Foreign language Oscar brings 63 entrants
Among some of the more talked about foreign language titles already in 2011 are Polish entry “In Darkness,” a Holocaust drama that played well at September’s Toronto International Film Festival, and Spain’s “Black Bread,” which earlier this year won nine of its home country’s top awards, the “Goyas.”The motion picture academy will narrow the list of 63 films to five nominees that will be named on January 24. The Oscars take place on February 26, at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles.A full list of foreign language entrants can be found at the academy’s website at www.oscars.org.
MOVES-Credit Suisse
CREDIT SUISSE AGThe financial services provider appointed Anna Wong as
Managing Director and Market Area Head, Greater China for
Private Banking Asia Pacific. Previously, she was CEO of HSBC
Broking Services (Asia) Ltd.
House panel subpoenas failed gun sting documents
Escalating the battle between Holder and the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, the panel subpoenaed the Justice Department seeking voluminous information from senior administration officials.The committee has been investigating how the operation, run out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Phoenix office, failed to track guns after they were bought by suspected suppliers to the Mexican cartels.The ATF is part of the Justice Department headed by Holder. The operation had been designed to crack down on the flow of weapons to violent drug cartels.”The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago,” said Republican Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the oversight panel.Guns bought in the operation, which began in late 2009 and was dubbed “Fast and Furious,” were found at crime scenes on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Two weapons were discovered at the scene of a shootout in which a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed. It is not known whether they fired the fatal bullets.The committee subpoenaed communications to and from Holder, his deputies, ATF officials, federal prosecutors in Arizona on the case and White House officials related to the operation.Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said that they have been willing to work with the committee to answer legitimate questions. “However, this subpoena shows that Chairman Issa is more interested in generating headlines than in real oversight important to the American people,” she said.INVESTIGATIVE REPORTSThe subpoena also sought investigative reports from various Justice Department agencies and information about weapons found where the Border Patrol agent was killed.This is the second subpoena issued in the congressional investigation. The first was issued earlier this year to the ATF seeking documents and communications about the program and the death of the agent.Republicans have questioned who approved the operation and tactics that allowed guns to be smuggled to the drug cartels in Mexico. Holder had denied knowing about the operation or tactics until earlier this year when the scandal erupted.Issa has accused several Justice Department officials of knowing earlier about the operation and tactics, pointing to memos addressed to Holder and others that broadly referred to it.However, so far no evidence has emerged that Holder or the head of the agency’s criminal division, Lanny Breuer, knew specifically about the operation or tactics before this year.Holder and Issa have engaged in heated exchanges via letters, with each side questioning the other’s political motives. The Justice Department’s inspector general is also investigating the matter.
UPDATE 1-BRICS exchanges to cross-list indexes
JOHANNESBURG Oct 12 (Reuters) - Stock exchanges from six of
the world’s largest emerging markets will join forces to
cross-list equity indexes derivatives, to target investor demand
for fast-growing economies.Exchanges from Brazil, Russia, India, Hong Kong and South
Africa — representing the BRICS grouping of big emerging
markets — said on Wednesday they plan to list contracts based
on their flagship equity indexes by June 2012.The tie-up comes as exchanges around the globe increasingly
hunt for potential acquisitions or look for product partners to
fend off bigger rivals.The cross-listed instruments would be available in local
currencies, meaning an investor in Hong Kong could bet on the
performance of the Brazilian index without taking on any
currency risk.The local currency settlement would also pass muster with
regulators in countries with stringent exchange controls, such
as South Africa and India, said Russell Loubser, the chief
executive of the Johannesburg bourse operator JSE LtdLoubser introduced the alliance together with officals from
Brazil’s BM&FBovespa , the Hong Kong Exchanges &
Clearing Ltd , Russia’s MICEX and RTS exchanges and
India’s National Stock Exchange of India and BSE Ltd, all of
whom are in Johannesburg for an annual meeting of exchanges this
week.The emerging exchanges together represent about $9 trillion
in market value and nearly 20 percent of the volume of
exchanged-listed derivatives traded worldwide.Although the BRICS are Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa, Hong Kong is taking the place of mainland China,
where both local bourses are still cash equity.The exchanges said they plan to develop and cross list more
products end evetually cooperate on different asset classes.
UPDATE 1-Infosys Q2 profit up, cuts revenue outlook
* Cuts FY12 dollar revenue growth to 17.1 pct to 19.1 pct
(Adds details)BANGALORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd , India’s
No. 2 software services exporter, met forecasts with a
9.7-percent rise in second-quarter profit as a weak rupee
boosted margins, but it cut its full-year revenue outlook and
warned about global economic uncertainty .Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs , BT
Group and BP among its main clients, cut its
dollar revenue growth forecast to 17.1 percent to 19.1 percent
for the fiscal year, from 18 percent to 20 percent projected
earlier.”The global macroeconomic environment is still uncertain. It
is and should be a concern for the IT industry,” S.D. Shibulal,
chief executive officer of Infosys, said in a statement.India’s $76 billion showpiece IT sector, which feeds off
increased outsourcing by companies looking to cut costs, is
expected to face pricing pressure and a decline in new orders as
Europe struggles with a debt crisis and the United States sees
an economic slowdown.More than half of Bangalore-based Infosys’ revenue is
generated in the United States. Europe is its second largest
market.Infosys, also listed in New York, said on Wednesday
consolidated net profit rose to 19.06 billion rupees
($387 million) for the fiscal second quarter ended
September 30, from 17.37 billion rupees reported a year ago.Revenue rose 16.6 percent to 80.99 billion rupees, as the
firm added 45 clients in the quarter.A Reuters poll of brokerages had forecast a profit of 18.91
billion rupees on revenue of 81.20 billion rupees for the
company, which counts Goldman Sachs , BT Group and
BP among its main clients.Infosys shares rose more than 5 percent folling the news on
Wednesday, touching 2630.20 rupees a share.”The results have been helped partly by the depreciation in
the rupee. The main thing to watch out for will be how the U.S.
and Europe will move in the coming months,” said R.K. Gupta,
Managing Director at Taurus Asset Management.”But Indian IT companies and Infosys in particular have a
cost advantage over their global peers. I am not very
pessimistic on these companies,” he said.Infosys, worth about $29 billion, has lost more than a
quarter of its market value this year, roughly in line with a 25
percent fall in the sector index , but higher than a 19
percent decline in the Mumbai market index .
($1 = 49.3 rupees)
