Speith ends surprising streak at Players ChampionshipJordan Spieth’s remarkable scoring streak finally came to an end on Sunday, but the .Sherwood pulls fan from the stands to act as managerTim Sherwood surrendered Swarovski Crystal his last five minutes in charge of Spurs this season to .Off the boil Laois do enough to win over CarlowLaois 1 22 Carlow 0 14 Laois gradually imposed themselves on Carlow to record their .27/06/2012 11:24:54Back to Sport Swarovski Crystal HomeIt has been a mixed start for the Irish on th Swarovski Crystal e opening day of competition at the European Championships in Helsinki today.Waterford’s Thomas Barr ran a season’s best as he qualified out of his heat in second place in the 400 metres hurdles, but Jason Harvey finished outside the top three of his race so is unlikely to get through as a fastest loser.Down’s Amy Foster finished 7th in her 100 metres heats and fails to progress.Jessie Barr is in the women’s 400 metres hurdles at 12.30pm.Paralympic gold medallist Jason Smyth has qualified for the next round of the 100 metres after finishing fourth in his hea Swarovski Crystal t.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc (NLY) is an internally managed mortgage REIT company, which primarily invests in agency residential mortgaged backed companies. I am neutral on the company, mainly because it has a high payout ratio and a dividend cut is on the cards in the near future. Also the comp Swarovski Crystal any missed its earnings and book value targets in the third recent quarter. Furthermore, the rising interest rate scenario continues to suppress the price to book value for mortgage REIT companies.

An attractive dividend yield is one of the major attractions for investors, but for the last three quarters, NLY has been cutting down its dividends. But sti Swarovski Crystal ll the dividend of per share is also not sustainable with a core EPS of $0.28 per share. So, I believe Swarovski Crystal that very soon, the management will once again be forced to cut down its dividend yield to make it more manageab Swarovski Crystal le over the long term.

Change in percent (QoQ)American Capital Agency (AGNC)Hatteras Financial (HTS)ARMOUR Residential (ARR)CYS Investments (CYS)The company has not yet announced its fourth quarter dividends so I have used the third quarter information in the table given above. NLY has one of the lowest dividend yields among its peer companies and it is expected to decline further, which means that investors have other high yielding options available in the world of mortgage REITs.

NLY has adopted a defensive approach just like other companies. It has managed to sell off its agency MBS portfolio, which declined by 11.8% in the third quarter to $85.5 billion. Consequently, the leverage was reduced from 6.2x to 5.4x. On the same lines, NLY also increase its hedging by adding $3.7 billion in swaps, which accumulated to a total of $52 billion by the end of the recent third quarter. Although all these initiatives do make sense in the current rising interest rate scenario to preserve its book value (which declined by only 3%), but it has adversely affected the company’s earnings and has elevated the payout ratio.

Disasters normally do not warn so much in advance as Phailin did. It helped in evacuation of around a million people but also exposed the gaps in providing relief to people post cyclone.

A visit to Phailin devastated districts of Odisha show a total lack of planning on how to provide relief to the victims at the earliest. The Odisha government has announced free food and a small monetary relief (of Rs 500 per victim) but there is a question mark over whether it would reach the affected people when they need it the most.

Even two days after the cyclone had hit the coastal belt of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the sta Swarovski Crystal te governments was unable to provide the first basic essential the food. The government was quick to blame the blocked road for its inability to provide adequate food to the people left in wilderness.

The situation would not had been grave if the state government had planned for post cyclone disaster management as it did for pre cyclone, in which a million people were evacuated to nearest government buildings.

The better way to manage the crises would have been if the government would have stocked the ration before Phailin stuck in cyclone shelters or government school buildings. The local panchayats, whose secretary is a government official, should have been tasked with the job of providing meals to the cyclone hit victims. Kitchens in schools and anganwadi centers should have been used to provide cooked meals.

It appears that little has been learnt from similar disasters elsewhere in India.

In June this year, the Uttarakhand government was unable to provide food to thousands of people stranded in the flash flood hit hills of the state. Unlike the four day prior warning of Phailin, the Uttarakhand government had less than a day to make necessary arrangements. The loss of human life around 6, Swarovski Crystal 000 was much higher in Uttarakhand than in Phailin hit Odisha.

The poor disaster management in Uttarakhand should have been an eye opener for Odisha government, which was in an advantageous position because Phailin was predicted by Indian Meteorological Department four days in advance. But that did not happen as India does have adequate national coordination mechanism for disaster management.

