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THE HINDU Imp. News Jan.

27th 2012 Page-1 Environmentalist quits Olympics ethics panel over Dow's Bhopal links: There were fresh calls on Thursday for an independent inquiry into Dow Chemical's controversial sponsorship of the London Olympics after Meredith Alexander, a leading environmentalist, resigned from the Games' ethics committee the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 protesting against Dow's links with the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster and accusing the organisers of toeing the company's line. I feel that the Commission and the London Games organisers are in danger of becoming apologists for Dow Chemicals. They are repeating and falsely legitimising Dow's assertion that they have no responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy, she told The Hindu , indicating that other members could follow suit. She also wanted to highlight the toxic legacy of the Bhopal tragedy. It's one of the worst abuses of human rights in my generation, and I just could not stand idly by. Besides a 7-million deal under which Dow is funding a fabric wrap for the Olympic stadium in east London, the company has a 10-year sponsorship arrangement with the International Olympic Committee estimated to be worth at least 100 million. Dow, which bought the Bhopal plant from Union Carbide after the gas tragedy, denies any liability. The Games' organisers have defended the decision to award the contract to Dow, saying it was taken after all the issues were very carefully considered. In U-turn, RIL wants say in gas pricing: Less than three years after Reliance Industries Ltd. told the Supreme Court that the Krishna-Godavari basin gas is a national resource over which it had no unfettered rights in terms of price or quantity, and that it was bound by the terms of the production sharing contract and the policies and directions issued by the government from time to time, the Mukesh Ambani-owned company has done a U-turn serving a 90-day ultimatum on the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry to amicably settle a new gas price revising formula. In a letter sent to the Ministry and the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) earlier this month, RIL states: The widely varying prices of natural gas in the country and the government's refusal to address such differential pricing creates a situation wherein there exists a controversy, difference and/or disagreement between us and the government over pricing of natural gas and our fair rights to determine those in accordance with our PSC. The letter is in reference to the PSC for block KG-DWN-98/3 off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

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Page-4 Justice Bhandari is nominee for ICJ post: The government of India has officially nominated Justice Dalveer Bhandari, a sitting Supreme Court judge, as India's candidate for the post of Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the casual vacancy caused in Asia following the resignation of Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh from Jordan in October 2011 after his appointment as the Prime Minister of that country. In September, 2011 a regular Asian vacancy (for a nine-year term) arose at the end of the term of Japanese Judge Hisashi Owada. In the past, Sir Benegal Rau (1950s), Dr. Nagendra Singh (1970-80s) and Justice R.S. Pathak (1988-90), former Chief Justice of India, had served as Judges of the ICJ. Two persons served as ad hoc Judges namely: M.C. Chagla in a dispute with Portugal in the 1950s and Jeevan Reddy in a dispute with Pakistan in 2002. The list of sitting judges or the past judges of the ICJ reveal that most of them had been law professors or diplomats. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It consists of 15 Judges who serve for nine years.At present, among the 15 Judges on the Bench of ICJ, two representatives from Asia are: Hisashi Owada from Japan, who is also the president, and Xue Hanqin from China. EDITORIAL Wages of justice: By filing a Special Leave Petition against the Karnataka High Court order directing payment of statutory minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the United Progressive Alliance government has betrayed its insensitivity to the rights of the poor. The courts have ruled that payment below minimum wage amounts to forced labour , which is constitutionally prohibited. The Centre's implacable stand that workers employed under the scheme are not entitled to anything higher than the Rs.100 ceiling fixed by it smacks of perversity. INTERNATIONAL Gillard stumbles as crowd turns raucous: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard stumbled and was caught by a security guard as riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia's national day on Thursday. West Asia exploratory talks reach dead-end: Five rounds of exploratory talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis have failed to revive the derailed peace negotiations between the two over the formation of an independent Palestinian State.

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Ahmadinejad: ready for talks: Iran is ready to revive talks with the world powers, said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, as toughening sanctions aim at forcing Tehran to scale back its nuclear programme. The U.S. and its allies want Iran to halt making nuclear fuel, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its programme is for peaceful purposes generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients. BUSINESS Ministry SoS to ensure RIL gas for 2 NTPC projects: It is learnt that Power Ministry has proposed to the EGoM that allocation of 9.7 mscmd of gas from the KG-D6 block of RIL should be made to the Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects to achieve a 70 per cent plant load factor (PLF). However, the Ministry is not insisting on the $2.34 per mBtu price and is comfortable with the 2007 government-approved price of $4.20 per mBtu for KG-D6 gas. NTPC has already started work on expansion of its Kawas and Gandhar power projects in Gujarat to meet the milestones necessary for getting gas allocation. SPORT Nadal pips Federer in yet another thriller The Spaniard won 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-4 to prolong the agony for his greatest rival, who has now lost eight times to the Spaniard in 10 Grand Slam meetings, and has not beaten him in the majors since Wimbledon 2007.

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