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India's foreign exchange reserves of $295 billion cover about 7 months of imports. This is not enough in currency reserves for India's central bank to take actions to prevent a depreciation of the Indian currency, the rupee. The central bank, RBI, has taken other actions including giving local exporters 15 days to convert half their estimated $7 billion foreign exchange holdings into rupees. Analysts say the RBI is running out of policy options and is down to micromanaging the currency. India's trade deficit was at $13.4 billion in March 2012 with rising cost of importing oil and lower exports. The rupee is close to 54 rupees to the dollar.

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The shift to digital from newsprint for newspapers in the U.S. is taking place in gradual steps. Print ad still account for 86% of $24 billion in revenues for the newspapers in 2011, according to the Newspaper Association of America. About 45 million buyers for the 1400 newspapers in the U.S. put their hands on a printed paper edition each day. At the same time print revenues have fallen by half since 2007. So as not to overly disturb the existing customer base for newsprint papers, and wary of the still developing revenue model with lower revenues of the digital newspapers, Advance Publications is making a gradual shift to three days a week from daily papers. In 2009 it moved the An Arbor News to two print editions weekly and in early 2012 it shifted 7 other daily papers in local communities of Michigan to 3 times a week print editions. The pulbback has shifted readers to the paper's websites. Local communties depend on papers in a crisis such as the one that hit Louisiana with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Circulation for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans has declined by half to 133, 557 daily in March 2012. Yet the digital edition has a distinct advantage because journalists continued to provide reports online when the hurricane knocked out printing presses. The advantage continues with the lighter iPad tablet devices which will make the papers accessible in a convenient hand holdable way. The problem is with the revenue stream which has not been established in a convincing way for digital as yet so that it would support hiring journalists. As it shifts to online reporting on its site Nola.com, Advance publications will shift to 3 print editions per week in New Orleans. And this will mean laying off 50 journalists, and covering a region with 1.3 million people with the remaining 100 journalists. Advance Publications will do the same for its papers in Birmingham and Huntsville in Alabama. For journalists like Caroline Little, a former publisher of the Washingtonpost.com, the scary thing is that fewer and fewer journalists are supported by the online model, and yet the shift to digital is unmistakable. For reaching younger readers not accustomed to holding a print newspaper, it is also the only way forward. ...

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The smartphone market in Brazil is shifting to the $100-$300 range. Because of higher import taxes and other costs, including paying for the full price upfront, buyers pay about $260 for a Moto G whereas a iPhone 6 would cost $1060. The focus is on the better value for the Moto G compared to the Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone in developing countries, where new middle class consumers such as in Brazil may make between $5400 to $27,000 a year. This creates opportunities for such phones with superior value- the Moto G has a 5 inch HD display, a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm pocessor, and an 8 megapixel camera. This has helped Lenovo Motorola Mobility take 18% of the Brazil smartphone market, according to IDC, making the Moto G the best selling smartphone in Brazil.

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This editorial in the NYT says a two state solution is the best way to justice and peace in the region. It says more states are likely to recognize Palestine as a state, following Sweden and the Vatican, as the negotiations are in total breakdown.