The Centre’s disaster crises management group headed by Cabinet Secretary only starts working when the disaster happens rather than being proactive around the year.

India needs a permanent disaster management mechanism as disaster does not distinguish between the state boundaries. Around 76% of India’s coastline is prone to cyclones Swarovski Crystal and tsunamis, while 59% of the country is vul Swarovski Crystal nerable to earthquakes, 10% to floods and river erosion, and 68 % to droughts.

The two disasters of 2013 should prod the policy makers to have a re look at the disaster management mechanism in the country rather than the government’s state and centre patting their own backs for shoddy relief work.

At 58.03, the Indian Rupee touched an all time low in intra day deals today, depreciating nearly 8% against the US Dollar (USD) in last the one and half months. The slide comes on the back of fears of the US Federal Reserve, or the US Fed, winding down its $85 billion a month bond buying programme as their economy is showing signs of revival.

Though the jury is still out on when and whether the US Fed will resort t Swarovski Crystal o such a move given the latest US jobs data, the global markets off late have been rattled at the prospects.

For instance, Nikkei has slipped 15% from a five and a half year high it reached on May 23, as investors were spooked by worries over slowing growth in China and uncertainty over the US Fed’s course of action. Investors have also been disappointed with Abe’s growth strategy last week to revive the world’s third largest economy.

hitting lows against the dollar is a broad Asia story and not an INR specific story. The fear of winding down of the third round of quantitative easing (QE3) by the US Federal Reserve is causing outflows from most emerging markets (EMs). Most Asian FX, including the INR, has been under performing. Countries particularly like India and Indonesia that have a high current account deficit (CAD) are at risk in this environment, points out Sonal Varma, economist, Nomura.

are Swarovski Crystal not surprised that the INR has again been among the worst hit of BRIC currencies in this round of volatility. In our view, it will continue to trade weak till the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is able to recoup the $60 billion of FX (including forwards) sold since 2008. Keeping rates high will only defer recovery, deter FII equity inflows and delay re accumulation of FX reserves, notes Indranil Sen Gupta, India Economist, DSP Merrill Lynch (India) in a report dated 09 June, 2013. The IT sector earns around $100 billion a year from export of software and services.

Between April 30 June 7, 2013, the BSE IT index has surged 8%, in line with the rise in the rupee; while FMCG and healthcare indices have moved up 2.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively. The movement also factors in the reaction of the March 2013 quarter results and the road ahead.

On the other hand, there will be limited gains for companies in the engineering goods, gems and jewellery sectors, while oil and gas, power, metal and capital goods sectors could be adversely impacted. Stocks from these spaces are down between 3 4 per cent during the above mentioned period.

Adds Varma: cannot paint every company with the same brush. There will be differentiation in how the rupee slide impacts companies. The rupee touching a record low could be beneficial for exporters to the extent they have borrowings in forex. However, if there is un hedged borrowing, the impact could be negativ Swarovski Crystal e due to currency depreciation. Importers could see some negative impact of this adverse movement in the INR.

Among individual stocks, TCS, Infosys and MphasiS from the IT pack have surged more than 10% each, while Lupin, Dr Reddy Laboratories and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries from pharma sector have gained between 6 9 per cent.

The state owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation have lost 10% each due to multiple factors including the rupee depreciation, which turned the import of oil costlier.

major reason that we foresee behind rupee depreciation is the rise in US treasury yield, which is leading to the unwinding of carry trade in US dollar/Indian rupee, said Abhishek Goenka, Founder CEO, I Swarovski Crystal ndia Forex Advisors.

According to Nikhil Vora, MD and head of research at IDFC Securities: rupee weakness is a major concern for the markets and India Inc has a fair bit of forex loans. The new level/base for the INR has moved away from 52 53 closer to 55 57 levels. I don see it moving above 60 levels in the next six months.

On a positive note, however, Jayant Manglik, president retail distribution, Religare Securities says that the only silver lining for India so far is that foreign institutional investors continue to pour money and the rupee decline has not impacted their appetite for Indian stocks. Thus, inflows continue to fund the current account deficit to an extent, he adds.

Holcim owned ACC and Ambuja Cements have reported divergent financial numbers for the first quarter of 2014. While Ambuja registered a 7 per cent rise in net profit to crore, ACC net was down 9 per cent at crore.

