Indians who travel to Britain for sight-seeing, shopping or on business purpose, please note: from Thursday, the £20 note featuring the image of composer Edward Elgar will be withdrawn from circulation. Every year, thousands of Indian tourists, students and business people travel to Britain.
New foreign exchange regulations in India allow a certain amount to be carried as cash, which is dispensed by banks and licensed foreign exchange dealers.
The £20 note featuring Elgar has been replaced by a note of the same denomination but features 18th century economist Adam Smith. The Bank of England said for several months after the end of June most banks, building societies and post offices will accept the Elgar £20 notes for deposit to customer accounts and for other customer transactions.
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16 immigrants drown trying to enter Greece
Thessaloniki (Greece), June 30: Greek police say 16 illegal immigrants have drowned while trying to cross the Evros river that marks the country’s northern border with Turkey.
The police in northern Orestiada say they recovered the bodies of six men and three women, while those of another five people could be seen on the Turkish side of the river. The bodies of another two women were recovered on June 25.
The police said on Wednesday the immigrants had been part of a larger group intercepted June 25. Ten illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa, were arrested and told authorities the boat in which they were trying to cross the river had overturned. —AP
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Aussie cities shivers from Antarctic cold
Sydney, June 30: Australia’s biggest cities shivered on Wednesday through an Antarctic cold front which has brought some of the lowest temperatures in years. Sydney awoke to rare frost and temperatures of 4.3º Celsius, its coldest June morning since 1983, a day after Melbourne flirted with its chilliest day on record. Capital city Canberra was carpeted in frost while Ballarat in Victoria, near Melbourne, on Tuesday clocked 5.1º C, its lowest in a decade.
Forecasters blamed the cool spell on a blast of icy weather from the Antarctic.
“There’s been a persistent ridge of high pressure over New South Wales and a lot of cold air is lying around underneath this ridge,” said weather bureau spokesman Stephen Stefanac. The cold snap coincides with a sharp increase in homelessness blamed on problems caused by the economic downturn. —AFP