Ram Jethmalani dismissive about BJP's expulsion notice

Suspended BJP MP Ram Jethmalani today adopted a dismissive stance towards the show cause notice issued to him by the party asking why he should not be expelled and said he is too busy with his law practice to answer such documents.

"I have only heard about it (the show cause notice) from the media this evening. I have not read the great document which is coming to me. When I receive this document and I read it, I will tell you what I can do- I am too busy a lawyer to reply to any document within 10 years," Jethmalani told reporters.

He was replying to a question on whether he will reply to the show cause notice issued by BJP Parliamentary Board asking him why he should not be expelled for his anti-party activities and indiscipline. BJP has reportedly given him ten days to answer.

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Coal output from captive mines at 16 MT till Aug in FY13

Coal production from mines allocated to public and private companies stood at 16 million tonnes till August in this fiscal, the government said today.
    
The production from captive coal mines was at 36 million tonnes (MT) in the last financial year, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal informed the Rajya Sabha.
    
"As reported by the Coal Controller's Organisation, Kolkata, out of the allocated coal blocks, 30 blocks have started production .... Production for the current year 2012-13 is 16.302 million tonnes (up to August, 2012)," Jaiswal said in a reply.
    
Till date, 218 coal blocks have been alloted to different public and private sector companies, he said. The allocation of coal blocks, he said, started in 1993. Considering the need to augment power generation and to create additional capacity during the eighth Plan, the government took a decision to allow private sector participation in the power sector.
    
As a result, it became necessary to provide for coal linkages to power generating units coming up in the private sector, he said.
    
As an alternative, it was proposed to offer new coal mines to the proposed stations in the power sector for the purpose of captive end use, the minister added.

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Army steers clear of Egypt's latest political crisis

By Marwa Awad and Edmund Blair

CAIRO (Reuters) - Protesters are back in Tahrir Square and the new president is in the firing line, but the military that until earlier this year was at the centre of Egypt's turbulent politics is staying out -- and is likely to keep it that way.

The army has kept a low political profile since President Mohamed Mursi sacked top generals in August, including Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who led the military council that was in charge of a 16-month transition after Hosni Mubarak's overthrow.

There is no sign this will change even as Egypt faces a new political crisis after another audacious move by Mursi, this time seizing extra powers. That action has set off a storm of criticism and protests by opponents to rule by the Islamist.

"The military council and the armed forces have left the political scene after handing power to the elected president," one general said to Reuters, declining to be named because the army wanted to avoid making any public political pronouncement.

"The armed forces have now gone back to its natural role of protecting the nation," he said, adding that the army would only step in "if called upon to protect the people" in a crisis.

That echoes a line often repeated by the army, that it will protect the nation and would only intervene if requested, which analysts and diplomats say the military is likely to stick to for fear of further damaging a reputation that took a beating during the messy transition period when it was in charge.

Many officers in the military became increasingly worried when the army was in power because mounting opposition to its role was both undermining their prestige and threatening to damage huge business interests, analysts and diplomats said.

That may have encouraged the second tier generals to back Mursi when he pushed out the top officers in August. Those new generals owe their promotions and loyalty to Mursi.

"The military is now out of the picture. They are not interfering in these political issues," said Mohamed Kadry Said, a former general and head of the military studies unit at Cairo's Al Ahram Center of Political and Strategic Studies.

He said matters changed when Tantawi and chief of staff, Sami Enan, were pushed out. Tantawi had been in the post of defence minister for two decades under Mubarak.

ACT IF CALLED

"The armed forces' loyalty is to the people and the nation," General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who now heads the military and is the new defence minister, told a graduation ceremony.

"The armed forces role is to protect the stability of the nation internally and externally," he said in comments carried by the official news agency during the latest political crisis.

Diplomats and analysts suggest the army would only act if Egypt faced unrest on the scale of the revolt that toppled Mubarak. Protests and violence now are nowhere near that stage.

