Bhopal case: Cong demands Anderson's extradition
NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday said that the UPA government should make every effort to get Warren Anderson, the chairman and CEO of Union Carbide when the Bhopal gas tragedy took place, extradited to India.
"Congress is of the firm opinion that the extradition process should be completed and he (Anderson) should be brought back. We hope government will take it to its logical conclusion," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters here.
She said the Congress wanted every step to be taken to ensure that the perpetrators of the world's worst industrial disaster stand trial and people who were wronged receive justice.
Natarajan sidestepped several questions regarding charges against the then Congress government at the Centre and in Madhya Pradesh for granting safe passage to Anderson.
There have been successive governments at the Centre and in the state and these questions need to be asked of them as well, the Congress spokesperson said.
Days after the gas leak, Anderson was arrested and then released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police on December 7, 1984.
Anderson served as Union Carbide CEO till 1986, when he retired.
Sensex closes up 0.3%; Bharti adds 6.7%
Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex rose 0.3 per cent on Wednesday after two days of declines, helped by a small lift in Chinese and European stocks, but investors continued to be wary as worries over euro zone debt problems lingered.
Top mobile operator Bharti Airtel surged as much as 6.7 per cent, after it closed its $9-billion acquisition of African operations from Kuwait's Zain in a deal that makes the Indian firm the world's fifth biggest cellphone company by subscribers.
The stock which had shed 3.8 per cent in the previous day in a weak Mumbai market, rose the most in more than 6 months as it closed 5.6 per cent higher at 272.15 rupees.
Top lender State Bank of India reversed early gains and slipped 0.5 per cent after Chairman O. P. Bhatt said the bank expects to launch a 200-billion-rupee ($4.2 billion) rights issue in the second half of 2010/11.
The 30-share BSE index climbed 0.25 per cent, or 40.79 points, and finished at 16,657.89 points, with 19 of its components gaining. The benchmark had lost 2.9 per cent in the previous two sessions.
"While the expectations from the domestic front with regards to growth are promising, there are concerns over the euro zone's debt problems and foreign fund outflow," said V.P. Chaturvedi, managing director of Tata Asset Management.
Foreign funds have been net sellers for $9 million of Indian equities so far in June, after pulling out $2 billion last month.
They have been sellers for three of the first five trading days this month.
"We have not collapsed yet because of the positive developments on the domestic front. We are still holding on," Chaturvedi said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday India could maintain an 8.5 per cent growth in 2010/11 despite the euro zone problems, provided there is a normal summer monsoon.
Financials gained on expectations demand for credit would pick up in the world's second-fastest growing major economy.
Top private lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank climbed 1.2 per cent each. Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp rose 0.2 per cent.
Energy giant Reliance, which has the highest weight on the main index, closed 1 per cent higher, after sliding 3.4 per cent over three sessions.
State-run energy firms eged up on market talk that a ministerial panel on fuel price reforms could meet very soon. Explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp rose 2.2 per cent while state-run oil marketing companies Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp gained between 1.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent.
Shares in the companies had fallen on Tuesday, a day after the government held off the decision to hike fuel prices after two powerful ministers stayed away from the meeting of the panel, signalling opposition to the move on fears of voter backlash ahead of local polls over the next year.
Non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries rose 3.3 per cent as London copper futures jumped on reports that China's total exports surged in May, showing the economic strength of the world's top consumer of the metal.
Tata Steel, world's eighth-largest steel-maker by output, rose 2.2 per cent while Hindalco rose 0.6 per cent.
In the broader market, gainers outpaced losers in the ratio of 1.1:1, in relatively low volume of 289 million shares.
The 50-share NSE index closed 0.3 per cent higher at 5,000.30.
Elsewhere, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares and MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than Japan were up 0.2 per cent each by 1014 GMT.
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe to win tri-nation series
Harare: Sri Lanka defeated hosts Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the final ODI match to win the tri-nation cricket series here on Wednesday.
Brief score:
Zimbabwe: 199 all out in 49 overs (Tatenda Taibu 71, Greg Lamb 37; Dilhara Fernando 3/36).
Sri Lanka: 203 for one in 34.4 overs (Upul Tharanga 72, Tillakaratne Dilshan 108 not out).
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