2100 HRS
22nd March, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Two Italian marines accused of killing Indian fishermen, return to India; Prime Minister welcomes Italy's decision to send them back.

• Both Houses of Parliament adjourned for recess till 22nd April.

• Government to get 1500 crore rupees through disinvestment in Steel Authority of India; Approves 12 FDI proposals worth over 2600 crore rupees.

• Delhi Police arrest a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Uttar Pradesh.

• Indian bowlers restrict Australia to 231 for 8 in the first innings on the opening day of the fourth and final Test in Delhi.

[]<><><>[]

Two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala Coast last year, have returned to India after New Delhi insisted on it. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone arrived in New Delhi this evening on the last day of the deadline set for their return by the Supreme Court.

The two marines had gone home last month to cast their votes but did not return as their country refused to send them back. This led to a diplomatic standoff between the two countries with New Delhi insisting on their return as they had given an undertaking to the Supreme Court. A sudden volte face by Italy prompted the Supreme Court to restrain the Italian Ambassador in New Delhi to leave the country till further orders.

With Italy reversing its decision of not sending back its two marines, the government today said it had assured that country that the accused in the fishermen killing case, will not face the death penalty and will not be arrested if they returned by the deadline of today set by the Supreme Court.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was bitter after Italy reneged on its commitments earlier, welcomed the decision to send back the marines, saying the integrity and dignity of the Indian judicial process has been upheld.

[]<><><>[]

The External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said that there was no deal with Italy on the marines issue. Briefing reporters in New Delhi today, Mr. Khurshid said that the return of the marines is a positive development and New Delhi had kept all channels of communication open.

Despite enormous pressure, we did not close the channels of communication, we were sending impulses and signals, I think we were able to move in right direction.

[]<><><>[]

The issue of Sri Lankan Tamils forced repeated adjournments of both the Houses of Parliament today. Both the Houses were adjourned for the day to meet on 22nd April after the recess.

As soon as the two Houses reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, DMK and AIADMK members again trooped into the well displaying placards on the alleged betrayal of Sri Lankan Tamils during the voting in the UN Human Rights Council meeting yesterday. In the midst of the din, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid tabled a statement on the return of the two Italian marines to India in the fishermen killing case.

The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecedented scenes in the post-lunch session when it re-assembled at 2.30 pm. The agitating AIADMK members snatched papers from the presiding officer's chair and pulled out mikes from the chair's desk. The protests by the AIADMK and DMK members in the well turned unruly as the presiding officer Mrs. Renuka Chowdhury continued with the Private Members business amidst the din. When the chair did not heed the protesting members, Ms. Chowdhury adjourned the House to meet again on 22nd April after a month-long recess.

During the first phase of the Budget session which began on the 21st of last month, apart from the passage of the Appropriation Bills related to Railways and General Budget, two important Bills on safety of women were passed in Parliament. The Parliament also unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the resolution passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan protesting the hanging of a convict in the Parliament attack case.

[]<><><>[]

The News Services Division of All India Radio in its weekly "Current Affairs" programme tonight, will bring you a discussion on "Food Security Bill". This can be heard on Rajdhani, FM Gold channels and additional frequencies from 9.30 p.m.

[]<><><>[]

The Left parties have opposed the proposed changes in the appointment procedure of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Addressing a news conference in New Delhi, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the Government was trying to politicize the constitutional institution.

On the disruption of Parliament, Mr. Dasgupta said there was a deliberate attempt to avoid discussion on key legislative business.

On the Italian Marines, Mr. Dasgupta questioned the Government's authority in overriding the judiciary by giving an undertaking to Italy that their case was not a rarest of rare crime warranting the death penalty.

Meanwhile the BJP criticized the Government for taking credit for the return of the Italian Marines. Party spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said the unambiguous stance of the Supreme Court helped in the settlement of the issue.

[]<><><>[]

The Government today indicated that the punishment to film star Sanjay Dutt in 1993 Mumbai blasts case by the supreme court will be looked into and an appropriate decision will be taken once such a plea is made by the actor. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Law Minister Aswini Kumar said, the Governor will use his discretionary power when there will be an appeal to him.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said, the authorities will take cognisance of the matter at the appropriate level. Talking to reporters outside Parliament, he said, there are various aspects to the issue and if required, all the stake holders will formulate an appropriate response and then come back.

[]<><><>[]

The government has garnered over 1,500 crore rupees from the truncated divestment in the nation's largest steel producer SAIL today. The Offer For Sale received bids for 24.13 crore shares against 24.03 crore shares on offer. The indicative price, which is the weighted average price of all valid bids, was 63.07 rupees a share. At this price, the government would garner over 1,500 crore rupees. The Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, earlier this week decided to halve the SAIL offer size to 5.82 per cent from the earlier planned and Cabinet approved 10.82 per cent, amid a weak trend in the stock market.