Hundreds were killed in the anti-Mubarak uprising as protesters battled police until the army moved into the streets with tanks. So far, there is only one fatality in this crisis.

"The strong impression I have is that the military is really out of domestic politics, and the only way I would expect them to get involved is if there is really serious unrest, and even then probably only at Mursi's request," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

Perhaps indicating how much the military wants to distance itself, when warplanes buzzed Cairo on Sunday in a way eerily like a moment at the height of the uprising against Mubarak, the military quickly reiterated that it was a training exercise.

"I suspect that many officers were uncomfortable with the military continuing to take a direct role in the country's politics and felt it was dangerous for the country and harming the military's prestige," Zarwan said.

The army still retains hefty influence. It has taken a leadership role in a crackdown on militants in Sinai, a lawless area near the sensitive border with Israel, and controls a business empire that ranges from weaponry to bottling water.

Those interests could have faced more unwelcome scrutiny from civilians if it had clung on to power longer, say analysts.

Now, rather like under Mubarak, it is showing no overt role in politics although this time it no longer has a former commander, like Mubarak and his predecessors, in top office.

"The armed forces is a neutral institution meant to serve the nation and protect its borders," said Seif el-Din Abdel Fattah, an analyst and one of Mursi's advisors.

"A new leaf has been turned since the military council has handed power to an elected president."

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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UAE's Network Intl acquires remittances player Timesofmoney

Media major Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) has sold a majority stake in its wholly-owned remittances subsidiary Timesofmoney to UAE-based Network International.

As part of the deal, Network International, which is engaged in the payments space in Middle-East and Africa, will acquire a majority stake in Timesofmoney from its parent Times Internet, a subsidiary of BCCL. However, no financial details of the deal were disclosed.

Timesofmoney felt it was necessary to have a strategic investor on board as it was not able to tap into the largest inward remittances source of Middle East, its Chief Executive Avijit Nanda told PTI here.

The chief executive of Network International Bhairav Trivedi said his company was entering the cross-border remittances space through the acquisition. Both Nanda and Trivedi, as well as Network International's chairman Abdulla Qaseem declined to specify the deal size or the percentage of equity changing hands.

A Timesofmoney statement said Times Internet will continue to hold a minority stake in the company and also have a board seat. Trivedi said post-acquisition, Network International plans to grow Timesofmoney's online merchant acquisition business, enter the white label ATMs (non-banking entities who are now allowed to set up ATMs) in the next round of bidding and also the point of sales terminals businesses.

Nanda said Timesofmoney facilitated up to USD 3.5 billion of the total of USD 65 billion in remittances into India in FY2011-12. Middle East contributed to around USD 24 billion of the total remittances into India and the company, which now has the capability to serve the geography having a large India diaspora, will aim to capture at least a "couple of percentage points" of that business to start with, Trivedi said.

Network International will retain the entire team of 210 employees at Timesofmoney post deal, he added.

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Arsenal's Wenger defends Giroud and Wilshere decisions

REUTERS - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has defended his decision to substitute in-form striker Olivier Giroud and keep England midfielder Jack Wilshere on the bench during Saturday's dour scoreless draw against Aston Villa.

The French tactician is having to deal with fan discontent on a regular basis and was subject to a chorus of boos from travelling Arsenal supporters when he substituted Giroud for defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin late in the match.

Wenger has also had to juggle Wilshere's workload since his return from an ankle injury.

After playing two games in four days against Tottenham Hotspur and Montpellier, no risks were taken with the 20-year-old on the trip to Villa Park with his ankle being monitored closely for minor inflammation.

"Jack Wilshere has played three or four games in quick succession so I decided to give him a breather on Saturday," Wenger said in his Monday e-mail to Arsenal members.

"It's a relief that he's had no setback since he came back. He had a little inflammation but I think the rest will help him to get rid of it.

