web analytics

ARY NEWS

Reuters

  • Hindu population in India drops below 80pc as Muslim ratio rises

    Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, which swept to power last year, have expressed growing concern about the rising numbers of Muslims.

    The census data shows that Hindus declined to 79.8 per cent of the country’s 1.2 billion people in 2011, from 80.5 per cent a decade earlier.

    The share of Muslims rose to 14.2 per cent from 13.4 per cent in 2001 – the only major religious group to record a rise. Christians stayed at 2.3 per cent and Sikhs fell to 1.7 per cent from 1.9 per cent.

    Sakshi Maharaj, a Hindu priest-turned-politician, caused an uproar earlier this year when he said Hindu women should give birth to four children to ensure that their religion survives.

    In the first census, conducted after Britain carved India and Pakistan out of colonial India in 1947, Hindus accounted for 84.1 per cent of the Indian population.

    Although population growth is slowing in all religious groups, India is still set to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country by 2022, according to a United Nations forecast.

    India’s population grew by almost a fifth during the period between the last two censuses, straining supplies of land, food and water and bloating its underemployed, poorly skilled workforce.

  • One Direction taking a break, not splitting: Horan

    Horan, 21, told his 23 million fans on Twitter that the group will continue to tour and play new music, after a report in a British newspaper said the band will be taking a year-long break next year so that members can pursue separate interests.

    “We are not splitting up, but we will be taking a well earned break at some point next year,” he said. “Don’t worry though, we still have lots we want to achieve!”

    A Sony Music representative for the band declined to comment to Reuters.

    The band, now comprising Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, soared to international prominence after finishing third on the British version of “the X Factor” in 2010.

    One Direction

    The break will come after the band, reduced to four members following the departure of Zayn Malik earlier this year, release their fifth album in March, the report in the Sun said.

    “The guys have been together for five years, which is an incredible run for any boy band,” a source told The Sun.

    “They fully deserve to have at least a year to work on their own projects. There is absolutely no bad blood between them and they are all 100 percent behind the decision.”

    The group’s last scheduled stadium concert will be in Sheffield, England on Oct. 31. They will promote their new album in February, after a Christmas break, the Sun said.

  • Wall Street posts biggest rally of the year

    Financial markets also got a boost from China’s second interest rate cut in two months.

    The Nasdaq composite index .IXIC led stocks higher with a 3.3 percent rise, boosted by Apple’s (AAPL.O) 5.5 percent jump to $108.86.

    The stock slumped as much as 13 percent on Monday, when the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell more than 1,000 points in its biggest intraday fall ever and the S&P 500 .SPX recorded its worst day since 2011.

    Analysts were cautious, however, and even with Tuesday’s gains, the Dow and the S&P were on track for the their worst monthly losses since February 2009 and the Nasdaq for its steepest drop since November 2008.

    “Today’s rally can be attributed to value hunters who are slowly moving into the market as valuation levels now seem reasonable,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, while warning that a “wall of uncertainty” about global growth remains.

    JPMorgan cut its forecast for their year-end target for the S&P 500 to 2,150 from 2,250.

    At 12:47 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 was up 44.23 points, or 2.34 percent, at 1,937.44, the Dow was up 358.9 points, or 2.26 percent, at 16,230.25 and the Nasdaq was up 151.29 points, or 3.34 percent, at 4,677.53.

    The brokerage lowered its weightings for the energy, financial and industrial sectors but raised consumer and health, suggesting these companies are better able to withstand a slowdown in global growth.

    Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence increased to a seven-month high in August.

    The move by China’s central bank came after Chinese stocks slumped 8 percent on Tuesday following an 8.5 percent drop on Monday.

    “What we need to see to calm investors is positive economic data points out of China and only when we see that will the rallies be sustainable,” said Xavier Smith, investment director at Centre Asset Management.

    “Right now, it’s pretty meaningless,” he said of the interest rate cut.

    Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher at midday, with the technology index’s .SPLRCT 3.4 percent rise leading the advancers. The utilities sector .SPLRCU was the laggard.

