Indian teacher stunned by $10bln bank balance

NEW DELHI: An Indian high school teacher, with a monthly salary of around $700, was astounded when a routine online check of his bank account showed a balance of almost $10 billion.

Parijat Saha, from the town of Balurghat in West Bengal state, said he had checked his State Bank of India account online last Sunday to confirm reception of a 10,000 rupee ($200) interest payment.

“Instead I saw this astronomical amount,” he told AFP by telephone.

The account showed a balance of 496 billion rupees.

After recovering from the initial shock at becoming an overnight billionaire — at least on paper — Saha, 42, said he immediately called a friend he knew at the bank to point out what was obviously a major accounting error.

The State Bank of India said it was not immediately clear how the amount came to be registered in Saha’s account.

“We are trying to ascertain what went wrong,” said local branch manager Subhashish Karmakar. “We have informed our regional headquarters in Kolkata and national headquarters in Mumbai,” he said.

UK Army defuses bomb in N Ireland

This was the second time in three months the Spanish bank has been targeted by suspected Irish nationalists opposed to a 1998 peace deal.

Two masked men carried the bomb into the bank branch in the city of Newry, on the border with the Irish Republic, on Monday morning, shouted a warning that the device would go off within 45 minutes and then escaped on foot, police said.

Terrified staff and customers fled the bank in the city centre and police hastily sealed off the area and evacuated nearby businesses.

“This was a viable device which was capable of causing death, serious injury and substantial damage to the area,” said area commander, Chief Inspector Davy Beck.

Dissident pro-Irish paramilitaries have increased their activities in the past few years, bombing businesses and target police officers, in a bid to derail a power-sharing government created as a result of a 1998 peace deal between groups that want Northern Ireland to remain part of Britain and those that want it to re-unite with the Irish Republic.

Pound hits 15-month high vs dollar

LONDON: Sterling hit a 15-month high against a weak dollar on Friday, but fell versus the euro as investors braced for a quicker pace of tightening by the European Central Bank than by the Bank of England.

Sterling hit a high of $1.6430 after data showed producer prices rose faster than expected in March. By mid-afternoon it was up 0.4 percent on the day at $1.6387.

The pound has risen more than 5 percent against the struggling greenback this year, and Friday’s peak was the highest since January 2010.

With the greenback under strong downward pressure — the dollar index .DXY is at its lowest since December 2009 — analysts said a 16-month high of $1.6459 was a possible target for sterling.

Producer output prices rose 5.4 percent in March, confounding forecasts for a slowdown to an annual increase of 5.

The data may add to pressure on the Bank to hike rates sooner rather than later, after it left them at a record-low 0.5 percent on Thursday.

“We had a higher-than-expected number. That’s a bit of a hawkish signal for the Bank and would possibly make a May rate hike next month slightly more likely,” said Tom Levinson, currency strategist at ING.

“If we can secure a close above $1.6400 the outlook is pretty bullish for sterling going forward.”

Investors are now fully pricing in a 25 basis point hike in August with a better than a 50 percent chance being priced in for May.

The dollar was under broad pressure on the back of a potential U.S. government shutdown.

The euro rose to a 15-month high against the dollar, staying well-supported in the wake of a euro zone rate hike.

Traders also said rumoured option barriers for sterling at $1.6400 were hit earlier in the session with Asian central banks and Middle-East buyers lining up bids at $1.63. A UK clearer was also seen buying sterling and selling the yen.

Sterling pared some of its losses against the euro after the inflation numbers, but eased back again and was last down 0.6 percent on the day at 88.10 pence.

Markets are close to pricing in a further rate hike in the ECB’s main refinancing rate in June and it is more than fully priced by July. The ECB raised rates on Thursday by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent and signalled there was more tightening to come. AGENCIES

Bank of Punjab (BoP) Scandal: Karamdad Bhatti Arrested

Bank of Punjab (BoP) Scandal: Police on Sunday arrested Karamdad Bhatti from Hafizabad in the Bank of Punjab (BoP) scandal. The accused is accomplice of Hamesh Khan, the former BoP president and principal accused in a Rs 9 billion loan scandal. The Bank of Punjab (BoP) had granted a loan of Rs 9 billion to the Haris Steel Industries (HSI) without fulfilling the legal requirements and the HSI subsequently defaulted on the loan.

The police claim that Bhatti was a proclaimed offender in the case. On the other hand, Bhatti alleged that his arrest was a violation of the court orders as the Lahore High Court (LHC) had issued a stay order in the case.

He said that his arrest was unlawful and he would resort to the LHC against it. On September 27, 2007, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Punjab, had filed a reference in an accountability court against 12 people, including six officials of the Bank of Punjab and six other accused of Rs 9 billion fraud.

