Lana Del Ray postpones Israel show amid row
Los Angeles, Sep 2 : Singer Lana Del Rey has postponed her upcoming performance in Israel after struggling to set up another show in Palestine to appease fans on both sides of the political conflict.
The singer recently sparked a backlash after joining the line-up for the inaugural Meteor Festival in Tel Aviv next week as activists supportive of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for a cultural boycott of Israel, urged her to reconsider the booking, reports aceshowbiz.com.
She initially tried to defend her decision by saying it had nothing to do with politics or picking sides in the long-running conflict between the two nations, but days later, she returned to social media and promised to make amends by visiting Palestine too, before the scheduled Israeli show on September 7.
However, on August 31, she announced her hopes of making stops in both countries have been dashed as she has been unable to make the schedule work.
As a result, Ray has chosen to pull out of the Meteor Festival headlining set, and delay her first gig in Israel until a later date.
She tweeted: "It's important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally.
"Unfortunately it has not been possible to line up both visits with such short notice and therefore I am postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region."
The Meteor Festival is still scheduled to go ahead as planned, with acts including Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Pusha T, and Soulwax on the bill, but organisers have made it clear they do not appreciate the late change of heart, accusing Ray of using the event to increase her media profile.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee hits all-time low for second time in a week
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 31 paise to settle at 91.99 against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching the lowest closing level for the second time in less than a week, amid increased month-end demand for the greenback.
Forex traders said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe offered quiet reassurance. However, increased month-end demand for the American currency as well as the ongoing geopolitical tensions dented investors' sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.60 and touched an early high of 91.50, but pared all the gains to touch an intra-day low of 91.99 against the greenback.
The domestic unit settled 31 paise down, revisiting its lowest-ever closing level of 91.99 against the greenback. The Indian currency previously ended at this level on January 23 when it also hit its all-time intraday low of 92 against the US dollar.
On Tuesday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and gained 22 paise to close at 91.68 against the US dollar.
Analysts said the rupee opened higher as the US dollar index softened and a long-awaited trade breakthrough with Europe bolstered investor sentiment.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA), under which a number of domestic sectors such as apparel, chemicals and footwear will get duty-free entry into the 27-nation bloc, while the EU will get access to the Indian market at concessional duty for cars and wines, an official said.
The deal has been dubbed the "mother of all deals" as it will create a market of about 2 billion people.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent lower at 96.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 67.28 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 487.20 points to settle at 82,344.68, while Nifty surged 167.35 points to 25,342.75.
Foreign Institutional Investors turned net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 480.26 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
