Reliance-BP deal cleared Live

New Delhi, July 22: The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) today cleared the $7.2-billion deal that BP Plc struck with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in February under which Europe’s second-largest energy giant will acquire a 30 per cent participating interest in 21 oil blocks that Mukesh Ambani’s flagship operates in India.

The original deal was for 23 blocks, but the government decided to clear the stake sale in only 21 blocks.

BP’s investment will swell to $20 billion — making it the biggest foreign direct investment in the country — if we take into account a contingent payment of $1.8 billion that is linked to the discovery of more commercially exploitable hydrocarbon resources and a $11-billion additional investment in a joint venture between BP and RIL to source and market gas in India. The joint venture also aspires to create infrastructure to receive, transport and market the gas.

“The CCEA has approved the stake sale deal. All conditions of production sharing contract will be imposed and formal approval will be given after BP (the parent firm) gives the necessary financial guarantees,” petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy said.

The spokesperson for Reliance Industries declined to comment on the development.

“This transaction is part of BP’s strategy of creating long-term value through alliances with strong national partners, taking material positions in significant hydrocarbon basins and increasing our exposure to growing energy markets. We will now work to complete the commercial agreements for the deal in the next few weeks.” Bob Dudley, BP Group chief executive, said in a statement.

The Reliance-BP deal is bigger than the $12-billion Posco investment in an integrated steel project in Orissa that used to be touted as the biggest FDI proposal in the country.

It also dwarfs the $6.02-billion agreement reached last August under which Cairn Energy of the UK plans to sell a 40 per cent stake in Cairn India to Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Plc. The Cairn deal size was pared from its earlier level of $9 billion after the government attached some riders to its conditional clearance.

Reddy also said final approval for the Cairn stake sale deal would come through “in the next few days”. He said the law ministry was vetting the terms of the agreement and a formal notice would go to the two partners.

Cash chest to swell

The $7.2-billion upfront payment by BP will swell Reliance Industries’ already robust cash chest, which is currently worth $9.5 billion (Rs 42,393 crore). The approval comes just two days before RIL holds its board meeting on Monday to consider its first-quarter results.

Reliance will be able to draw on BP’s expertise in deepwater exploration to resolve the glitches that have led to a decline in gas production from the KG-D6 block to about 48 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) from 61.5 mmscmd.

India’s only deepwater block that started commercial production two years ago was supposed to raise production to 69 mmscmd by April.

Reddy said the consent for the two blocks was withheld because of technical reasons. “The two blocks are non-producing blocks and their clearance will be considered on merit after RIL gives its response to the oil ministry’s query,” he added.

The two blocks are in Assam (on-land block AS-ONN-2000/1) and in the North East Basin (NEC-DWN-2002/1). Both have completed first phase of exploration and have to secure approvals from the directorate general of hydrocarbons for the second phase of exploration.

For BP, which has been struggling to battle back from the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster last year, the transaction is a chance to enter a market where energy demand is growing at 5-8 per cent.

RIL in its plan to the upstream regulator had projected that gas production from its KG basin field would be 43 mmscmd in 2011-12 and was estimated to slide to 38 mmscmd in 2012-13. These are figures significantly lower than the field development plan approved by the regulator.

The DGH had set a target of 80 million metric standard cubic meters of gas by April 2012 set in its field development plan for the KG basin blocks.

Uranium hunt

Australia-based UXA Resources Ltd today said its joint venture project with a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd would commence exploration and drilling of uranium in mid-August. The two companies had entered into a joint venture around three years ago.

RIL Australia (RILA), a subsidiary of RIL, had reportedly paid around Rs 15 crore to UXA to acquire a 49 per cent interest in certain exploration licences held by the Australian company.

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Painter of the naked wallpaper, Lucian Freud dies (Video)

In a statement his New York-based art dealer and close friend William Acquavella said the realist painter died on Wednesday following a brief illness, but gave no further details.
Freud was known for his intense realist portraits, particularly of nudes.
In recent years his paintings commanded huge prices at auction, including one called Naked Woman on a Sofa that sold for $33.6 million (£20.5million) in 2008. Last month, a portrait entitled Woman Smiling, 1958-59, sold for £4,745,250.
Mr Acquavella said he would mourn Freud “as one of the great painters of the twentieth century.”
“My family and I mourn Lucian Freud not only as one of the great painters of the twentieth century but also as a very dear friend.