"Apart from that, he's done very well. He's not played for 17 months, people forget what that means - it's massive. I'm very happy with the way he progresses."

On his decision to bring off Giroud in the 86th minute, Wenger added: "I took Olivier Giroud off towards the end of the game because he had given everything and was tired. Like Jack, he has played a number of games recently."

With 20 points taken from their first 13 Premier League matches, Arsenal are 10 points shy of leaders Manchester United in sixth.

The north London club are again on the road in their next Premier League fixture when they travel to Goodison Park to face fifth-placed Everton on Wednesday.

Arsenal fans had to deal with the loss of talismanic striker Robin van Persie to Manchester United in August and one ray of light for them this term has been Arsenal's qualification for the Champions League last 16. (Reporting By Mark Pangallo; Editing by Mark Meadows)

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ONGC to buy Kazakh oilfield stake from ConocoPhillips for $5 bln

REUTERS - ConocoPhillips said it plans to sell its 8.4 percent stake in Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan oil field to Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd for about $5 billion as the Indian company looks to make up for flagging production.

Kashagan, the world's biggest oilfield discovery since 1968, holds an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil-in-place, of which 8-12 billion are potentially recoverable. First production from the field is expected in 2013.

India, the world's fourth-biggest oil importer, buys nearly 80 percent of its oil needs as expanding refining capacity has outpaced local oil output. State-run ONGC's local oil output has been almost stagnant for years.

ConocoPhillips said the carrying value of the assets related to its Kashagan interest was about $5.5 billion as of September 30.

The company said it would take an after-tax impairment of about $400 million in the fourth quarter to reduce the carrying value. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

ONGC, India's fifth-biggest company by market value, has been investing to maintain output from its old fields and has capital spending plans of around 340 billion Indian rupees both this year and next. The company is under pressure from the government to meet rising demand.

The acquisition is the largest ever for ONGC, and marks the biggest outbound deal from India since mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel bought mobile phone operations in 15 African countries for $9 billion in 2010 from Kuwait-based telecoms group Zain .

ONGC Videsh, the arm of ONGC that invests in overseas assets, said the acquisition would likely add 1 million tonnes (20,000 barrels per day) to its annual production over 25 years with the company's share of output significantly higher in later stages of development. ONGC Videsh's production in the year to March 31, 2012 was 8.7 million tonnes.

Kazakhstan, home to 3 percent of the world's recoverable oil reserves and the largest former Soviet oil producer after Russia, has sought to revise deals struck with foreign energy companies in the lean post-Soviet years.

ConocoPhillips has been conducting a disposal program to reduce its non-core overseas assets to reduce debt and increase its exploration and dividend budgets.

It has already exceeded its target of asset sales worth $20 billion by the end of 2012, including the sale of its stake in Lukoil , Russia's second-biggest oil producer.

"(The) purchase price of $5 billion is at the high end of our prior expectation of $4 to $5 billion," analysts at Simmons and Co wrote in a note to clients.

"This is a positive for ConocoPhillips as it marks important progress on their asset divestiture program, which is needed to support the capital program and dividend."

ConocoPhillips shares down slightly at $56.39 in early trading.

The company said it notified government authorities in Kazakhstan, and its partners in the North Caspian Sea production-sharing agreement of its intention to sell the stake.

Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev last month disclosed ConocoPhillips' plans to sell its stake in the field.

The Kashagan field is jointly controlled by state-run KazMunaiGas and six international companies, including Eni Spa ExxonMobil Corp , Royal Dutch Shell Plc , Total SA and Inpex Corp <1605.T>.

(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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Syrian jets bomb rebel base near Turkey border

By Mahdi Mohammed

BUKULMEZ, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed a rebel headquarters near the Turkish border on Monday, missing their target but sending hundreds of Syrians fleeing across the frontier.

The attack on the Free Syrian Army base in Atima, 2 km (1 mile) from the border, came a day before Turkish and NATO officials were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles close to the 900 km (560 mile) border.

