25 AUGUST 2015: Devaluation of Renmimbi creates havoc in stock mkt

Ø  An 8.5-per cent slump in China’s Shanghai Composite on Monday that wiped out all the gains it made this year triggered crashes in equity and commodity markets across Asia, Europe and the U.S. Tracking the Chinese plunge, the benchmark BSE 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) recorded its steepest single-day crash since 2009 of more than 1,700 points in intra-day trade and the rupee lost 82 paise against the U.S. dollar. The rupee closed at a fresh two-year low of 66.65 per dollar, down from its previous close of 65.83. It has lost 202 paise, or 3.17 per cent after China’s first devaluation of the yuan on August 11. The Sensex closed with a loss of 1624.51 points or 5.94 per cent at 25,741.56. The third sharpest fall in percentage terms, it eroded Rs. 7,00,000 crore from investor wealth.

Ø  A day after National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz said “they were a nuclear country and knew how to defend themselves,” Pakistan Rangers confirmed to the Border Security Force on Monday they would be attending the Director-General-level talks to be held here in September. Sources said India had finalised 11 agenda points to be shared with Pakistan. The two forces will formally exchange the agenda at the Wagah-Attari border on Tuesday for the talks to be held from September 9-13.

Ø  India told the Arab League on Monday that its policy on the Palestinian cause remained “unchanged” and its support to the people of Palestine would be “undiluted”. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El Araby here. “We reiterated our support to the Palestinian cause. We said there is no change in India’s position. The President of India will visit Palestine, Israel and Jordan together, and our basic support for the Palestinian cause will remain undiluted in future,” Anil Wadhwa, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, who is accompanying Ms. Swaraj, told PTI. Ms. Swaraj is here on the first leg of her tour of Egypt and Germany. n July 3, India for the first time abstained from voting on an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Human Rights Council. The resolution called for accountability from the parties to last year’s conflict in Gaza that killed over 2, 000 people and justice for “all violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory.” India later said its abstention was on account of a “direct action-oriented reference made in the resolution to the International Criminal Court,” of which it is not a member. Mr. Wadhwa said both leaders also discussed the upcoming meeting of the Arab League and India in Manama in December. “It will be a ministerial meeting. India has proposed December 20 for the meeting. The date will be confirmed in September,”

Ø  Jihadists with the Islamic State group have blown up a famous temple at Syria’s ruins of Palmyra, an official said, confirming fears they would destroy more world-class heritage sites. The destruction of the Baal Shamin temple, considered ancient Palmyra’s second-most significant temple, raised concerns for the rest of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed ruins. “Our worst fears are sadly being realised,” Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP, as he confirmed the temple had been destroyed on Sunday.