Bhopal gas tragedy: 'Case against Anderson not closed'
NEW DELHI: Law minister Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said the case against former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy was not closed.
"As far as Anderson is concerned, the case is not closed," Moily said.
He said the name of Anderson figured in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case.
"The CBI has filed chargesheet. The courts then frame charges. There is one person here who has not responded to the summons or replied to the charges. He has absconded and was declared a proclaimed offender," he said.
"That does not mean that the case against him (Anderson) is closed," Moily said.
The minister had on Monday said that the government will fast-track the Bhopal gas tragedy case in the High Court as it has learnt "big lessons" from the verdict and could go in for a stand-alone legislation to ensure that the culprits in such incidents are brought to book effectively.
Nearly 26 years after world's worst industrial disaster left over 15,000 dead, former Union Carbide India chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others were on Monday sentenced to two years imprisonment. The outcome of the case came under attack from civil rights activists and political parties.
89-year-old Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the United States, appeared to have gone scot-free for the present as he is still an absconder and did not subject himself to trial. There was no word about him in the judgement of the Bhopal court.
Anil Ambani withdraws Rs10000cr defamation suit against Mukesh in HC
MUMBAI: Industrialist Anil Ambani today withdrew a Rs 10,000 crore defamation suit against elder brother Mukesh Ambani in the Bombay High Court, signalling a further thaw in their relationship.
"Yes, we have withdrawn the suit claiming Rs 10,000 crore as damages", a Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group spokesman said.
Anil had dragged his brother to court, alleging that Mukesh had defamed him in an interview to New York Times that was reproduced in two leading Indian newspapers (in June 2008). The two newspaper had also been made respondents in the suit.
The withdrawal of the suit comes weeks after the brothers decided to scrap a non-compete agreement between their group companies and pledged to expeditiously renegotiate a gas supply agreement on the lines of the Supreme Court verdict of May 7.
The Ambanis had parted ways in June 2005, and out of four of the last five years they have been engaged in a legal row over supply of gas from Mukesh-run RIL to Anil Ambani group's RNRL.
A spokesperson for Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries declined to comment.
Vaiko, 1000 others detained for protest over Lanka president's visit to India
CHENNAI: MDMK founder Vaiko and leaders of CPI and VCK were detained today when they attempted to stage demonstrations at different places here to protest Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the country.
Rajapaksa is scheduled to arrive in India today on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and others.
Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan, CPI State Secretary D Pandian, Tamil Nationals Movement leader P Nedumaran and actors Seeman and T Rajender were among those detained.
Cadres of Sri Lankan Tamils Movement, formed by several pro-Tamil parties, including MDMK, known for its pro-LTTE stand, and CPI were held when they tried to stage black flag protests near Nageswara Rao Park and proceed towards the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner's office, police said.
Vaiko, who addressed the protesters, alleged that thousands of minority Tamil civilians were killed towards the end of the war between the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE last year.
He also alleged that Rajapaksa was responsible for killings of many innocent Tamils and demanded that he be tried in an international court of law.
More than 200 cadres belonging to VCK, headed by Thol Thirumavalvan, were detained as they tried to stage a protest near Memorial Hall.
Thirumavalavan alleged that the Sri Lankan government has not utilised the funds given by India to rehabilitate Tamils living in rehabilitation camps in that nation.
About 100 PMK cadres, headed by Velmurugan, MLA, were also detained near the Collector's office. Eighty Nam Tamil Movement activists led by actor Seeman were picked up when they tried to burn an effigy of Rajapaksa near Sastri Bhavan.
RTI: Details of PM-Tharoor meetings confidential, says PMO
New Delhi: The PMO has refused to make public the details of the meetings Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with Shashi Tharoor just before his resignation as Minister of State for External Affairs at the height of IPL controversy in April, citing exemption in matters of national security and "confidential" third party information.
The Prime Minister's Office, after taking the views of External Affairs Ministry, said details of meetings where matters relating to country's sovereignty and integrity, its security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests and relations with foreign States are discussed cannot be given under the Right to Information Act.
It also said that details of meetings where "confidential third party information" is discussed cannot be given under the transparency law.
54-year-old Tharoor resigned on April 18 after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed that the Thiruvananthapuram MP's friend Sunanda Pushkar had equity stake in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team.
The issue erupted as a major controversy after opposition parties made a strong demand for his removal on the ground that he misused office for pecuniary gain.
The Prime Minister called the diplomat-turned-minister on more than a couple of occasions before he tendered his resignation on the night of April 18.