    U.S. banks rose along with expectations of a rate hike this year, with Bank of America (BAC.N) up 5.1 percent at $16.07.

    U.S. oil prices were up about 3 percent, bouncing back from heavy losses on Tuesday, but was still below $40 per barrel.

    Reflecting the easing of volatility, the CBOE volatility index .VIX was down about 11 points at 29.82 and on track for its largest one-day drop in four years. The index hit a six-and-a-half year high of 53.29 on Monday.

    Trading in options painted a mixed picture, with some traders keeping hedges in place and others closing existing positions or placing some speculative trades, Susquehanna derivatives strategist Christopher Jacobson said.

    New U.S. single-family home sales rebounded in July, adding to evidence of underlying strength in the economy that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year.

    Traders now see a 26 percent chance that the Fed would increase rates in September, up from 22 percent on Monday, according to overnight indexed swap rates.

    The dollar .DXY, which fell to a 7-month low against a basket of currencies on Monday, was up more than 1.4 percent.

    Among the big gainers, Facebook (FB.O) was up 5.7 percent at $86.81 and Netflix (NFLX.O) 9.4 percent at $106.

    Best Buy (BBY.N) jumped 15.3 percent to $33.74 after the owner of the biggest U.S. electronics chain reported an unexpected increase in quarterly sales.

    Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,528 to 531. On the Nasdaq, 2,276 issues rose and 533 fell.

    The S&P 500 index showed one new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded seven new highs and 55 new lows.

  • Asian shares move off three-year lows while China’s suffering goes on

    The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 1.1 percent after an initial dip to three-year lows, paring about a quarter of Monday’s losses.

    Japan’s Nikkei .N225, which saw extremely volatile trading, ended 4 percent down.

    European shares are seen to open higher, with spread-betters expecting more than 2 percent gains in Germany’s DAX .GDAXI and a rise of above 1 percent in Britain’s FTSE .FTSE.

    “The recent turmoil has left even the most hardened trader gasping for air. And there’s probably more to come,” said Frederic Neumann, HSBC’s co-head of Asian economics research, in a note to clients.

    “China’s economy continues to slow and the (U.S.) Fed may still hike rates before the end of the year. That puts further cracks into the two main growth pillars for the world economy of recent years: Chinese demand (including commodities) and easy money,” Neumann said, even as he added that a re-run of Asia’s financial crisis in the late 1990s was unlikely.

    U.S. stock futures ESc1 gained 2.0 percent, aiding performance in some markets as signaling that New York markets which plunged on Monday will open stronger later in the day.

    “There appears to be buyback as many markets look oversold after panicky selling in the last few days. Even the shares that had little business ties with China were sold,” said Yukino Yamada, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

    Mainland Chinese shares had another calamitous day, with the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC falling another 7 percent and breaking below the key psychological level of 3,000. The index fell 15 percent the previous three days, including an 8.5 percent collapse on Monday.

    “Global investors are cannibalizing each other. Calling it a market disaster is not an overstatement,” said Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.

    “The mood of panic is dominating the market … And I don’t see any signs of meaningful government intervention.”

    Underlining concerns about China, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday he hoped Beijing would take action to stabilize its economy and that Tokyo had no plans for now to unveil its own new economic stimulus package.

    MSCI’s all country world index .MIWD0000PUS hovered near 10 1/2-month low marked on Monday, when it had fallen 3.8 percent, its biggest fall in almost four years.

    Global share markets have been hit by worries that the Chinese economy, the most important engine for the world economy, was growing at a much slower pace than Beijing’s 7 percent target for 2015.

    Investors are also unnerved by uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy. The Federal Reserve has said it plans to raise interest rates this year for the first time in almost a decade.

    The heavy fall in share prices worldwide over the past week has sharply reduced expectations of a U.S. rate hike in September, but the outlook is far from clear.

    Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, whose comments earlier this month sparked expectations of a hike in September, said on Monday that the Federal Reserve will likely begin raising rates “sometime this year.”

    On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index .SPX fell 3.9 percent to a 10-month low on Monday. The CBOE volatility index .VIX, a key measure of U.S. equity volatility, shot up to more than 50 percent at one point for the first time since the 2008 global financial crisis.