[]<><><>[]

The government today approved 12 Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, proposals worth over 2609 crore rupees. The approval to the FDI projects were given on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, FIPB, that had met on the 13^{th of last month. The approved projects include areas of commerce, pharmaceuticals, engineering services and single brand retail among others. The FIPB also deferred nine projects while rejecting one.}

[]<><><>[]

THE BUSINESS WORLD

Posting its sixth straight day of losses, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange fell 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at a fresh four-month low of 18,736, amid weak global markets, today. The Nifty dropped 7 points, to 5,651. Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea declined between 0.1 percent and 2.4 percent. The rupee depreciated 5 paise, to 54.33 against the dollar. Gold rose 80 rupees, to 30,330 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver gained 430 rupees, to 55,180 rupees per kilo. And Brent crude oil futures dropped toward 107 dollars a barrel, while US crude rose 19 cents, at 92.64 dollars a barrel. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News

[]<><><>[]

Consumers will now have to pay more as Indian Oil Corporation today announced the hike in diesel price by 45 paise per litre excluding VAT. The new rate will come into force from midnight today. With this, diesel will cost 48 rupees and 67 paise per litre in Delhi.

[]<><><>[]

The Delhi Police has arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. Special Commissioner of Police, S N Srivastava said, Liaqat Ali was arrested on Wednesday in Gorakhpur after he entered India through Nepal. Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, Mr Srivastava said, Liaqat was sent by the Pakistani agencies and he also had a Pakistani passport. The terrorist had instructions from his handlers to find targets in the National Capital, where fidayeen attack could be carried out. He said the terrorist admitted that he was supposed to meet some one in Delhi. However, the police could not arrest others involved in the conspiracy who were supposed to be in the hotel near Jama Masjid in Delhi. The Special Commissioner said that on the clue from Liaqat, Police raided the hotel and recovered three hand grenades, 220 grams explosives, one AK-56 rifle and other material.

[]<><><>[]

The Delhi High Court today allowed the media to cover the day-to-day proceedings of the trial in the December 16th gangrape case which was being heard behind closed doors till date. Justice Rajiv Shakdher said, the trial court will allow access to one representative journalist of each of the accredited national dailies. Allowing the plea of a group of accredited journalists from the High Court, the Judge said, the reporters from two national news agencies and other national dailies shall share their stories with the representatives of other newspapers and members of the electronic media.

[]<><><>[]

The Supreme Court today declined to entertain the bail plea of former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda. Kanda was arrested for his alleged role in air hostess Geetika Sharma suicide case. A bench of Justices Chandramauli Prasad and V Gopala Gowda asked Kanda to seek relief from the Sessions Court. He had moved the apex court after his bail plea was denied by the Delhi High Court on November 19 last year.

[]<><><>[]

Two MLAs from Maharashtra, Kshitij Thakur and Ram Kadam were today remanded to 14 days' judicial custody by a local court in Mumbai for allegedly assaulting traffic police officer Sachin Suryawanshi inside the Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday.

Both the MLAs were arrested on Tuesday after they surrendered before the Mumbai Crime Branch police on Thursday morning and were later remanded to one-day police custody by a local court.

These MLA’s today applied for bail, the hearing for which will be done on Monday.

[]<><><>[]

In Tamil Nadu, the indefinite strike by Rameswaram and Nagapattinam fishermen protesting against the continued attacks by Sri Lankan Navy, has amounted to an export loss of crores of rupees.

The fishermen of Nagapattinam have joined Rameswaram fishermen in starting an indefinite strike against continuous attacks by Sri Lankan Navy. Four fishermen hailing from Nambiar Nagar village, Nagapattinam who were assaulted by Sri Lankan Navy when they were fishing near Kodiakarai Sea are still in Thanjavur Medical College. The fishermen of Rameswaram continued their indefinite strike for the seventh day today urging the release of 19 fishermen who are still lodged in Sri Lankan jail. The indefinite strike has led to about Rs 2 crore export loss daily according to fishermen’s association. K Devi PADMANABHAN, air news,Tiruchirapalli.

[]<><><>[]

In a major step towards connecting Kashmir with rest of the country by rail, the long-awaited Banihal-Qazigund section will be commissioned within the next two months, providing an all-weather means of transport to the valley. This decision was taken at a high-level meeting held by the PMO to review progress of various infrastructure projects of Jammu and Kashmir.

[]<><><>[]

Sri Lanka’s ruling party, SLFP, today said that it understood the compulsions under which Indian government voted in UNHRC in Geneva.

Speaking to the press in Colombo today, Minister Susil Premajayantha said that India has helped a lot in the recovery of the war torn north and east, but many of the countries who voted for the resolution, have done nothing for the country.

[]<><><>[]

Indian bowlers restrict Australia at 231 for 8 in their first innings at close of play on the opening day of the fourth and final Cricket Test against India in Delhi today