RTI applicant Abhishek Shukla had sought the minutes of meetings between the two leaders between April 17-19 from the Prime Minister's Office. The application was transferred to the External Affairs Ministry by the PMO.
"The office (MEA) has invoked exemption from disclosure of details of PM's appointments under Section 8 of the Act asthis includes all such meetings where issues discussed may, inter alia, include matters relating to sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests of the State and relations with foreign States as well as confidential third party information," Central Public Information Officer of the PMO said.
CPIO Sanjukta Ray wrote, "After due consideration, I am satisfied with the view taken by the office that the information sought is exempted from disclosure in terms of the provisions of section 8(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005."
Indo-Canada nuke deal to be signed during G-20 Summit
Toronto: India and Canada will sign a civil nuclear agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's forthcoming visit to the G-20 Summit in Toronto later this month.
The four-day visit commences on June 26.
The agreement will be signed after a bilateral meeting between Singh and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, who will be hosting a special dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister on June 27, official sources said yesterday.
The two countries will also review their bilateral economic and cultural ties.
"We hope to complete the prerequisite of the agreement before Dr Singh arrives in Toronto," they said.
The agreement will allow Indian firms to export and import controlled nuclear material, equipment and technology to and from Canada, they added.
India has already signed similar agreements with countries like the US, France and Russia.
Besides uranium exports, Canada is pitching its 1200-MWe class Advanced CANDU reactor as a good fit for the Indian nuclear programme due to its size and localisation potential.
"Negotiations have been concluded. There will be a bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear agreement. Canada is the biggest exporter of uranium in the world. Equally important is that we (India and Canada) are using the same technology and exploring the possibility of setting up nuclear power plants in third countries," they said.
ingh will review progress in the proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement, the Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPPA), MoUs signed by the two countries in energy sector and cultural and social security agreements, they said.
The Indian prime minister will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.
Both countries are keen to strengthen their economic ties and the forthcoming meeting between the two Prime Ministers would be an important historic event, they said.
A joint-study group set up to explore the areas of mutual interests for concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has concluded its study and submitted its report, they said, adding the two leaders are expected to release the study and start negotiations.
Both countries will try to triple the bilateral trade and investment volume to CAD 15 billion by 2015 from the current CAD 5 billion, they added.
Business News
CNG price rise deferred on govt diktat
New Delhi: The government has asked CNG retailers in the national capital and Mumbai to defer by a week the hike in CNG price that had become necessary following doubling of natural gas price.
Indraprastha Gas Ltd in Delhi and Mahanagar Gas Ltd in Mumbai were to hike price of CNG they sell to automobiles by 25 per cent and that of gas piped to households for cooking purposes by close to 6 per cent from today.
The two companies received calls from the Oil Ministry yesterday morning asking them to defer the decision till June 15, a source privy to the comminique said.
Following the "verbal" order, the two firms did not go ahead with their planned price increase from today.
The Oil Ministry had in a May 31 written order detailing decision of the Cabinet to increase natural gas price to USD 4.2 per mmBtu, had stated that IGL and MGL can hike CNG and piped gas prices from June 8.
The CNG price hike was to coincide with a planned increase in petrol and diesel rates from June 8.
The source said yesterday's dictat came hours before an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) was to meet on raising petrol and diesel prices in sink with cost.
However, when it became clear that key constituents like Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar would not be attending the EGoM meeting and a decision would be taken, the oil ministry pressed IGL and MGL to defer the CNG price hike decision, he said.
The EGoM is to meet again in a week to 10 days time to consider freeing auto fuel prices from government control, a move that will result in petrol prices going up by Rs 3.35 a litre and diesel rates by Rs 3.49 per litre.
"While the decision to raise natural gas price came into effect from June 1, the oil ministry on purpose had stated in the order that city gas suppliers (like IGL) should effect any hike from June 8," the source said.
The government decision to raise natural gas prices from Rs 3.2 per cubic metre to Rs 7.5 per cubic metre (USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit) would have resulted in CNG price in Delhi going up by Rs 5.60 per kg to Rs 27.50 a kg. Piped natural gas price was to be raised from Rs 15.92 per cubic metre to Rs 16.85 per cubic metre.
The CNG rate hike would have narrowed the price advantage the environment friendly fuel had over petrol and diesel and it was felt that the this would be coupled with a price hike in conventional transport fuels, the source added.