In another development, Ajay Kapur, Deputy Managing Director, has been elevated Swarovski Crystal as Managing Director. The incumbent Managing Director, Onne van der Weijde, is headed back to Holcim after a stint of nine years in India. The board also approved the appointment of Usha Sangwan, Managing Director, LIC, as additional director.

Ambuja sales were up 4 per cent at crore. Sales volume increased 2 per cent to 6.06 million tonnes. The company registered a tax write back of crore in the March quarter compared with crore in the same period last year.

Sales volume increased a tad to 6.48 million tonnes (6.42 mt). The company attributed the flattish sales growth to Swarovski Crystal slowdown in Swarovski Crystal execution of infrastructure and real estate projects.

ACC is focusing on reducing costs and increasing sales volume of premium products. Its cost of prod Swarovski Crystal uction was up 5 per cent at crore.

we do not foresee any significant improvement in the cement market in the near term, we will continue to cut costs and undertake customer excellence programmes to enhance sales realisations and improve margins, it said.

While both Hindi and Marathi dailies have grown, magazines in both these languages have fallen

With the National Readership Survey (NRS) now out in the market what is in store for the regional press, especially Hindi and Marathi? What is their future with the Government approving FDI in print? Will the regional press move with the times?

First some quick number crunching. Out of the 46 Hindi dailies surveyed by the NRS, Dainik Bhaskar Swarovski Crystal has registered the fastest growth with a readership of 1.31 crore in 2002 as opposed to a figure of 68 lakh in 1999. Dainik Jagran stands second with a readership of 1.26 crore this year as opposed to 92 lakh in 1999. Amar Ujala, Hindustan, Nav Bharat and Rajasthan Patrika, all dailies, follow suit with figures of 64.31 lakh, 63.85 lakh 55.76 lakh and 54.32 lakh respectively.

Interestingly, Hindi magazines (43 Hindi magazines were surveyed by the NRS) have had a poor run over the last three years with most registering negative figures. The few exceptions include Saras Salil (1.06 crore), India Today Hindi (51.27 lakh), Nirogdham (34.58 lakh), Meri Saheli (33.85 lakh) and Vyapar (2.35 lakh).

Now a look at the figures of Marathi dailies and magazines.

Among the Marathi dailies, (37 were surveyed by NRS), Lokmat, Sakal and Deshonnati have registered positive figures with 78.40 lakh, 45.63 lakh and 8.33 lakh as opposed to 54.59 lakh, 41.53 lakh and 2.52 lakh in 1999.

Much of the growth for Lokmat has come through multi editions priced at Re 1. In fact, a recent price war at Jalgaon saw both Sakal and Lokmat slashing their rates to Re 1. With the exception of Charchaughi (3.98 lakh in 2002 as opposed to 2.71 lakh in 1999) most other Marathi magazines (18 magazines were surveyed by the NRS) registered negative growths including Chitralekha, Marathi, and Lokprabha, which registered a drop in both readership and circulation.

However, there are some voices of dissent here. For one, Bharat Kapadia, publisher, Chitralekha Group, doesn’t quite agree with the NRS figures. “There seems to be some anomaly in the NRS 2002. They have shown a drop in circulation of Chitralekha, Marathi in comparison to NRS 2000, when in reality, due to our tie up with Deshdoot (the No 3 daily in north Maharashtra), circulation of the magazine has doubled to over 20 lakh from 10 lakh in July December 2000. In fact, Chitralekha, Marathi has become the largest selling magazine ever in the state!”

He argues that the drop in readership of magazines as stated by the NRS is quite marginal with some actually regi Swarovski Crystal stering a growth. “Much of the decline in readership in the Hindi magazine market can be attributed to the close down of the Mitra Prakashan Group which had titles such as Manohar Kahaniyan, Maya and Sathya Katha. This resulted in 1.5 crore drop in readership, which has reflected in the NRS 2002. Let me tell you, that till five to 10 years ago, Manohar Kahaniyan was the most read magazine in the country,” he says.

Check out the numbers that Mitra Prakashan alone guaranteed. Manohar Kahaniyan had r Swarovski Crystal eadership of 64 lakh, Sathya Katha 47 lakh, Manorama 23 lakh and Maya had 22 lakh. All these magazines featured in NRS 1999 and are not obviously there in NRS 2002.

