meridia Illegal mining: 8 politicos, 500 officials and Rs.18 bn loss - Yahoo!
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Bangalore, July 21 ( IANS) Illegal mining has dominated public discourse for nearly five years.
Now Lokayukta N.
Santosh Hegde is ready with a 5, 000- page report exposing the politician- officials- businessmen nexus. He will formally submit the report Friday but substantive contents were leaked to the media late Wednesday. The gist: Politicians named: Chief Minister B. Yeddyurappa, his predecessor H.
Kumaraswamy of JD- S, four BJP ministers including two Reddy brothers, a Congress Rajya Sabha member and Yeddyurappa' s two sons, one of whom is a BJP Lok Sabha member, and son- in- law. Officials named:about 500. Loss to the state over 14 months: Rs. 1, 827 crore.
Yeddyturappa: BJP' s first chief minister in south India. Not directly involved but turned a blind eye to illegal mining.
Did not sack the powerful Reddy brothers in spite of persistent charges against them.
His sons B. Raghavendra, a BJP Lok Sabha member, and B.
Raghavendra run Prerana Educational and Social Trust in , Yeddyurappa' s political base.
Raghavendra is MP from Shimoga, 270 km from Bangalore. His trust got donation of Rs.
10 crore from a firm involved in illegal mining. The two and son- in- law R. Sohan Kumar bought an acre of land near Bangalore for Rs. 2 crore and sold it to a mining firm for Rs.
20 crore. Reddy brothers: Hail from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh where their father was a police constable. Have made iron ore rich , about 300 km from Bangalore, their political base. Janardhana, the tourism minister who is the most vocal of the three brothers, owns Obulapuram Mining Co. Elder brother G.
Karunakara, the revenue minister. Younger brother G. Somashekaraka, an assembly member. A struggling businessmen in 1999, Janarhana moved close to BJP leader Sushma Swaraj as she took on Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha election. Entered iorn ore mining in 2005, started exporting and quickly became a billionaire.
He owns choppers and latest limos. He is reportedly into illegal mining in Karnataka without owning any mines in the state.
He has been accused of forcing other miners to route exports through them; gets officers of choice posted in Bellary.
Their close associate is Health Minister B. Sriramlu. The fourth minister is V. Somanna, who handles civil supplies portfolio. Was in Congress.
Switched to BJP in April 2009. Kumaraswamy.
Son of former prime minister H. Deve Gowda. Joined hands with Yeddyurappa in 2006 to bring down the Congress- JDS coalition and became chief minister for 20 months. Said to have granted license two firms flouting rules. Anil Lad: Congress Rajya Sabha member.
Runs VSL group. Family in mining business for over five decades. Brother is a Congress assembly member. Allegedly carried out illegal mining in Bellary. The man who exposed all this is Nitte Santosh Hegde.
A university hockey player, he started practicing law in 1966, was solicitor general in 1998, a Supreme Court judge in 1999, retired in 2005, and became the Karnataka Lokayukta Aug 3, 2006. His five- year term ends Aug 2, 2011.
paint Mother cleared in toddler's murder freed from prison - Yahoo!
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, acquitted earlier this month of murdering her toddler daughter in a high profile case that riveted the US public, walked out of a under tight security. Anthony, 25, was greeted by a boisterous crowd, some of whom shouted " killer! " as she was escorted by police from Orange County Jail to a waiting vehicle just past midnight, and whisked off to an unknown location. Anthony spent over three years in jail on suspicion of killing her two- year- old daughter Caylee. Acquitted by a jury on July 5, she remained in jail for 12 more days, after being convicted of lying to authorities probing the case. Despite no further restrictions on her freedom, Anthony was likely to require security after her release.
The legal team representing Anthony in her ongoing defamation case has said she has received several threats in recent days. Some of the hundreds of spectators and protesters outside the jail, who had been waiting for hours for her release, were shouting " killer! " as she walked out, accompanied by her attorney Jose Baez. Anthony must still pay a $ 4, 000 fine - - the maximum fine the judge could impose, $ 1, 000 per for lying.