He stubbornly developed his own unique style, eventually winning recognition as one of the world's greatest painters.
“He certainly is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th and 21st Centuries,” said Brett Gorvy, deputy chairman of the postwar art department at Christie's auction house in New York.
“He stayed with his figurative approach even when it was extremely unpopular, when abstraction was the leading concept, and as time moved on his classic approach has proven to be very important. He fought the system and basically won.”
Freud, grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922. His Jewish family was forced to flee the city in 1933 and he became a British citizen in 1939.

England vs India live score and update of Cricket Test series 2011

England vs India live score and update of Cricket Test series 2011 : Dhoni has been playing Test cricket for six years without anywhere being good enough to be rated a high-quality Test match ‘keeper. He is not even the best among the current lot of ‘keepers in India. Clearly, it’s not his wicket-keeping that is gaining him preference in the playing Xl.

It moved slowly, yet so purposefully that it almost felt like it was already inching towards a stunning climax, even though it was only the first day. By close of play, luckily or not depending on where your sympathies lie, there was no murder, no mayhem.

England, though anxious and circumspect, waded through the tough opening session and a more 'moving' second one, to reach the comfort of 127 for two in 49.2 overs till rain, and more rain, ensured that there would be no more play for the day. Jonathan Trott escaped two sure-shot attempts (edge off Harbhajan Singh and a flier between Dhoni and Dravid) to march past yet another 50; Kevin Pietersen lived a lot less dangerously to add 22.

Jonathan Trott got two lives to score a patient 58 and together with a shaky Kevin Pietersen (22), anchored England's innings after the fall of captain Andrew Strauss (22), the only wicket the hosts lost in the second session.

Strauss, who made a cautious beginning, pulled Zaheer to Ishant Sharma at fine leg. Trott and Pietersen then added 55 runs.

India were dealt a blow when Zaheer, who dismissed Alastair Cook in the morning session, left the field in the middle of the 42nd over. Zaheer was in pain and it looked that he had pulled his hamstring.

Zaheer did not return till an early tea was forced because of bad light.

No play was possible after that. The players came out once, but soon drizzle started and they were back to the dressing room.

Only 49.2 overs were possible during the day as the start of the 2,000th Test overall and the 100th between the two nations was also delayed by half an hour due to rain.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won a good toss and gave his bowlers the chance to use the cloudy conditions.

The pacers, however, bowled a tad short and lost the advantage in seaming English conditions as the hosts treaded cautiously to reach 43/1 at lunch.

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We need to enlist Pakistan, not punish it Live

The Obama administration is withholding $800 million in military aid to Pakistan in understandable frustration with the Pakistani military's partial-at-best cooperation with the effort against militant radicals. But this approach is likely to result in even less cooperation.
Relations between the two nations have been spiraling downward for a while, in crisis after crisis: Pakistanis held an American who had shot and killed two people on murder charges, although the U.S. insisted he had diplomatic immunity and should be released. We didn't inform the Pakistanis in advance of the Osama bin Laden raid; they expelled U.S. intelligence and military trainers; we accused the Pakistani military of killing an investigative journalist; we reduced assistance by a third to penalize a lack of cooperation. But our problem is that deteriorating relations hurt American interests more than Pakistan's.
To Pakistan's military leaders, the defining event in relations with the U.S. came in 1998, when the U.S. cut off aid after Pakistan's nuclear test.
Pakistan was responding to India's nuclear test with its own, but found itself sanctioned by the U.S. to a greater degree than India. America's different treatment of the two nations was logical: Unlike India, Pakistan is a major proliferation threat, dispensing its knowledge, according to the Arms Control Association, to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Moreover, it is a politically less stable country, at that time a military dictatorship.
To Pakistan, this event symbolized America's partiality for India and its willingness to subordinate all issues of common interest to nuclear proliferation. Cutting off aid led to a decade of Pakistani military leaders coming to power with little connection to the U.S. and a deep resentment of aid with strings attached.
The Pakistanis view American policy in the context of this bitterness, combined with their perception that the U.S. abandoned Afghanistan after the Soviets were driven out. Pakistan's military claims the conditions American puts on aid are unacceptable.
President Barack Obama's emphasis of exit over strategy in the Afghanistan drawdown will exacerbate Pakistanis' belief that we are losing interest and they will be on their own in hostile circumstances. They are undoubtedly concerned about Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's recent statement that killing 10 leaders would defeat al Qaeda, and his recommendation for "an increasingly aggressive campaign to hunt down al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia."
We don't have to share Pakistan's perspective to understand how it could decide to cooperate even less in fighting al Qaeda and its spinoffs, undercut our efforts to build regional alliances that will strengthen Afghanistan and prevent efforts to stop proliferation of nuclear weapons.
That Pakistan seems unwilling to function with U.S. interests in mind argues for more, not less, assistance. If we want to break the back of the threat posed by violent Islam, we must bring Pakistan along.
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45 injured, 12 dead in Malawi protests Live

