Exclusive: Solutions sought for lengthy Chinese stock halts (Reuters)

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Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. securities industry is studying ways to avoid lengthy trading halts of U.S.-listed Chinese securities that have been suspected of accounting problems, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) said.

SIFMA, U.S. securities regulators and exchanges all held talks, according to a separate source, to deal with halts of shares that have stretched for several months while exchanges wait for delayed regulatory filings or resolutions to audit probes.

"I can confirm for you that SIFMA is exploring this issue and studying possible solutions," said SIFMA spokeswoman Katrina Cavali said.

Numerous U.S.-listed Chinese companies, many of which first listed on U.S. exchanges through reverse takeovers, have been hit with charges of accounting fraud. When companies respond to allegations, shares are often halted for weeks.

But the trading halts created a skid row of sorts of Chinese companies languishing on exchanges without trading for several months. There are currently more than a dozen such companies.

Investors in companies that have been halted have been unable to close out positions because trade halts have stretched for months. One Chinese company, NIVS IntelliMedia Technology Group, has been halted since March 24.

A source familiar with the discussions said some of the possible solutions discussed include matching outstanding long and short positions in the halted securities.

Normally, an individual company can have shares halted for a few hours so a company can disseminate news or the exchange can resolve a trading-related issue.

It was unclear whether a final decision had been made.

Shares of Chinese companies have been hit hard, with some losing most of their value, as a result of the allegations. The Canadian-listed Chinese forestry company Sino-Forest, which is down more than 90 percent since allegations were raised by a short-selling research firm.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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Tata Group overtakes Reliance as India's wealthiest (AFP)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

MUMBAI (AFP) – India's leading conglomerate Tata Group has become the country's wealthiest in terms of market capitalisation, beating the combined wealth of the two Ambani brothers, stock exchange data showed Tuesday.

The salt-to-steel Tata Group, led by chairman Ratan Tata, was worth 4.32 trillion rupees ($96 billion) -- the highest for any Indian corporate group. The combined value of the two Reliance groups was 3.46 trillion rupees.

Tata and Reliance officials declined to comment on or confirm the data, which is based on an analysis of volume and prices of shares in both the groups' listed companies on Indian exchanges.

Tata Group subsidiaries have reported improved earnings in recent years, which has seen the companies value increase, analysts said.

They include Tata Motors and its British luxury car brands Jaguar Land Rover, the world's seventh largest steel maker Tata Steel and its unit Corus, which have all turned profitable after the global slowdown.

Other units that have added market wealth in the past year include India's largest outsourcer TCS. Group firms Titan Industries, which makes watches, Tata Coffee, Tata Chemicals and agri-business outfit Rallis have also grown.

In contrast, Reliance Industries -- the highest weighted stock on the benchmark Sensex index at the Bombay Stock Exchange -- has been sluggish for over a year, mainly on concerns over output at its main gas fields.

"Investors are jittery over negative news linked to Reliance stocks, which has pulled stocks down," said a dealer with a securities firm from a development bank, who asked to remain anonymous.

Mukesh and younger brother Anil Ambani, who runs the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, last year ended a bitter and public feud over the spoils of their late father's vast business empire.

The elder Ambani, who handles oil and gas and petrochemicals, is India's richest man, with a fortune estimated at $27 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

The younger Ambani, who deals with telecoms, financial services and utilities, is the eighth richest, with a wealth of $8.8 billion.

The reclusive Ratan Tata is not on the Forbes billionaire list but is listed 61st amongst the world's most powerful people.

Anil Ambani has seen fortunes of his firms dip since he and other group officials met investigators probing a multi-billion-dollar telecom licence fraud that has badly shaken India's government.

Some local brokerages have downgraded the Reliance Industries stock, fearing that gas output from the KG D6 basin off India's east coast may not rise sharply in coming months.

Two of Anil Ambani's firms, flagship Reliance Communications and subsidiary Reliance Infrastructure have slipped after news last week that these stocks would be removed from the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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West Indies 119-5 at lunch (AFP)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AFP) – West Indies were 119 for five, in response to India's first innings total of 246 on the first day of the first Test on Tuesday at Sabina Park.

Score summary

India 246 (S. Raina 82, H. Singh 70, R. Dravid 40; F. Edwards 4-56, R. Rampaul 3-59, D. Bishoo 3-75)

West Indies 119 for five (A. Barath 64; P. Kumar 3-24, I. Sharma 2-17)

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Obama set to give Afghan speech Wednesday evening (Reuters)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will deliver a speech on Wednesday evening on his plan to pull back U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the White House said on Tuesday.

"At 8 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 22nd, the President will address the nation from the White House to lay out his plan for implementing his strategy -- first unveiled in December 2009 -- to draw down American troops from Afghanistan," the White House said in a statement.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Editing by Will Dunham)

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Indonesian MPs demand protection for Gulf workers (AFP)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian lawmakers on Tuesday urged the government to stop sending migrant workers to the Middle East, and especially Saudi Arabia, after the beheading of a maid who murdered her Saudi employer.