Media analysts also maintain that the growth of dailies in the Hindi and Marathi belt can be traced to their increasing acceptance as a source of news. As a senior media observer based in Mumbai puts it, “The credibility of a news channel is less than a daily with newspapers not only being a source of information but also a means of Swarovski Crystal relaxation to the average reader. All of these factors have contributed to the growth in readership of dailies.” Claims Communication and Media Effectiveness consultant, “Besides, neo literates (ones who have just become literate) will continue to read language newspapers, thus assuring their growth.”

Girish Agarwal, director, Dainik Bhaskar, talks about the strategy of his paper. “We tapped the untapped markets and focused on converting non readers to readers.” The result? Of the 1.7 crore growth in the reach of press as highlighted by the recent NRS (the overall figures read as 16.3 crore in NRS 2000 and 18 crore in NRS 2002), Dainik Bhaskar alone has contributed 50 lakh. Much of this growth in readership has come from the existing markets of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh (30 lakh) and newer markets of Haryana and Chandigarh (20 lakh).

But when it comes to entertainment, people in the Hindi and Marathi belt, like Indians in other regions, tend to fall back on television. Magazines have borne the full brunt of it. Especially so the general interest magazines. Only niche magazines that are primarily information based are tipped to survive.

So, will FDI in print impact the regional press? Most seem skeptical, asserting that with 26 per cent stake available and no management or editorial control, it is really not a very lucrative proposition. Some others see a change only in the ownership pattern and not in the relationship between the reader and the brand.

Says Tripathi, “If the Hindi and Marathi press really gets professional, I can see them giving the English newspapers and the general interest newspapers, a run for their money. Don’t forget that the first choice of people in the regional belt, whether Hindi or Marathi, is the language paper as opposed to English.

To review, the team one position player change because of injury (Omar Infante moved into the lineup after Martin Prado broke a pinkie, then stayed in due to Chipper Jones season ending knee injury) and made three other changes via trade because they weren satisfied with what they had.Escobar gone, but not forgotten by some in Braves Country.They got Alex Gonzalez from Toronto in a July 15 shortstop swap for Yunel Escobar, then traded for center f Swarovski Crystal ielder Rick Ankiel (and reliever Kyle Farnsworth) on July 31 after getting disappointing production from Nate McLouth and others in center, and traded for first baseman Derrek Lee last week after nearly two months of diminished production from sore kneed Troy Glaus.You know about Infante; he surpassed any and all expectations, the All Star utility man taking his game up another notch since becoming a lineup regular. Infante has hit .371 in 63 games since June 1, including .394 with a .426 OBP and .578 slugging percentage while starting the past 25 consecutive games.He g Swarovski Crystal ot 23 hits a .442 average during his current 12 game hitting streak, including seven extra base hits (two triples, three homers). He scored 13 runs and driven in seven during that 12 game span, and on Monday was named NL Player of the Week.But what about the others, the ones brought in via trades?First, let tak Swarovski Crystal e a look at Gonzalez, since he been here the longest and since some fans insist the Braves made a mistake trading Escobar. Nevermind if not a single member of the organization, players to team officials to scouts, will tell you on or off record that the team should given Escobar a little more time to grow up and that they were better off keeping him. Not one.Teammates and Braves officials have had nothing but praise for Gonzalez (left) since he came in trade for Escobar.Anyway, the stats might surprise you, since Escobar got off to a fast start in Toronto, having his best couple of weeks of the season while Gonzalez had one of his worst weeks right after coming to the Braves. It a reminder of how fi Swarovski Crystal rst impressions will linger with people.Since the trade, Gonzalez has hit .267 with 14 extra base hits (three homers), 20 RBIs and a .768 OPS in 36 games.He also grounded into four double plays and made six errors, most of the errors in quick succession a couple of weeks ago.Since the trade, Escobar has hit .297 with nine extra base hits (three homers), 12 RBIs and a .762 OPS in 31 games.He also grounded into four double plays and made four errors.So Gonzalez has played five more games, has five more extra base hits, eight more RBIs, and an OPS basically the same (six points higher, to be exact). He made two more errors.Keep in mind, it been arguably the best six week stretch of Escobar season, and one of the worst of Gonzalez season, at least in terms of power and OPS.Here what they done in recent weeks, since the close scrutiny sort of faded with time and other moves the Braves made:Since July 28, Escobar has hit .250 with four doubles, one homer, five RBIs and a .648 OPS in 21 games, and grounded into four double plays and made four errors.In Gonzalez past 18 games, he has hit .284 with five doubles, a triple, two homers, 17 RBIs and an .811 OPS. He grounded into one double play and made three errors in that span.For the season, Escobar has hit .257 with 18 doubles, three homers, 31 RBIs and a .665 OPS in 106 games.For the season, Gonzalez has hit .261 with 34 doubles, three triples, 20 homers, 70 RBIs and a .786 OPS in 121 games.The statistics aren nearly so encouraging for the Braves in regards to the others they traded for. But let start with a caveat that we talking about a relatively small sample size with all of them, and way too small a sample size when it comes to Lee.Derrek Lee, after hitting four homers in his last three games for the Cubs, has gone 1 for 15 with one double, three RBIs (all on that double), three walks and six strikeouts in four games with the Braves. He was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in Monday night series opening loss to the Rockies.Braves are confident that Lee is going to produce plenty before season through.Rick Ankiel, the strong armed center fielder has not looked good most nights at the plate. Ankiel hit his first homer of the season Monday, but also struck out with runners at second and third to end the eighth inning in the 5 4 loss.The whiffs have been particularly troubling with Ankiel, who has hit .212 in 21 games with four extra base hits, nine walks and 26 strikeouts in 66 at bats for the Braves. He has a .307 OBP and .318 slugging percentage since the trade.