    Because some investors often fund their investment in risk assets by borrowing low-yielding euro and yen, the sell-off in shares helped send both currencies to seven-month highs.

    On Monday, the euro rose as high as $1.1715 EUR= while the yen strengthened to 116.15 to the dollar JPY=.

    But both currencies stepped back in Asia on Tuesday. The euro slipped 0.7 percent to $1.1531 while the yen retreated to 119.05 to the dollar.

    Oil prices also stabilized in Asia after having plunged more than 6 percent on Monday to 6 1/2-year lows.

    U.S. crude futures CLc1 traded at $38.73 per barrel, up 1.2 percent on the day, and off Monday’s low of $37.75.

    Brent crude futures last stood at $43.03 after having fallen to $42.23 on Monday.

    Brent still stood not far from $36.20, its low hit in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, having fallen more than 66 percent from last year’s peak.

  • An aspirin a day – for years – may keep colon cancer away

    Earlier studies had suggested that aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen may help protect against colorectal cancer, but it wasn’t clear how much had to be taken, and for how long, to achieve those benefits.

    Now, using data on more than 113,000 individuals, researchers have been trying to sort out the relationship between aspirin and NSAIDs, duration of treatment, and colorectal cancer rates.

    In general, the risk of developing colorectal cancer varies with age, race, ethnicity and lifestyle. More than 90 percent of cases are diagnosed in people older than 50, according to the National Cancer Institute.

    An online risk calculator from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (available here: 1.usa.gov/1DlscTL) indicates that in the U.S., for an average white or black woman in her late fifties, the 10-year risk of developing colorectal cancer is between 1 and 1.4 percent, and her lifetime risk is between 5 and 5.4 percent. For an average black or white male of the same age, the corresponding risks would be about 1.4 percent and 5.8 percent.

    In the new study from Denmark, taking low-dose aspirin continuously for at least five years appeared to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by 27%, and using nonaspirin NSAIDs for at least five years appeared to reduce it by 30%.

    On the other hand, merely having taken aspirin did not alter the colorectal cancer risk, they reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

    “Unless low-dose aspirin is taken continuously, there is little protection against colorectal cancer,” Dr. Soren Friis from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen told Reuters Health.

    Nonaspirin NSAIDs were also protective against colorectal cancer with consistent long-term use, “and there was some indication that even non-continuous use of these agents may be (marginally) effective for the prevention of colorectal cancer,” Dr. Friis said.

    Aspirin and NSAIDs carry their own risks, however. Long-term use can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, for example, so the potential reduction in colon cancer risk needs to be balanced against potential side effects, the authors warn.

    The study had several limitations. For instance, the researchers only had data for users who obtained their aspirin or NSAIDs from doctors’ prescriptions. They didn’t include patients who made over-the-counter purchases of the medicines. Also, the researchers can’t rule out the possibility that other factors may have increased participants’ risk for colorectal cancer, such as obesity, dietary habits, alcohol use, and family history of colorectal cancer.

    Dr. Friis emphasized that people should not start taking aspirin or NSAIDs on the basis of the new findings.

    “Self-medication with aspirin or non-aspirin NSAIDs is strongly discouraged, due to the possibility of serious adverse events,” Dr. Friis said. “The public should not take any medication regularly without consulting with a physician.”

    Dr. Gurpreet Singh Ranger from Upper River Valley Hospital, Waterville, New Brunswick and Dalhousie Medical School, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, agreed with Dr. Friis.

    “Low dose aspirin, already taken regularly by millions, reduces the risk of colorectal cancer,” he told Reuters Health by email. But “before starting to take aspirin long term, it is important to discuss the implications with your family doctor or specialist.”

  • DJ Calvin Harris outdoes Jennifer Lawrence with $66 mln earnings

    Harris, 31, a record producer who has worked with the likes of Rihanna and Ne-Yo, saw his 2014 album “Motion” debut at the top of the U.S. dance charts. He is also the face of Giorgio Armani’s underwear, eye wear and watch lines, and is currently dating pop star Taylor Swift.