Lilongwe, Malawi (CNN) -- Twelve people have died in national protests that erupted in Malawi, government officials said as demonstrations continued for a second day Thursday.
Nine people died in Mzuzu, in the northern part of Malawi, on Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesman Henry Chimbali said. Another died in Karonga district, also in the northern region.
It was not immediately clear how the 10 died, but officials were investigating, Chimbali said. Sources at Mzuzu Central Hospital who requested anonymity said the victims had been shot.
Two other people were fatally shot in Blantyre in the southern part of the nation, police spokesman Superintendent Davie Chingwalu said.Amnesty International called for an immediate investigation into the Mzuzu deaths, asserting that security forces were responsible. "At least 44 other people, including six children, are being treated for gunshot wounds at Mzuzu Central Hospital," the human rights organization said in a statement.
The protests began Wednesday as people demanded immediate action from the government on Malawi's economy and government issues.
The East African nation is facing persistent fuel shortages, foreign exchange reserve shortages and frequent power blackouts, among other problems. In addition, anti-government demonstrators have accused President Bingu wa Mutharika of dragging the nation back into the dictatorship era, citing the passage of bills they say impinge on citizen rights as well as the expulsion in April of British envoy Fergus Cochrane-Dyet.
The expulsion has cost Malawi dearly, as Britain has suspended direct budget support for the nation. According to the BBC, Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi in April after he was quoted in a leaked diplomatic cable as saying Mutharika was "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism."
Mutharika spoke Thursday as the protests continued. "As a leader, I am ready to have a roundtable discussion with you," he said in an address. "I call upon everyone to stop vandalizing people's property and beating up others. Get yourselves organized and notify us so that we can chart the way forward."
In a statement, organizations that had planned the protests also appealed for calm, noting that the demonstrations were meant for Wednesday and that continued protests Thursday were illegal.
The country's army was assisting in quelling the protests Thursday, leading to relative calm.
More than 200 people arrested in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe face charges ranging from arson to property damage.
Police were seen harassing and beating civil society leaders, opposition political leaders and journalists, leading to injuries.
"When the police use firearms, they must minimize injury and respect human life," Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International's director for Africa, said in the organization's statement. "It is high time that President Mutharika's government addresses the wider human rights and political concerns that gave rise to this situation."
The United States condemned Wednesday's use of force by Malawian authorities to prevent peaceful demonstrations and a ban on private radio stations reporting on the demonstrations.
In a statement, U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton said U.S. officials were also "disturbed by reports of violence targeting individuals based on their political or social affiliations. The government's attempt to prohibit its citizens from marching, and the Communications Regulatory Authority's ban on independent media coverage undermine democracy and the rule of law that Malawians cherish."
She urged restraint from both sides. "We call on the people and the Government of Malawi to remain committed to the principles of democracy and to express disagreements through peaceful means," she said.

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Handsome men mean better sex Live

Women orgasm more quickly and more often with handsome partners, according to research carried out by anthropologists and psychologists.
Noting that "supporting evidence indicates that female orgasm promotes conception," the researchers concluded that the female orgasm is linked to the urge to produce "quality" offspring.
The study, which was carried out at Pennsylvania State University, focused on the sex lives of 110 heterosexual couples, who reported who orgasmed and how often.
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The male subjects were rated for "objectively-measured facial masculinity, observer-rated facial masculinity, partner-rated masculinity, and partner-rated dominance"; observers, as well as the men themselves, were also asked to rated their own attractiveness.
Women whose partners rated as masculine and dominant reported more frequent and earlier-timed orgasms than those whose partners rated less well. The women whose partners were deemed attractive also orgasmed more often during or after male ejaculation.
Frequency of female orgasm as a result of masturbation was not predicted by the male partner's attractiveness.
"Thus, possible conception-promoting correlates of female orgasm may be especially effective and/or likely when copulation occurs with masculine males," the authors wrote in the study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour. "These results appear to support a role for female orgasm in sire choice."


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French FM: Gaddafi can stay, but to leave power live

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Over four months now since the war broke on Libya, France says Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi can stay in his country as long as he commits to relinquishing power.