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Mike Leach said after Thursday practice that he thought it was the best of the spring in terms of both sides of the ball responding to big plays made by the other side. thought we did a good job recovering from one play to the next, Leach said. got on a big roll. Somebody would make a big play, the other side would rise up. I thought that was very positive. Maybe one of the most consistent performers of the way was cornerback Tracy Clark, who saw a bit of time with the No. 1 defense during team session. He was locked in a verbal spar with receiver Isiah Myers after controlling him physically a couple of times, and made some nice plays in coverage. That prompted Clark to run off the field purporting that the Cougars defense was a fool, an observation by which he seemed rather pleased. Some of the most interesting work of the day, from my perspective, was watching the receivers and defensive backs go at it in 1 on 1 drills. Gino Simone had a couple of nice catches in which he gained a good deal of separation at the line of scrimmage, burning Casey Locker particularly badly on one play. Damante Horton earned a great deal of praise during that drill, responding to coaches demands to up the receiver he was covering. They emphasizing a lot of contact at the line of scrimmage for these guys. The most noticeable absence today was offensive Swarovski Crystal lineman Dan Spitz, who has been playing at right guard with the No. 1 unit. He was replaced by Zack Johnson. Elliott Bosch also slid over to left guard from time to time to allow Taylor Meighen to take some snaps at center. And Wade Jacobson, during the team screen period, took snaps at right tackle and right guard. David Gilbertson made a pair of nice touchdown throws to Marquess Wilson and Blair Bomber during the red zone portion of team session. Jeff Tuel did likewise on a slant route to Drew Loftus, who continues to make big plays and looks more and more as if he could see some legitimate playing time this season. Safety Tyree Toomer was not at practice, and has been out with some kind of injury for five practices now. Cornerbacks Spencer Waseem, Travion Smith or Ryan Swarovski Crystal Nungester, defensive end Jordan Pu Robinson and tight end Mansel Simmons Swarovski Crystal were also absent. Receivers Henry Eaddy and Kristoff Williams were limited, as were defensive end Adam Coerper, offensive lineman Chas Sampson, defensive tackle Kalafitoni Pole, safety Max Gama and cornerbacks Nolan Washington and Brandon Golden. Yes, Waseem was cited for misdemeanor assault on Wednesday, but he also missed every practice due to injury and hasn been present at the last few, so his absence is likely still injury related. The fact is that Leach doesn really address those kind of things one way or the other he be the same way with any of the names previously mentioned so there no way of knowing. I asked Leach about the Sekope Kaufusi situation afterward, and whether he actually spoken with him about a possible reinstatement. Here what Leach said: like that, I certainly wouldn discuss publicly. I discuss it with him. We don talk about that publicly. For my story for tomorrow newspaper, I wrote about the emphasis being placed on the screen game, and I wanted to talk with some of the running backs about it. But they were held so long after practice doing all kinds of not so fun looking conditioning drills in the sand pit that none of them were available to talk. I asked running backs coach Jim Mastro why his players were relegated to the beach. He said: a bad day today, mentally. What happens is complacency sets in, you have a good day you got to be able to have two good days, three good days in a row, and then today they had some mental busts they shouldn have had on simple stuff. To me that just lack of focus. So there self motivation, reward motivation and fear motivation. Well, today had to be a fear motivated day. Once you have a letdown, you got to come out of it and they couldn come out of it. Just one thing and another thing, it was one guy, it was two guys, it was three guys, and those things can Swarovski Crystal happen. Leach said Saturday scrimmage will be similar length about 110 plays or so as last week all we have for now.