    Calvin Harris

    Harris’s estimated haul of $66 million from his music work and endorsements earned him more money than Oscar-winning actress Lawrence, who last week topped Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paid actresses with $52 million. [nL1N10V12B]

    “The rise of dance music has been astronomical… I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Harris told Forbes.

    Harris was followed by French DJ David Guetta ($37 million), who plays in Las Vegas and Ibiza and was one of the headliners at this year’s Coachella Festival in southern California.

    Dutch DJ Tiesto came in third with $36 million, while Americans Skrillex and Steve Aoki rounded out the Top 5, tying with $24 million apiece.

    Forbes estimated earnings from music, endorsements and other fields for the 12 months ending June 1, 2015 to compile the list.

    EDM has been one of the fastest-growing genres in music around the world and was crowned at the 2012 Grammy Awards when EDM was given its own stage at the annual music industry ceremony.

  • North, South Korea reach agreement to halt tensions

    Under the accord reached after midnight on Tuesday morning, North Korea expressed regret over the recent wounding of South Korean soldiers in a landmine incident and Seoul agreed to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, both sides said.

    North Korea also agreed to end the “quasi state of war” it had declared. The two sides will hold follow-up talks to discuss a range of issues on improving ties, the joint statement said.

    “It is very meaningful that from this meeting North Korea apologized for the landmine provocation and promised to work to prevent the recurrence of such events and ease tensions,” Kim Kwan-jin, national security adviser to the South Korean president, told a televised news briefing.

    Pyongyang has previously denied laying the landmines, and in the statement did not explicitly take responsibility for them.

    The marathon talks at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas began on Saturday, shortly after Pyongyang’s deadline for the South to halt its propaganda broadcasts or face military action.

    Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, rather than a peace treaty.

    The recent escalation in tensions began early this month, when landmine explosions in the DMZ wounded two South Korean soldiers.

    Days later, the South began blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border.

    The standoff reached a crisis point on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of artillery fire. Neither side reported casualties.

    Pyongyang then made its ultimatum that Seoul halt the broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action, but on that day the two sides agreed to hold talks between top level aides to the leaders of the two countries.

  • Islamic State attacks kill 51 Syrian soldiers in north: monitor

    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces kept up air strikes against Islamic State in the area to hold militants at bay as the jihadist group stepped up offensives against both government forces and other insurgents it is battling in northern Syria.

    The Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground, said at least 40 of those killed during two separate Islamic State attacks on the Kweiris air base east of Aleppo city were officers.

    Islamic State waged a three-day assault from August 9-12, and had begun another two days ago, the Observatory said, using car bombs in a bid to overrun the base where government forces have long been besieged by the jihadists.

    The Observatory said fighting around the air base had killed at least 62 Islamic State militants, including group leaders.

    The Observatory also reported that relatives of the besieged Syrian soldiers had rallied dozens of people in government strongholds in western Syria in demonstrations that urged the government to end the siege. The protests took place in areas in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, it said.

    The United States and Turkey are meanwhile waging an aerial campaign to drive Islamic State from the northwest, near the Turkish border.

  • Great fall of China sinks world stocks, dollar tumbles

    European stocks were more than 5 percent in the red and Wall Street was braced for similar losses after Asian shares slumped to 3-year lows as a three month-long rout in Chinese equities threatened to get out of hand.

    Oil plunged another 4 percent, while safe-haven government U.S. an German bonds and the yen and the euro rallied as widespread fears of a China-led global economic slowdown and currency war kicked in.

    “It is a China driven macro panic,” said Didier Duret, chief investment officer at ABN Amro. “Volatility will persist until we see better data there or strong policy action through forceful monetary easing.”

    Many traders had hoped that such support measures, which could include an interest rate cut, would have come from Beijing over the weekend after its main stocks markets slumped 11 percent last week.

    With serious doubts also now emerging about the likelihood of a U.S. interest rate rise this year, the dollar slid against other major currencies.

    The Australian dollar fell to six-year lows and many emerging market currencies also plunged, whilst the frantic dash to safety pushed the euro to a 6-1/2-month high above $1.15.

