Today's Hot Stories - March 29, 2013
10 Headlines for Today(1) Tension grips Bhiwandi over ‘provocative’ post
(2) PM seeks joint mechanism to monitor dam work in Tibet
(3) U.S. forms commission to recommend on electoral reforms
(4) Nokia India's Shivakumar disconnects
(5) Debashis Mitra quits Mercedes Benz India
(6) Cyprus banks reopen with limits on transactions
(7) At 101, marathon runner Fauja Singh calls it a day
(8) AFI shifts Indian GP, Federation Cup
(9) Punjab posts crucial win against Bengal
(10) Over 8,000 captive baby tortoises die
5 Stories for Today
(1) No need for panic over Saudi law: Ravi
(2) Iran, N Korea block UN weapons treaty
(3) Sebi slaps Rs.36 lakh fine on 4 entities for insider trading
(4) Pfizer gets new rebuff from UK cost body for cancer drug
(5) Cabinet Committee on Investment pushes projects worth Rs.74,000 crore hit by delays
(1) No need for panic over Saudi law: Ravi
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Thursday said there was no reason to panic over the “Nitaqat law” being implemented by the Saudi Arabian government. The deadline for implementing the new labour law — which seeks to reserve 10 per cent jobs for locals -- ended on Wednesday.
The law is to be implemented mostly in small and medium industrial establishments.
Mr. Ravi said he had asked the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia to take up the issue with Riyadh and its Labour Ministry and ensure that there would be no job loss for Indians on a mass scale.
He pointed out that some companies in Saudi Arabia had informed the non-local employees about the plans to implement Nitaqat as early as three months back.
“Our aim is to protect the employment of the Indian expatriates there and we will do everything possible in this regard,” Mr. Ravi said, adding that so far no one had approached the Indian embassy in that country about losing their job.
Among the Indians working in the Kingdom, most of whom are low- and semi-skilled labourers, at least 5.7 lakh are believed to be from Kerala.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy too has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to urge Saudi Arabia to take a liberal approach in its implementation of the law.
In his letter to Dr. Singh, Mr. Chandy said that if the Saudi authorities could be persuaded to postpone the enforcement of Nitaqat, it would give expatriates some breathing space and avoid immediate repercussions.
Keywords: Indian jobs, Saudi law, Labour Ministry’s Nitaqat system, Arab Spring, Indian expatriates, job loss, overseas employment, Vayalar Ravi
Source: The Hindu
(2) Iran, N Korea block UN weapons treaty
Iran and North Korea blocked agreement on Thursday on the first treaty over the $80 billion a year conventional arms trade, forcing last-ditch talks to save the UN-brokered accord.
Diplomats from the two isolated states raised flags of objection on the last day of the final session of the seven-year-old negotiating process, just as the conference chairman was about to declare the treaty sealed.
Syria also protested over the final treaty text but said it would not block the accord, which has been at the center of intense diplomatic efforts to get the United States, Russia, China and other major arms producers to agree.
The draft treaty would cover tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, as well as small arms and light arms.
The UN estimates that 500,000 people are killed in armed violence each year and rights groups blame the uncontrolled flow of weapons for many of the deaths.
Iran and North Korea said there were too many restrictions, however.
"The inherent right of states to self-defense, to defend against aggression and preserve its territorial integrity is not addressed," Iran's UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference.
A North Korean diplomat said the proposed treaty was a "risky draft which can be politically manipulated by major arms exporters." He also complained that it undermined the rights of arms importers.
Conference chairman Peter Woolcott of Australia had been just about to bring the gavel down to announce the accord when the two states acted. Woolcott suspended the meeting for behind-the-scenes talks.
If there is no accord by 0400 GMT on Friday, the whole negotiations will collapse. A previous attempt to agree on an accord in July also ended in failure and the UN general assembly ruled that this would be the last attempt.
But supporters of the treaty could seek a vote next week in the full General Assembly. A two-thirds majority of the 193 members would be required for adoption.
The treaty, if passed, would be the most important weapons accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The UN general assembly passed a vote in 2006 calling for a treaty on the unregulated trade in conventional weapons.
The draft negotiated since would aim to force countries to assess whether the sale of a weapon could be used for genocide, war crimes or by terrorists or organized crime gangs.
Woolcott handed out what he called a "take it or leave it" text to UN states on Wednesday and gave them 24 hours to consider their response.