All figures are in per cent and rounded off; Vote share estimates are based on the voting intentions declared by respondents through a secret dummy ballot. These raw figures have been adjusted by the CSDS team for the known patterns of under reporting for independents and very small parties and over reporting for the ruling party/alliance to Swarovski Crystal arrive at the vote share estimates presented here. Undecided voters are those who did not disclose their vote preference. They have been excluded while deciding the estimated vote share.

All figures are in per cent and rounded off; Vote share estimates are based on the voting intentions declared by respondents through a secret dummy ballot. These raw figures have been adjusted by the CSDS team for the known patterns of under reporting for independents and very small parties and over reporting for the ruling party/alliance to arrive at the vote share estimates presented here. Undecided voters are those who did not disclose their vote preference. They have been excluded while deciding the estimated vote share.

All figures are in per cent and rounded off; Vote share estimates are based on the voting intentions declared by respondents through a secret dummy ballot. These raw figures have been adjusted by the CSDS team for the known patterns of under reporting for independents and very small parties and over reporting for the ruling party/alliance to arrive at the vote share estimates presented here. Undecided voters are those who did not disclose their vote preference. They have been excluded while deciding the estimated vote share.

The south is not known for its support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With the BJP defeated in Karnataka only recently, the region appears set to live up to that reputation. Besides this common trend, the four States have somewhat different political stories to tell. Two States are ruled by the Congress (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), one has a Congress led coalition government (Kerala) and one (Tamil Nadu) has a State based party (the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam AIADMK) as its ruling party. In all the four States, people are less satisfied with the Central government than their State governments. However, all the States except Karnataka (which had a new government coming to power two and a half months ago) see a decline in the satisfaction with the State government as compared to two years ago.

Both Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu pose a challenge to the Congress. In Tamil Nadu, political equations today are vastly different from what they were at the time of the 2009 Lok Sabha poll. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is no longer in alliance with the Congress and voters have not seen that step by the DMK as a serious issue. The Hindu CNN IBN Election Tracker Survey conducted by Lokniti Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi shows that four of every 10 respondents believe that the DMK walking out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was a political drama. A fourth of traditional DMK voters too endorse this stand. Not surprisingly, its popularity too has dwindled and the AIADMK and the Congress are poised to benefit from this development. The ruling AIADMK seems to be gaining ground in southern and north central Tamil Nadu whereas the Congress appears to be doing better in upper north and western Tamil Nadu. The BJP vote share too registers an increase as compared to 2009. Overall, at the moment the wind is clearly blowing in favour of J. Jayalalithaa, who most people say has provided a better government than Karunanidhi. But it is still early days. Alliances between parties have yet to be worked out and the role of several other smaller regional parties will be crucial to the outcome in 2014. A lot will depend on alliance arithmetic and which and how many parties the AIADMK and the DMK tie up with in the run up to the Lok Sabha election.

In Andhra Pradesh, which contributed immensely to the Congress national victory in 2009, the party is in big trouble. The popularity of both the Congress led UPA at the Centre and the Congress Swarovski Crystal government in the State is extremely low (the lowest for the party in South India). The agitation over Telangana and the Jaganmohan Reddy factor appear to be the important drivers of political trends in the State. In Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Congress are in a close battle and any (in)decision on the future of the region will have important political consequences. As many as 79 per cent of the respondents in the Telangana region said they support the creation of a separate Telangana state, a figure that has gone up considerably since the last survey in 2009. What more, nine out of every 10 Telangana supporters say that their stand on Telangana will affect their Swarovski Crystal vote choice in the next Lok Sabha election. As compared to this, only a little over one third of those who want Andhra Pradesh to stay united take a similar stand. The YSR Congress, led by Jaganmohan Reddy, seems to be doing very well in the Rayalaseema region though its support is not as strong in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The support for Jaganmohan Reddy among traditional Congress supporters is evident in the fact that four out of every 10 feel he is innocent and being falsely implicated. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) seems to be squeezed out of the race by the presence of the YSR Congress especially in Rayalaseema and also in coastal Andhra.