Gold climbs to all-time high of Rs 19,220
New Delhi: Gold prices zoomed past all previous records to a new peak of Rs 19,220 per ten grams in the national capital on frantic buying by stockists after the metal surged to an all-time high in international markets.
Standard gold (99.9 purity) jumped up by Rs 195 to touch a new peak of Rs 19,220 per ten grams, while gold of 99.5 per cent purity was being traded higher by the same margin at a record high of Rs 19,120 per ten grams. Sovereigns also gained Rs 50 to Rs 14,700 per piece of eight grams.
Reports of a firming global trend came at a time when the metal was going through a bullish patch in domestic markets on hectic buying by jewellers and retail customers for the ongoing marriage season.
The trading sentiment turned extremely strong after gold climbed to record levels in London as investors sought an alternative to currencies and equities as concerns over the deepening Europe debt crisis mounted. Gold in London surpassed all previous records to trade at USD 1,252.90 an ounce.
The price of gold in dollars strengthened as the euro slipped to its lowest level in more than four years against the US currency, making the metal more costlier when bought in the eurozone.
With prices of the precious metal on a high worldwide, gold in futures trading on the Multi Commodity Exchange for far-month February delivery climbed 1.22 per cent to Rs 19,222 per ten grams, a level never seen before.
In line with the general firming trend, silver prices recorded significant gains on increased offtake by industrial units and other consuming sectors like coin and jewellery fabricators.
Silver ready recorded a handsome single day gain of Rs 1,000 to Rs 29,600 per kg and weekly-based delivery spurted by Rs 840 to Rs 29,065 per kg. Silver coins were also being traded higher by Rs 100 at Rs 34,500 for buying and Rs 34,600 for selling of 100 pieces.
Bharti completes $10.7 bn Zain deal
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel completed a deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African business for $10.7 bn.
In the largest ever telecom takeover by an Indian firm, Bharti Airtel completed a deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom's African business for USD 10.7 billion (about Rs 48,000 crore).
Announcing the closure of the deal, Sunil Mittal said, "We are delighted at the closure of this transformational deal for India and Bharti Airtel. The transaction is the largest ever cross-border deal in an emerging market and will result in combined revenues of about USD 13 billion."
On March 30, 2010, Bharti had entered the deal to acquire Zain Telecom's operations in 15 nations, excluding Sudan and Morocco. Zain has operations in 17 African countries.
The closure of the deal implies that Bharti has received all the approvals from the governments and regulators of each of these 15 nations.
This acquisition, besides giving Bharti its much-desired presence in Africa, makes it the world's fifth largest wireless company with operations across 18 countries and a subscriber base of around 179 million.
Bharti had failed twice in the last two year's to forge an USD 23 billion merger deal with South African telecom giant MTN.
The Zain acquisition, the second largest by an Indian entity after Tatas' Corus deal, would take the revenue of the combined entity to an estimated USD 13 billion.
The African business would widen Bharti's reach, which was hitherto restricted to Asia and the Indian Ocean region with businesses in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Seychelles.
Of the USD 10.7 billion enterprise value of Zain, Bharti will be paying USD 8.3 billion upfront and USD 700 million after a year. It would also take over approximately USD 1.7 billion of Zain's debts as on December 31, 2009.
Of the USD 8.3 billion paid to Zain, Bharti has raised debt from a consortium of foreign banks and State Bank of India with the lead-arranger and lead-advisor Standard Chartered Bank committing the highest amount -- USD 1.3 billion, followed by Barclays at USD 900 million.
The rest of the co-advisors -- ANZ, BNP, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole CIB, DBS, HSBC, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation -- have allocated USD 600 million each.
State Bank of India has agreed to an up to USD one billion loan in rupee terms.
Bharti-Chronology
Following is the chronology of Bharti Airtel's efforts to enter the African market. The Indian company closed the deal to buy Zain's business in 15 African countries.
* June 8, 2010: Bharti Airtel completes acquisition of African assets of Kuwait-based Zain Telecom for USD 10.7 billion.
* March 30, 2010: Bharti Airtel signs deal to buy African assets of Zain Telecom.
* March 25, 2010: Bharti completes due diligence of Zain Telecom's operations in Africa other than in Sudan and Morocco; says definite agreements to be signed soon.
* March 21, 2010: Bharti Airtel says has tied up USD 8.3 billion from a clutch of foreign banks and State Bank of India to fund the acquisition of Zain telecom's African assets.
* February 15, 2010: Bharti enters into exclusive talks with Zain for acquiring its African operations based on an enterprise value of USD 10.7 billion. The discussions go on till March 25.