As well as being found not guilty for murder, Anthony was also found not guilty of child abuse and aggravated manslaughter. Prosecution lawyers were unable to convince the jury of their claims that Anthony had suffocated her daughter with duct tape, dumped the body in her car for a few days, and then hid it. The skeletal remains of the little girl' s body was found just under six months later. The defense team maintained the toddler drowned accidentally and that Anthony and her father George covered up the death.
The NFL wants team executives ready to be schooled in the ins and outs of a new labor contract as early as Thursday. Players are gathering in Washington so they' re ready to vote on an agreement in principle even sooner than that.
Yes, signs are strong that football' s four- month lockout might almost be over. Lawyers for both sides were scheduled to meet with a court- appointed mediator in New York on Tuesday, when representatives of retired players were expected to participate, too, in an attempt to close a deal to resolve the NFL' s first work stoppage since 1987. " Making progress, " outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler said as he left a Manhattan law firm after 8 hours of talks Monday. Kessler also represents locked- out NBA players. spoke to each other on the telephone Monday and planned to stay in regular contact. " Nobody cheers for you at Mile 25 of a marathon.
You still have to cross the finish line, " NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said in Washington. " There still are things that can get you tripped up, and we' re going to push through. " Owners are set to hold a special meeting in Atlanta on Thursday, when they could ratify a new agreement if there is one. Executives from all 32 teams then would be briefed there Thursday and Friday on how the terms would affect league business, two people familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.
The people said the clubs were told Monday that topics would include the 2011 NFL calendar, rookie salary system and guidelines for player transactions. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the process is supposed to remain confidential. Any tentative agreement also must be approved by the players, of course, including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and the other plaintiffs in an antitrust suit against the league that is pending in federal court in Minnesota. Members of the NFLPA executive committee and representatives of every team were heading to Washington by Wednesday, in preparation for possible decisions on re- establishing a union and signing off on a tentative pact with owners.
Atallah said the players would be gathering " with the hope they have something to look at, and with the hope we can move forward on this. " Owners locked out players on March 12, when the old collective bargaining agreement expired, leaving the country' s most popular professional sports league in limbo.
The sides are trying to forge a settlement in time to keep the preseason completely intact. The exhibition opener is supposed to be the Hall of Fame game between the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears on Aug.
The regular- season opener is scheduled for Sept.
8, when the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers are to host the . Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick tweeted Monday: " Sound like we gonna be back to work so soon! ! ! " One issue standing in the way of a resolution, according to a person from each side of the dispute and speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity: Players want owners to turn over $ 320 million in unpaid benefits from the 2010 season. Because there was no that season, the old collective bargaining agreement said NFL teams weren' t required to pay those benefits. On a separate matter, one of those people, as well as a second person familiar with the negotiations, also told the AP that a proposal currently under consideration would set up nearly $ 1 billion over the next 10 years in additional benefits for retired players. That would include $ 620 million in pension increases, long- term care insurance and disability programs.
Representatives of retired players complained to the court recently that they had been excluded from negotiations. In Minnesota, players' lawyers filed a motion Monday asking for a summary judgment that the lockout is illegal and that players are entitled to damages. The NFL, meanwhile, asked the court for a week' s extension to file their formal response to the lawsuit; the original deadline was Monday.
Those filings were necessary, procedural moves that would be rendered moot if an agreement is reached before the Aug. 29 hearing date. Later Monday, the NFL and retired players filed a joint request to delay the hearing for at least a month to allow owners " to focus on the continuing mediation. " Atallah called the current players' filing " an obligation to protect the members of the class. " " Obviously, if we come to a settlement, it all can be lifted at any time, " he said. During lengthy negotiations last week, players and owners came up with the framework of a CBA that addresses most of their differences. How the more than $ 9 billion in annual league revenues will be divided, with somewhere from 46.
5 to 48.
5 percent going to players, depending on how much the total take from TV contracts and other sources rises or falls; A cap of about $ 120 million per team for player salaries in 2011, with about another $ 20 million per team in benefits. Each team must spend at least 90 percent of the salary cap in cash each season, a higher figure than in the past. AP Sports Writers Rachel Cohen, Teresa Walker, Larry Lage, John Wawrow, Tom Canavan, Jon Krawczynski and Dave Campbell contributed to this report. Follow Howard Fendrich at http: / / twitter. com/ Howard. Fendrich
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level Syrian troops tighten clampdown on Homs - Yahoo!