Karnataka alone seems to have some good news for the Congress. The effect is transparently visible with the new State government being in power for less than three months. The non dominant Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minority votes seem to be clearly consolidating in favour of the Congress with a split across parties of the dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga votes. The Congress seems to be consolidating its presence in coastal, central and southern Karnataka even as it retains support in the Hyderabad Karnataka region. It faces some competition from the BJP and Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) in the Mumbai Karnataka region. However, the split of votes between the BJP KJP would work to the Congress advantage. The Janata Dal (Secular) JD(S) continues to register a presence in southern Karnataka and is giving a fight to the Congress in the Hyderabad Karnataka region. Historically, the JD(S) has always focused more on Assembly elections than the Lok Sabha polls which again could work to the Congress advantage.

In Kerala, the Congress led United Democratic Front government seems to be on the back foot and has lost some support. Trends in the survey show that if the Lok Sabha election was to be held in the State now, the two major alliances would more or less evenly share the seats.

Each State of the South provides a picture in contrast. In Tamil Nadu, the nature of the competition between the State based parties would define and decide the choice in a Lok Sabha poll. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana issue and the rise of Jaganmohan Reddy YSR Congress will be of crucial significance. Karnataka seems to be the safest bet for the Congress in this region and Kerala is witnessing a stiff competition between the two alliances. What price Ms Jay Lalithaa would demand in such a situation is not known. But given her history, the price will be a fairly heavy price including post of Deputy PM. BJP leaders who want Mr. Modi to be PM should be ready for paying a very high price for an alliance with AIADMK. (2) In another kind of situation, Parties like Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal JD(U) and Telugu Desam may be getting ready to form government in Delhi with the support of Congress and left parties, if both the Congress and BJP fail to together win more than 275 seats in the next Lok Sabha elections. (3) Hence the concerned, non affiliated citizens are worried. Citizens have seen how UPA II has miserably failed to perform and how BJP and regional parties too, have nothing better to offer although all of them may claim good governance as their vote plank. All above parties are one or the other way same, having knowledge of karnataka’s politics i’d say, BJP lost it’s ground. winning 3 seats here would be achievement for BJP.

Posted on: Jul 25, 2013 at 07:45 IST

known to be a master strategist among the media friends, where does Arun Jaitley stands in this election, is he an over rated strategist in the BJP or the BJP doe Swarovski Crystal s not consider him as an effective strategist

Posted on: Jul 25, 2013 at 00:35 IST

Chandrababu has ruined his chances of winning in 2014,as there are many allegations of MATCH FIXING , between Congress and his own party. He has relied heavily on NTR. he is totally ignoring the intellectuals , and started the walkathons , which was a colossal waste of time money and energy. All the good work he has done when he was CM, is now annulled . as per the election tracker only 18 percent want him to be CM, whereas 25 percent want Jagan to be CM.

In Tamilnadu, cong can get only 5 6% votes. Dmk and Admk both can get get above 25% votes. dmdk will get around 10% votes. Bjp can get 3% votes. Dmk and dmdk alliance will win over admk.

But it’s being seen as a good trial run for the event’s permanent date, which will fall in February from now on, as well as a warm up for the annual and typically successful back to school sales tax holiday at the beginning of August. job market worries and election year uncertainty sending shivers through consumers’ confidence. Students’ return to class will be a critical time for state and local merchants to bridge the gap until the all important holiday shopping season.Across metro Birmingham last weekend, retailers stocked up on severe weather gear.From the Lowe’s in Hoover to the Home Depot in Trussville, there were prominent displays of exempt items, including flashlights, batteries, tarps and portable generators.Despite publicity about the event, many customers were surprised to discover the items were sales tax free in participating communities, said Nancy Dennis, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Retail Association.”I had several retailers, especially smaller retailers, tell me that only a few of their weekend customers were aware of the sales tax h Swarovski Crystal oliday,” she said.Having it on the weekend following July 4 Swarovski Crystal hurt and helped, D Swarovski Crystal ennis added. Many Alabama shoppers were out of town, but that did pull some people into stores.The sales tax holiday wa Swarovski Crystal s originally planned to coincide with the anniversary of the deadly April 2011 tornadoes, but the state Legislature did not pass it in time.