    “Things are starting look like the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. Speculators are selling assets that seem the most vulnerable,” said Takako Masai, head of research at Shinsei Bank in Tokyo.

    As commodity markets took a fresh battering, Brent and U.S. crude oil futures hit 6-1/2-year lows as concerns about a global supply glut added to worries over potentially weaker demand from the normally resource-hungry China.

    U.S. crude was last down 3.6 percent at just below $39 a barrel while Brent dropped to $43.74 a barrel to take it under January’s lows for the first time.

    Copper, seen as a barometer of global industrial demand, tumbled 2.5 percent, with three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange also hitting a six-year low of $4,920 a tonne. Nickel slid 6 percent to its lowest since 2009 too at $9,570 a tonne.

    GREAT FALL OF CHINA

    The near 9 percent slump in Chinese stocks was their worst performance since the depths of the global financial crisis in 2007 and wiped out what was left of the 2015 gains, which in June has been more than 50 percent.

    With the latest slide rooted in disappointment that Beijing did not announce expected policy support over the weekend, all index futures contracts slumped by their 10 percent daily limit, pointing to more bad days ahead.

    MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 5.1 percent to a three-year low. Tokyo’s Nikkei ended down 4.6 percent and Australian and Indonesian shares hit two-year troughs.

    “China could be forced to devalue the yuan even more, should its economy falter, and the equity markets are dealing with the prospect of a weaker yuan amplifying the negative impact from a sluggish Chinese economy,” said Eiji Kinouchi, chief technical analyst at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

    Just as worrying was evidence that developed markets were becoming synchronized with the troubles. London’s FTSE with its large number of global miners and oil firms, was down for its 10th straight day, its worst run since 2003.

    The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was last down 5 percent at 1,355 points, wiping around 400 billion euros ($460.16 billion) off the index and taking its losses for the month to more than 1 trillion euros.

    U.S. stock futures also pointed to big losses for Wall Street’s main markets, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq expected to open down 3.6, 4.0 and 4.9 percent respectively.

    It is likely to tip the S&P 500 and Nasdaq formally into ‘correction’ territory – meaning stocks, at their lows, are 10 percent off their 52-week highs.

    “We are in the midst of a full-blown growth scare,” strategists at JP Morgan Cazenove said in a note.

  • Record-equalling Manchester City begin season in style

    City have yet to drop a point since a humbling 4-2 defeat away to bitter local rivals United in early April.

    Given last season’s underwhelming campaign, which ended with an eight-point deficit to champions Chelsea, few had talked about City as title favourites in the build-up this time.

    Three successive wins, however, including a 3-0 victory at home to Chelsea, has catapulted City to the top of the fledgling table and sent an ominous warning that they mean business.

    “Before the game someone told me that if we win today it is a new record after so many years,” manager Manuel Pellegrini, whose side have scored eight goals and conceded none, told Sky Sports.

    “That is secondary but they are always important. But it is more important to be top of the table and the most important thing is to see the team playing the way we are doing.

    “I am pleased because it was a very professional performance against a very difficult team here at Goodison Park.

    “In the first half and the second half we were very consistent and we had more chances to score goals than Everton.

    “We scored two goals and again we kept a clean sheet so I think we are working very well as a team in attack and defence.”

    Crucial to their impressive start, which has put them two points clear on nine, is the form of their leading quartet Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

    Kompany, who has guided City to three clean sheets and scored twice, and Yaya Toure appear back to their dominant best following a disappointing season last year.

    Silva and Aguero have also been in mesmerising form, carving open opposition defences and creating chances at will.

    Close-season signing Raheem Sterling from Liverpool has already formed a strong partnership with fullback Aleksandar Kolarov, scorer of the opening goal on Sunday, and the pair have been central to much of City’s best play this year.

    “We have a good squad,” Pellegrini added after substitute Samir Nasri had scored a late second goal. “We have all the players involved in our target which is to play in the way we are doing so far.

    “Now after Watford (at home on Saturday) we are going to start playing eight games every month so it is important to have the whole squad involved in our targets this year.

    “It is very important to understand we are just starting the season and it is just three games.”