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, where shots were heard, arrests were made and many streets were deserted, rights activists said. " ( Security forces) entered houses and made arrests, " said Rami Abdel Rahman of the London- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reached by telephone. " Shots were heard in Homs from dawn, " he added. " Most streets were deserted because of the military operations.
Tanks were seen around the fortress and entrances to many neighbourhoods were closed. " Activists say pro- regime gunmen have killed at least 20 people in Homs since Monday, including seven mourners at a funeral. Fierce fighting rocked the city at the weekend, with activists reporting more than 30 people killed in clashes among Christians, Sunni Muslims and President Bashar al- Assad' s minority Alawite community. Syria' s third- largest city, Homs has spearheaded demonstrations against Assad and his regime since protests erupted on March 15.
The army had already entered the city in May in a bid to stop rallies calling for the fall of the regime.
Activists meanwhile called for more protests countrywide after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, following a pattern that has become standard in many parts of the Arab world since popular uprisings toppled the veteran rulers of Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year. Using the Facebook site Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the motors of the revolt against Assad' s autocratic rule, the activists said Friday' s protests will be in support of the residents of Homs. It appealed for a mass turnout to honour " the grandsons of Khalid and for national unity. " , a companion of the Prophet Mohammed known for his courage and military prowess, is buried in Homs. Last Friday, more than one million people turned out across Syria - - mainly in the cities of Hama and Deir Ezzor - - to protest against Assad' s regime and to demand the release of hundreds of detainees seized at earlier pro- democracy rallies. Human rights activists said at least 28 civilians were killed, including 16 in the capital Damascus and a child, when security forces opened fire to quell last week' s protests.
The activists say the government' s crackdown has left more than 1, 400 civilians dead since mid- March. Thousands more have been jailed.
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cheap ambien Republicans end debt talks with White House - Yahoo!
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to reach a deal. " I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward, " Boehner said in a letter to members of the House of Representatives. In a hastily announced public appearance, angrily assailed Boehner for quitting the table and said he was calling him and other top congressional leaders to the White House for talks at 11: 00 am ( 1500 GMT) Saturday. " We have run out time and they are going to have to explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default. They can come up with any plans that they want and bring them up here and we will work on them, " the president said. " The only bottom line I have is that we have to extend this debt ceiling through the next election, " said Obama, whose bid for a second term in November 2012 will turn on his handling of the sour US economy.
Boehner' s move cast doubt on the fate of efforts to raise the $ 14. 3 trillion US debt limit by August 2, when the cash- strapped government of the world' s richest nation will run out of money to pay its bills. A House Republican leadership aide told reporters on condition of anonymity that Boehner believed he needed to have a detailed plan to present to House Republicans by Monday. The aide also said that the two sides had been on track for a package that would have cut some $ 3- $ 3.
5 trillion over 10 years. Washington hit its debt ceiling on May 16 but has used spending and accounting adjustments, as well as higher- than- expected tax receipts, to pay its bills and continue operating up to the deadline Finance and business leaders have warned failure to raise the US debt ceiling by then would send shock waves through the world economy, while Obama has predicted a default would trigger economic " Armageddon. " Obama and Boehner were at odds on a range of issues, but a key sticking point was the White House' s push for increasing tax revenues from the rich and wealthy corporations, something Republicans fiercely opposed. " A deal was never reached, and was never really close. In the end, we couldn' t connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country, " the speaker said in the letter. " The president is emphatic that taxes have to be raised.
As a former small businessman, I know tax increase destroy jobs. " Ahead of the announcement, met in Mc.
Connell' s office. A House Republican leadership aide said they had been briefed on the decision, which Boehner took Friday.
Mc. Connell said in a statement it was " disappointing" that the White House talks had failed to reach an agreement but that congressional leaders would now " develop a solution that will prevent default, without job killing tax hikes, while substantially reducing Washington spending. " " As I' ve said before, it' s time now for the debate to move out of a room in the White House and on to the House and Senate floors where we can debate the best approach to reducing the nation' s unsustainable debt, " said Mc. Connell.
debt consolidation The end of an era and the beginning of a new one Photos | The end of an era and
debt consolidation
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