Parliamentarians said the oil-rich kingdom and other Gulf states should not benefit from cheap Indonesian labour until they agreed to protect workers' basic rights.

"We have asked the government to temporarily suspend sending Indonesian workers overseas, especially countries which refuse to sign an agreement which protects our workers' rights," deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said.

Several lawmakers called on Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and other key members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cabinet to resign over the treatment of migrant workers abroad.

The uproar came after Riyadh beheaded an Indonesian maid on Saturday for murdering her Saudi employer.

Ruyati binti Sapubi had been convicted of murdering Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid with a meat cleaver after being denied permission to leave the kingdom, according to Indonesian officials.

Indonesia recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia for consultations on Monday and lodged a strong protest with the government in Riyadh, saying the Saudi authorities had ignored normal consular protocols.

Another 23 Indonesian migrant workers are on death row in Saudi Arabia, according to parliamentary labour commission member Rieke Dyah Pitaloka.

"The suspension (of migrant labour to the Middle East) must be applied soon, especially to Saudi Arabia," she told AFP.

Dozens of protesters including Sapubi's daughter protested outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta to condemn the execution, carrying banners reading "Saudi is cruel and murderous".

Around 70 percent of the 1.2 million Indonesians working in Saudi Arabia are domestic helpers, according to officials.

Sapubi's case is the latest in a string of incidents involving Indonesian menial labourers in the Middle East.

Indonesians were outraged in April when a Saudi court overturned the conviction of a Saudi woman who had been jailed for three years for allegedly torturing her Indonesian maid with scissors and a hot iron.

London-based Amnesty International said the maid's treatment, which Yudhoyono described as "extraordinary torture," was all too characteristic of the plight of foreign workers in the region.

It said workers from countries like Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka underpin the Gulf states' economies but face extreme forms of exploitation.

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Mirza in new knee injury agony (AFP)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

LONDON (AFP) – India's Sania Mirza was battling agonising pain as a nasty knee injury left her bid to win Wimbledon doubles glory resting on an ultrasound scan.

Mirza was already carrying a niggling left knee problem but tweaked it within minutes of starting her Wimbledon singles first round match against France's Virginie Razzano on Tuesday.

The world number 60 battled on and even won the second set despite being unable to change direction in her 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-3 first round defeat.

The 24-year-old has been playing a "ridiculous" non-stop schedule and whatever the doctors say, she plans a break after Wimbledon regardless.

"I've had the same injury since just before the French Open. I've been playing a lot on it," Mirza said.

"It will get worse if I keep playing on it. At 3-0 I tweaked it in the first set. I served and fell on the leg, tried to change direction and jerked it. I was already on painkillers but immediately the pain level went up 10 times.

"I have to see the doctor and get an ultrasound scan.

"It is very, very painful. I can still serve but I can't move and change direction. I'm hurting to go up and down stairs and even to walk."

Mirza did not blame the injury directly on her schedule but admitted the punishing round of singles, doubles and qualifiers takes its toll.

"Tennis takes a lot out of you physically and emotionally," she said.

"I've been playing for 12 months continuously. It's not easy on the body.

"From the French Open until Birmingham, I had 21 days of no day off. That's ridiculous on the body. Anyone's body's going to collapse. But that's the way the season is.

"I was going to take a little off season after Wimbledon but depending on what my knee says I'll decide what to do."

Razzano will now face Danish top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.

Mirza feels she would have struggled to give a good account of herself given how bad her knee feels.

"Maybe it's better because going into the next match I would play the number one in the world. That's hard enough and to play with one leg isn't very easy," she said.

Mirza has formed a fruitful partnership with Russia's Elena Vesnina and they are seeded fourth here, while she is also eyeing a shot at the mixed doubles.

The right-hander says she could still cover the right side of the court with a left knee injury.

"I could play with solid taping but it's a decision I have to make after I get the ultrasound as to how bad it could get if I do play on it," she said.

"I don't want to do something silly and be out for six months. That's the last thing you need."

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Aftershock rattles quake-damaged New Zealand city (AP)

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.
Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'TranslatorService.LanguageService' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A moderate aftershock has shaken the quake-devastated city of Christchurch in New Zealand.

The Christchurch Press says the main jolt late Tuesday night was widely felt but no major damage was reported. It says power was out in parts of the city and four flights were diverted to Auckland while the Christchurch airport's runway was checked for damage.

The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences says the quake registered magnitude 5.3 while the U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 5.1. It was only 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) below the surface and centered about 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of Christchurch.

Thousands of aftershocks have followed the magnitude-6.3 quake in February that killed 181 people and devastated the city's downtown.

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