure as they go. Check points in the middle of the reservoir on up; big striper are hitting large gizzard shad trolled off points up and down the Seneca.

aikenstandard.com

Touted as the priciest Egyptian film ever, this urban epic centers on a decaying luxury apartment building in Cairo. The intersecting storylines are simplistic yet engrossing: A shopgirl fights off lecherous bosses as she dreams of her earnest beau, who falls in with a group of insurgents. A cynical ex-Pasha lures women to his office boudoir.
A gay newspaper editor seduces a naive, married soldier. A wealthy businessman buys his way into political office and treats his secret second wife like contraband. Watching politics on TV, the ex-Pasha expresses what seems to be the new national motto: "Be patient. I want to see things get worse." What could have been a sprawling mess is neatly contained and lushly filmed by Marwan Hamed. (1:30 p.m. Sat., St. Anthony Main. 161 min.)

startribune.com

For the second year in a row, “American Idol” transforms, for one night only, from trying to sell Coca-Cola, Apple computers and iTunes and Ford vehicles to raising money for underprivileged children. The results show, in which somebody goes home, gets moved to 8 pm Thursday night. “Idol Gives Back” is a star-studded affair, and kicks off with a group number by the Idolizers, doing “Please Don’t Stop the Music,” while “So You Think You Can Dance” hoofers hurl their bodies around the big stage of the Kodak Theater.
Why did the words “Exxon Mobil” just appear in red on the bottom of the screen? Is “Idol” selling simple word placement now? Not just commercials?
But more to the point, organizations that will benefit this year include Save the Children, Malaria No More, the Global Fund, Children’s Health Fund, Children’s Defense Fund and Make It Right, a campaign started by Brad Pitt for New Orleans recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
Last year, “Idol Gives Back” raised $76 million; this year, they’re shooting for $100 million.
Getting the taped fundraising pleas off to a bilingual start, George Lopez makes a plea in Spanish. Kylie Minogue makes a plea in an Australian accent. Maria Shriver, aka California’s first lady, comes onstage joined by what appears to be a small army. Ben Stiller appears in a spot in which he makes an unfunny joke about singing Whitney Houston songs, says we may be thinking he’s crazy, then adds the zinger: “Isn’t that what ‘American Idol’ is all about, convincing crazy people that they belong on television?”
What is that white thing on Kobe Bryant’s face? A bandage?
Paula and Randy appear in a taped segment in which they visit a school in California where the kids are forced to worry about things like drive-by shootings instead of their schoolwork. It’s touching, low-key and effective.

oregonlive.com

Observing April Fools Day has become a time-honored tradition for many web companies. Much like changing your logo to celebrate holidays, pulling a fast one on your users on April 1st is something that many web services and applications have really taken to heart. But keeping creative year-after-year is tough, and some companies have learned how to consistently deliver. Below, based on past performance, is a list of the top 10 places you can go to get fooled tomorrow.
Google’s pranks each year are probably the most anticipated on the web. Last year, they hit users with two: Sewage-based home WiFi, and printed Gmail. Other classics from the Google prank archive include: the Google Mentalplex, Google Gulp, Google’s jobs on the moon, Google PigeonRank, and Google Romance.
Being the tricksters they are, Google also sometimes makes some extaordinary real announcements on April 1, like in 2004 when it used a rather tongue-in-cheek press release to announce Gmail. Google also inspires others to create Google-centric pranks, such as Google Maps Rooms from Google Blogoscoped in 2006.
Auction site eBay is another great place to trawl for April Fools jokes. Some intrepid auctioneer usually tries to pull a prank each year, perhaps most famously that distinction fell to prop-maker Dan Baines. In 2006 he caused quite a stir when he put up for sale what was purported to be the body of a dead “fairy” on the site. It took him days to respond to all the email he got as a result. “”I’ve had all sorts of comments including people who say they’ve seen exactly the same things and one person who told me to return the remains to the grave site as soon as possible or face the consequences,” he told the BBC.

readwriteweb.com

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