Turkey, a major supporter of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the joint border and responded in kind when Syrian shells have landed inside Turkey.

But Ankara, rejecting Syrian complaints that the Patriots were "provocative", stressed they would be used only to defend Turkish territory, not to create a no-fly zone inside Syria that rebels want to neutralise Assad's massive air power.

Describing the bombing of the FSA base, opposition activist Ahmed, who lives within a few blocks of it, said: "Two Syrian fighter jets came and fired five rockets. Three have hit farm areas and another two hit buildings near the base."

Monday's strike was one of the closest to the Turkish border carried out by Syrian jets. Ahmed said it was the first time they targeted the FSA base set up by senior rebel Mustafa al-Sheikh when he crossed over to Syria from Turkey two months ago.

Rebels fired anti-aircraft guns at the jets but they were flying too high to be hit, activists said. "I think the reason for the raid may have something to do with increased weapons movements (from Turkey)," Ahmed said.

Several hundred Syrians fled into Turkey after the raid and were being taken care of by the Turkish army. At least two wounded people were taken across the border.

The Turkish Anatolian news agency said an anti-aircraft shell fired during clashes in another Syrian border town, Harem, hit the roof of a house in the Turkish district of Reyhanli, causing no casualties.

After 20 months of conflict, rebels have been tightening their hold on farmland and urban centres to the east and northeast of Damascus, and have seized a string of military bases in the past 10 days.

PATRIOT DEPLOYMENT

A joint Turkish-NATO team will start work on Tuesday assessing where to put Patriot missiles, how many will be needed and the number of foreign troops to be sent to operate them.

Turkey is reluctant to be drawn into the fighting, but the proximity of Syrian bombing raids to its border is straining its nerves. It is worried about its neighbour's chemical weapons, the refugee crisis on its border, and what it says is Syrian support for Kurdish militants on its own soil.

Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which started with peaceful demonstrations for reform but grew into demands for the overthrow of 42 years of dynastic rule by Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

Attacks by mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's forces have become increasingly effective and deadly. The president, from Syria's Alawite minority which is linked to Shi'ite Islam, has responded with devastating artillery and air bombardment.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled their country and more than 2 million more have been displaced. The opposition said last week $60 billion would be needed for reconstruction.

The military installations rebels have captured in the last 10 days include a major facility in the northern province of Aleppo and several bases around the capital Damascus.

EUPHRATES DAM CAPTURED

On Monday activists said rebels took control of the Tishreen dam on the Euphrates river, east of the city of Aleppo. Internet video footage showed gunmen inside what appeared to be the control room, undamaged following the rebel capture.

Other footage showed rebels opening up ammunition boxes, including one marked RPG (rocket-propelled grenades), which they said were seized from Assad's forces holding the dam.

On Sunday rebels said they had captured a helicopter base east of Damascus, their latest gain in a battle that is drawing nearer to Assad's seat of power in the capital.

The Marj al-Sultan base, 15 km (10 miles) from Damascus, is the second military facility on the outskirts of the city reported to fall to Assad's opponents this month. Activists said rebels destroyed two helicopters and taken 15 prisoners.

"We are coming for you Bashar!" a rebel shouted in an internet video of what activists said was Marj al-Sultan. Restrictions on non-state media meant it could not be verified.

The rebels have been tightening their hold on farmland and urban centres to the east and northeast of Damascus while a major battle has been under way for a week in the suburb of Daraya near the main highway south.

"We are seeing the starting signs of a rebel siege of Damascus," opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello said from Berlin. "Marj al-Sultan is very near to the Damascus Airport road and to the airport itself. The rebels appear to be heading toward cutting this as well as the main northern artery to Aleppo."