Iran Against Proposal to Halt Enrichment

Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says the country will not accept any fuel bank proposal which would require Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

We do not have any opposition to a fuel bank within the framework the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has established if provision of reliable and stable fuel for nuclear power plants is guaranteed, IRNA quoted head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran as saying. But not if they use political excuses to not provide fuel, Salehi added. Salehi said Moscow’s fuel ban proposal was based on the condition that the bank be established in Russia and last week the Russians said they had made preparations for it. Earlier this week, Russia announced that it had created the first international fuel bank in Angarsk, and the first batch of low-enriched uranium would be ready by the end of 2010. Russia has pledged to grant any IAEA member country that honors its non-proliferation commitments access to the reserves. This time the US and the agency have proposed a fuel bank, but its conditions are for countries which do not have the capability to produce fuel and given the Islamic Republic’s capability to produce fuel, this proposal is unacceptable for us, Salehi explained. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors voted Friday to establish an international fuel bank that nations can turn to in order to provide fuel for their reactors instead of producing it domestically. The objective of the bank is to reduce the risks of weapons proliferation by providing an alternative to the production of nuclear fuel. Countries which have enrichment technology would donate enriched fuel to a bank, from which states not possessing enrichment technology would obtain fuel for their power reactors. However, certain developing countries oppose the move, arguing that it may restrict their progress in nuclear technology and violate their rights in the nuclear fuel cycle. Earlier on Sunday, Salehi announced that the Islamic Republic has become self-sufficient in yellow-cake uranium. The first consignment of yellow cake was shipped from Gachin mine in Bandar Abbas to Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) under the surveillance of the IAEA.

Foreign exchange reserves up by $550 million

Foreign exchange reserves of the country go up by $550 million to reach $16.63 billion.
According to a report of State Bank of Pakistan, the foreign exchange reserves of the bank rose by $ 44.80 million to reach $12.69 billion whereas the reserves of commercial banks increased by $110 million to $3.83 billion.

WB boosts Pakistan flood support to $1 bln

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic flooding by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The World Bank is committed to helping the people of Pakistan during this time of need and has made US$1 billion available to finance immediate recovery needs and longer-term reconstruction,” the statement quoted World Bank President Robert Zoellick as telling Pakistani Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in Washington.

The funds are being diverted to flood use from money already earmarked for Pakistan. They will come from the International Development Association, the bank”s fund for the poorest countries, and are concessional and carry no interest payments, the statement said.

Zoellick also told Shaikh that continued economic, institutional and governance reforms were critical to maintaining donor confidence.

“We need to respond strongly to the crisis at hand, but we need to do it without losing sight of important economic reforms,” he was quoted as saying.

“Renewed commitment to governance and fiscal reforms will be important to mobilize domestic revenues and ensure that funds reach the poor people it is intended for. The response of donors to the floods will also depend on the government”s ability to deliver in this area,” he said.

Shaikh is part of a delegation visiting Washington for discussions with the International Monetary Fund about Pakistan”s $11 billion IMF loan program.

While vowing to remain on track with the 2008 IMF loan program, under which the country pledged to implement tax and energy sector reforms, the minister also said he would seek understanding from the international community about the troubles Pakistan faced from the catastrophic floods.

Pakistani Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday the country would register economic growth of just 2.5 percent in the year to June 2011 because of the impact of flooding, trimming an earlier 4.5 percent target.

Warne calls for life bans if match-fixing proved

MELBOURNE: Any players found guilty of being involved in match-fixing or any other form of illegality related to gambling in cricket should be banned for life, former Australian spinner Shane Warne has said.

A British newspaper made allegations last weekend that Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during their fourth test against England at Lord’s, which finished on Sunday.

Pakistan test captain Salman Butt, Asif and Amir are to meet their country’s High Commissioner in London on Thursday to discuss the allegations, while Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt will also attend the meeting.

“If it is true and they have been found (guilty of) match-fixing and throwing games and spot betting with the no-balls and stuff, if that’s the case they should be thrown out,” Warne told reporters in Melbourne on

World Bank boosts flood support to $1bn

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic flooding by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The World Bank is committed to helping the people of Pakistan during this time of need and has made US$1 billion available to finance immediate recovery needs and longer-term reconstruction,” the statement quoted World Bank President Robert Zoellick as telling Pakistani Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in Washington.

The funds are being diverted to flood use from money already earmarked for Pakistan. They will come from the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries, and are concessional and carry no interest payments, the statement said.

Zoellick also told Shaikh that continued economic, institutional and governance reforms were critical to

World Bank boosts flood support to $1bn

WASHINGTON: The World Bank has increased funding to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic flooding by $100 million, to a total of $1 billion, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The World Bank is committed to helping the people of Pakistan during this time of need and has made US$1 billion available to finance immediate recovery needs and longer-term reconstruction,” the statement quoted World Bank President Robert Zoellick as telling Pakistani Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh in Washington.

The funds are being diverted to flood use from money already earmarked for Pakistan. They will come from the International Development Association, the bank’s fund for the poorest countries, and are concessional and carry no interest payments, the statement said.

Zoellick also told Shaikh that continued economic, institutional and governance reforms were critical to

Next Page »