Diplomats said they did not expect the major arms producers to block the treaty.
The United States opposes ammunition coming under the full controls imposed by the treaty. Ammunition has, however, been left in an annex that does not impose compulsory monitoring of trade in bullets, for which the United States is the biggest producer.
Some diplomats said Russia could still refuse to sign the accord, which could weaken its application.
"Moscow believes the text is not strong enough on arms trafficking and that it should explicitly mention 'non-state actors,'" such as the Syrian and Chechen rebels, said one European negotiator.
China and Russia also had concerns about the reporting of arms sales.
The latest text says that "reports may exclude commercially sensitive or national security information."
Source: The Times of India
(3) Sebi slaps Rs. 36 lakh fine on 4 entities for insider trading
Market regulator Sebi on Thursday slapped a total fine of Rs. 36 lakh on three individuals and Radhe Developers (India) Ltd for violating insider trading norms.
The case relates to a sharp rally in the scrip of Radhe Developers (India) Ltd during March-May, 2008. It was
observed that the price of the scrip opened at Rs. 47.25 on March 27, 2008 and touched a high of Rs. 165.35 on May 7 before closing at Rs. 157.70.
Sebi, through two separate orders, has imposed a penalty of Rs. 21 lakh on Ashish Patel, Managing Director and promoter of Radhe Developers for trading in the company's scrip, while possessing un-published price sensitive information related to its quarterly earnings as well as not complying with model code of conduct.
Besides, Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has slapped a fine of Rs. 5 lakh each on the company and its two directors -- Praful Patel and Milan Patel for failing to adopt the model code of conduct as required under prohibition of Insider Trading Regulations.
According to Sebi, Ashish purchased shares from April 3, 2008 onwards and bought shares even on the day of the Board meeting (April 30, 2008) and immediately sold the scrips after the company's quarterly financial results was announced on May, 2008.
He purchased 25,885 shares of the company after April 23, 2008 and sold 6,300 shares after the announcement making a gain of Rs. 4.66 lakh through these trades.
Sebi said: " Patels were present in the meeting in the year 2003 when the model code of conduct was adopted by the company...the company and its BoDs (Milan, Ashish and Praful) responsible for setting forth the model code of conduct in absolute incongruity with the one prescribed under the PIT Regulations, which are not in terms of the spirit of the Regulation."
Noting about Ashish Patel, Sebi said he was "an insider of the Company had the access to unpublished price-sensitive information and traded in the scrip of Radhe".
Source: Hindustan Times
(4) Pfizer gets new rebuff from UK cost body for cancer drug
Pfizer suffered a second rejection in two days from Britain's health cost watchdog NICE as its new kidney cancer drug Inlyta was turned down for use on the state health service.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said on Thursday the new treatment was not a cost-effective use of National Health Service resources.
The decision follows a similar rebuff for Pfizer's lung cancer drug Xalkori on Wednesday.
In both cases, the NICE recommendations are preliminary and subject to further consultation.
Source: The Indian Express
(5) Cabinet Committee on Investment pushes projects worth Rs 74,000 crore hit by delays
Giving a major push to infrastructure and energy sector, the government in the past two months has given nod to projects worth Rs 74,000 crore which were stuck for years due to lack of various clearances.
The impetus came soon after the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Investment in January amid concerns in the government over the prolonged delays in projects ranging from oil exploration to building roads.
A key beneficiary of the CCI impetus has been the petroleum sector, where investments worth USD 13.42 billion for exploration and production activities in 40 oil blocks were held up because of objections raised by the Defence Ministry on account of security concerns.
The CCI, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 20, approved the conditional clearance given to five blocks, where investments to the tune of Rs 52,921 crore have already been made.
The CCI decision has paved the way for investments worth Rs 1,566 crore, an official statement said.
The processes of granting environment and forest clearances for mega projects have also been streamlined and made easier in cases such as renewal of mining leases.
"It has also been decided that no fresh Environment Clearance (EC) shall be required for a mining project at the time of renewal of mining lease, if EC was obtained under the EIA Notification of 2006," it said.
For one time capacity expansion of 25 per cent or less, coal mining projects have now been exempted from public hearing provided that it had taken place at the time of obtaining the existing EC and the mining is confined to the existing lease area, the statement said.
Source: The Economic Times
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
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