Assad's core forces, drawn mainly from his Alawite sect, are entrenched in the capital.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Erika Solomon in Beirut and Jonathon Burch in Ankara; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Life insurer's premium mop-up drop 3.45 pc in Apr-Oct: Irda

Premium collected by life insurance companies dropped 3.45 per cent in the April-October period due to various factors that are influencing the financial sector as a whole.
    
As per the data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda), premiums collected by 23 private sector companies and lone state-owned LIC totaled Rs 53,814.09 crore during the period.
    
They together had collected Rs 55,737.84 crore in the April-October 2011 period. India's largest life insurer LIC reported a drop of 2.88 per cent in its premium collection, while the decline in private companies was 5.07 per cent.
    
LIC's premium collection stood at Rs 40,069.84 crore in April-October as against Rs 41,259 crore in the year-ago period.
    
Private insurers netted Rs 13,744.25 crore as against Rs 14,479 crore in the corresponding period of 2011-12. Life insurance companies collect premium under four segments -- individual single, individual non-single, group single and group non-single.
    
Reliance Life's premium collection dropped by 14.78 per cent, that of ICICI Prudential by about 6.9 per cent and of HDFC Standard Life by approximately 5 per cent.
    
Last week, the Finance Ministry had said in Parliament that the reasons for a negative growth in the premium collections are various factors that are influencing the financial sector as a whole.

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Govt decides to deduct Rs 39 cr guarantee for 2 coal mines

The government has decided to deduct bank guarantees worth Rs 39 crore in the case of two coal mines allocated to five firms, including Tata Sponge and Bajrang Ispat.

"In pursuance of the recommendations of IMG (Inter- Ministerial Group) it has been decided to deduct the Bank Guarantee (BG) furnished by the allocatee companies.

"The BG to the extent of Rs 32.50 crore be deducted and deposited with the government," the coal ministry has said in a letter to Tata Sponge, Scraw Industries and SPS Sponge Iron allocated Radhikapur (East) coal block.

Radhikapur (East) coal block was alloted to the three firms with Tata Sponge as leader to meet the coal requirement of for their sponge iron production and captive power generation, the ministry said.

In another letter to Nilachal Iron & Power and Bajrang Ispat, the ministry said, "Accordingly it has been decided to deduct the proportionate BG furnished by the allocatee companies in respect of Dumri coal block in respect of shortfall in production. The BG to the extent of Rs 6.50 crore be deducted."

Dumri coal block was alloted to Nilachal Iron & Power and Bajrang Ispat to meet their coal requirement of 47 million tonnes (MT) and 22 MT.

The government had formed the IMG in July to review progress of coal blocks allocated to firms for captive use. A total of 58 mines were issued show-cause notices for failing to develop blocks within stipulated timeline.

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Iran plans new oil storage, airline hikes fares

Iran is planning to build new oil storage facilities so it can store more of the fuel it is having a hard time selling due to Western sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme.

State-run Press TV quoted Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh, Director of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company, as saying nearly 8.1 million barrels will be added to Iran's crude oil storage capacity by the next summer.

Iran has the world's third largest proven oil reserves and was OPEC's second largest exporter, but sanctions have stymied the flow since summer. It slipped to the cartel's third place in July after the

European Union imposed oil sanctions to force Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment programme. According to the International Energy Agency, Iran's oil exports plunged to 1 million barrels a day in July, after standing at the 1.74-million-barrel mark a month earlier.

Crude oil exports account for about 80 per cent of the country's foreign revenue.
The US and its allies accuse Iran of using its nuclear programme as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its programme is geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

In another sign sanctions are biting, Iran's national airline has nearly doubled prices on plane tickets for some foreign destinations. Iran Air spokesman Shahrokh Nooshabadi was quoted by local media as saying the carrier raised prices by up to 90 per cent because of higher fuel prices and the plunging value of the rial against foreign currencies.

Iranian media say other airline companies have also hiked prices on flights abroad. In November, prices for Iranian domestic flights by Iran Air rose some 70 per cent.

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