* February 14, 2010: Zain says its board would meet to discuss an offer for its African assets, excluding Sudan and Morocco
* September 30, 2009: Talks on the USD 23-billion merger deal
between Bharti and MTN called off, on the last day of the
third deadline for the exclusive discussions.
* August 20, 2009: Deadline for exclusive talks extended till
September 30. Later, reports appear on various thorny issues,
including South African government's desire for dual listing.
* August 3, 2009: Bharti says exclusivity period extended till
August 31, amid reports of various unresolved issues,
including MTN shareholders' concerns on deal pricing.
* July 31, 2009: First deadline for exclusivity talks period ends.
* May 25, 2009: MTN and Bharti announce they have renewed talks for potential merger, a year after the first attempt
fell through.
* May 24, 2008: Bharti disengages from discussions with MTN on issues related to deal structure.
* May 5, 2008: Bharti announces exploratory talks with South Africa-based MTN.
Sports News
Rooney scores and booked in England win
Moruleng: Wayne Rooney scored and was booked as England did little to justify a place among the World Cup favourites when they laboured to a 3-0 win over South African premier league side Platinum Stars on Monday.
A Jermain Defoe goal after only two minutes and second-half strikes from Joe Cole and Rooney gave Fabio Capello's team a flattering victory at the Moruleng Stadium, an hour's drive north of their Rustenburg base, in an unofficial warm-up game.
On an evening more memorable for the noise generated in the night air by hundreds of vuvuzelas and the open views of red soil, savannah grass and distant mountains, England appeared frustrated and, at times, near to moments of indiscipline.
Capello selected what was probably close to his strongest team in the first half, minus Rooney - an eleven that included Joe Hart in goal, Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right wing and striker Jermain Defoe - but they struggled to control lively and dexterous opponents, who missed a penalty, in hot sunshine.
The spot kick came after four minutes when right-back Glen Johnson was harshly adjudged to have committed a foul and Bradley Grobler fired high over the bar.
DANCING FANS
Urged on by groups of dancing fans clad in yellow South Africa shirts, the Stars also forced saves in both halves from Hart and his replacement Robert Green.
As the sun fell, so England blossomed and they improved their tempo and performance in the second half although the Stars remained threatening on the break under bright floodlights following the rapid disappearance of the sun.
Apart from the inclusion of Hart for the first half and Green in goal for the second -- selections that suggested 39-year-old David James may struggle to claim a starting place -- the match also gave skipper Steven Gerrard a chance to work in tandem with vice-captain Frank Lampard in central midfield.
Their first-half showing, before Capello made ten halftime changes, was uninspiring but no worse than many players around them amid misplaced passes and an overall lack of understanding.
Rooney, scorer of 25 goals for England, was held back until the second half, and stormed into the action when he arrived.
His bullish frame of mind was clearly evident as he clattered into several challenges before being cautioned by referee Selogilwe for verbal dissent after an hour.
He made the right impact in the 83rd minute, however, when James Milner broke away down the left before pulling a cross back to Rooney who thumped the ball into the bottom corner.
Sehwag continues to be number one Test batsman
Dubai: Flamboyant Virender Sehwag maintained his number one position in the ICC rankings for Test batsmen and India also held on to its top spot in the latest chart.
Sehwag is leading the list with 863 points and is followed by South Africa's Hashim Amla (842) and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (836).
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir (824) and batting great Sachin Tendulkar (805) are the other two Indian batsmen in top-10 at number six and seven positions respectively.
VVS Laxman (14) and Rahul Dravid (16) also had their rankings unchanged.
In the bowlers list, India have two players in the top-10 with paceman Zaheer Khan placed at number six followed by spinner Harbhajan Singh.
In the teams' list, India are at the top with 124 points followed by South Africa (120) and Australia (119).
Bopanna's singles journey cut short in 1st round
New Delhi: Rohan Bopanna could not repeat the brilliant show of qualifying event as he exited from the ATP 250 event in Halle, Germany after suffering a straight-set defeat against Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands.
The Indian qualifier fought hard but lost 4-6 6-7 (11) in the first round of the euro 750,000 grass court event – Gerry Weber Open.
Bopanna will now try his luck in the doubles event, where he has teamed up with Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
The Indo-Pak pair will open its campaign against Philipp Marx of Germany and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia.
Meanwhile, at the euro 713,950 Aegon Championship in London, Somdev Devvarman is trailing 1-6 2-3 against America's Mardy Fish in the first round of grass court event.