Alain Juppe, French Foreign Minister, said, "Gaddafi has to leave power. He has to clearly give up any civil and military responsibility. For us, that is a condition that could lead to a cease-fire and to resume a national dialogue. Whether he stays in Libya or not? That's for Libyans and nobody else to decide. Now, I am aware of the fact that the National Transition Council has its own views about it."

Juppe made the remarks after a meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Trinidad Jimenez, in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

As the chief instigator of the intervention against Gaddafi, France has been keen to prevent NATO-led military action dragging on interminably. Juppe's latest stance echoes growing calls for a non-military solution to the conflict in Libya.

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Laptop, mobile data of slain Pak journo missing Live

Islamabad: The laptop, mobile phone and email records of slain Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad have gone missing. This was disclosed to the media by officials of an inquiry commission probing the murder.

The panel chaired by Supreme Court Justice Saqib Nisar, which met in the apex court building yesterday, directed the police chiefs of Punjab province and Islamabad to continue their investigation into the crime.

Police officials presented the FIR and other records regarding the crime to the commission.

Senior journalist Hamid Mir and Zafar Shaikh, a friend of Shahzad, recorded their statements.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists President Pervaiz Shaukat, a member of the commission, told reporters that authorities had approached companies for information on Shahzad's e-mail data.

He said the commission was fulfilling all its legal requirements and efforts were being made to trace Shahzad's cellular phone and laptop.

The commission will meet again shortly and four journalists, including Najam Sethi and Mehar Bukhari, are expected to record their statements, he said.

Shahzad was abducted while driving from his house to a TV station in Islamabad on May 29, two days after he alleged in an article that al-Qaeda had infiltrated the Pakistan Navy.

His body, bearing marks of torture, was found the next day in a canal in Punjab province.

Journalists' associations and rights groups alleged intelligence agencies were responsible for the killing, a charge denied by the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.

Shahzad had also told colleagues about receiving veiled threats from the ISI.

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Update Autopsy Of 8 Yr Old Murdered In Brooklyn: Leiby Was Given Cocktail Of Drugs Then Smothered Live

July 20, 2011, Brooklyn, NY]--The autopsy results for murdered 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky of Brooklyn, New York, revealed that he was given a deadly cocktail of drugs before being smothered and dismembered.
The combination of drugs were reportedly cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant; quetiapine, an antipsychotic; and the pain medications hydrocodone and acetaminoph.
The gruesome details were released on Wednesday and police say the boy may have been killed only hours before they moved in on the alleged murderer's home in the Kensington section of Brooklyn last Wednesday.
35-year-old Levi Aron has been arrested and charged with murder after police found the severed feet of Leiby in his freezer, bloody knives and cutting board and other body parts wrapped in a suitcase in a dumpster a few miles away. The accused has also given police a bizarre confession.
But despite confessing to the horrific crime, Aron has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer thinks his client is insane. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in NYC for evaluation. The results have not been publicized.
Aron confessed to killing Leiby last Wednesday July 13th because he said he panicked when the search for the missing boy intensified.
Leiby was reported missing on Monday July 11 while walking alone on his way home from daycamp. He got lost and asked Aron for help who then kidnapped the boy and ended up murdering him.

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Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia Continues to Grow show Live

Nearly half the people in Somalia are on the edge of starvation. Over 3 million people are facing severe shortages in food and thousands are estimated to have died already. Wednesday the UN declared that a famine exists in the area, hoping to galvanize countries to donate food to the region. The failed state has been at war with itself since the early 90’s. Currently a military group – Al Shabaab – which is aligned with Al Qaeda has control of the worst hit southern part of the country. In addition to destroyed infrastructure, a series of failed harvests have contributed to the famine. The UN has been able to provide some food relief since the militants have allowed some aid workers in for the first time in two years.
Drought and failed crops are not confined to Somalia but are present throughout much of what is known as the Horn of Africa. According to the Guardian.UK the situation is increasingly dire in north and south Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, north Uganda, and north Kenya. Kenya has also been receiving thousands of Somalis fleeing starvation and war. They are crowding into refugee camps across the Kenyan border.
In addition to the starvation crisis in Somalia is the ever present danger to children there due to the 20 years of civil war. In a just released report by Amnesty International children as young as eight have been dragooned to fight for the extremist Muslim group. Their report is a litany of misery imposed on the children in that beleaguered country. Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa is quoted in the AI news release:
“This is a never-ending conflict, where children are experiencing unimaginable horrors on a daily basis,” said Michelle Kagari.
“They risk becoming a lost generation if the world continues to ignore the war crimes affecting so many of them.”

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