Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Monday, December 10, 2012
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Monday, December 10, 2012
hihru
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Walmart money is bribe: BJP
New Delhi: Rajya
Sabha adjourned twice on Monday after Opposition uproar over reports of
Walmart spending on lobbying to enter Indian market.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the lobbying money was nothing but bribery and according to indina laws this is a serious offence.
Prasad's comments met with serious objections from the treasury benchers as the issue was not listed for discussion. The speaker disallowed the comments asking the members to follow proper procedures by issuing a due notice. MInutes later the house witness uproar leading to an adjournment.
The BJP leader also wanted to know who took the money from the walmart and asked the government to come clean on this.
Global retail giant Walmart - waiting for years to open its supermarkets in India - has been lobbying with the US lawmakers since 2008 to facilitate its entry into the highly lucrative Indian market.
As per the lobbying disclosure reports filed by Walmart with the US Senate, the company has spent close to $25 million (about Rs 125 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, including on the issues related to “enhanced market access for investment in India”.
In the last quarter ended September 30, 2012 itself, the company spent $1.65 million (about Rs 10 crore) on various lobbying issues, which included “discussions related to FDI in India”.
During the quarter, Walmart lobbied for its case with the US Senate, the US House of Represent-atives, the US Trade Repre-sentative (USTR) and the US Department of State, as per its latest quarterly disclosure report.
The companies are allowed to lobby for their cases in various departments and agencies in the US, but they are required to file their lobbying disclosure reports every quarter with the US Senate.
So far in 2012, Walmart has spent more than $3 million or about Rs 18 crore on its various lobbying activities, including those related to India.
As per Walmart’s lobbying disclosure reports, the company has continuously lobbied for its India entry since 2008, except for a few quarters in 2009.
The Indian government recently opened up its multibrand retail sector for foreign companies after years of political opposition and a Parliament motion against this decision was defeated last week in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The US-based supermarket chain operator Walmart Stores, which has an annual turnover of $444 billion, has been eyeing for a long time to enter India.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the lobbying money was nothing but bribery and according to indina laws this is a serious offence.
Prasad's comments met with serious objections from the treasury benchers as the issue was not listed for discussion. The speaker disallowed the comments asking the members to follow proper procedures by issuing a due notice. MInutes later the house witness uproar leading to an adjournment.
The BJP leader also wanted to know who took the money from the walmart and asked the government to come clean on this.
Global retail giant Walmart - waiting for years to open its supermarkets in India - has been lobbying with the US lawmakers since 2008 to facilitate its entry into the highly lucrative Indian market.
As per the lobbying disclosure reports filed by Walmart with the US Senate, the company has spent close to $25 million (about Rs 125 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, including on the issues related to “enhanced market access for investment in India”.
In the last quarter ended September 30, 2012 itself, the company spent $1.65 million (about Rs 10 crore) on various lobbying issues, which included “discussions related to FDI in India”.
During the quarter, Walmart lobbied for its case with the US Senate, the US House of Represent-atives, the US Trade Repre-sentative (USTR) and the US Department of State, as per its latest quarterly disclosure report.
The companies are allowed to lobby for their cases in various departments and agencies in the US, but they are required to file their lobbying disclosure reports every quarter with the US Senate.
So far in 2012, Walmart has spent more than $3 million or about Rs 18 crore on its various lobbying activities, including those related to India.
As per Walmart’s lobbying disclosure reports, the company has continuously lobbied for its India entry since 2008, except for a few quarters in 2009.
The Indian government recently opened up its multibrand retail sector for foreign companies after years of political opposition and a Parliament motion against this decision was defeated last week in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The US-based supermarket chain operator Walmart Stores, which has an annual turnover of $444 billion, has been eyeing for a long time to enter India.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
0
Thursday, December 6, 2012
hihru
Disgraced ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face a hearing on
December 10 in New York to settle with the hotel maid whose sex assault
allegation triggered his downfall, a judge said on Monday. ”If the case
is settled, this will be announced in open court on that day,” Bronx
Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon told AFP.
The hearing is set for 2pm (1900 GMT). McKeon said he expects the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, to be present, and for Strauss-Kahn to skip the proceedings. If Strauss-Kahn, 63, and Diallo, 33, agree on the still undisclosed terms of the settlement, the one-time favorite for the French presidency would put to an end his sordid 18-month legal battle in the United States.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have refused to give details of any pay-off, reported to reach somme $6 million if Diallo drops her civil suit. Until now, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a deal and called Diallo a gold digger. Her legal team insisted equally strongly that she wanted her day in court to confront her alleged abuser.
Diallo’s allegation of attempted rape in May 2011 triggered a stunning fall from grace for Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as close to announcing he would run in an upcoming French presidential election. Criminal charges were quickly brought, and then thrown out when Manhattan prosecutors said Diallo’s testimony wouldn’t stand up in court. Meanwhile, Diallo filed her own civil lawsuit in a Bronx court, alleging that the 63-year-old leapt on her, naked, and forced her into oral sex.
Strauss-Kahn — who says a hurried, but consensual, sex act took place in his luxury room — returned immediately to France after the criminal case disintegrated. However, by then Strauss-Kahn’s career was in tatters, his marriage was on the rocks and he soon faced a string of other sex-related investigations by French authorities.
In France, Strauss-Kahn will learn December 19 if he is to face further investigation into pimping charges arising from allegations that he and associates arranged sex parties with prostitutes in the northern French city of Lille. His lawyers have filed a request for the charges to be dismissed.
French prosecutors last month dropped an investigation into Strauss-Kahn’s alleged participation in a gang rape after the woman involved said she had consented and was not pressing charges. Strauss-Kahn has also been accused by 32-year-old author Tristane Banon of trying to rape her in 2002.
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Strauss-Kahn’s Hearing Set for December 10
The hearing is set for 2pm (1900 GMT). McKeon said he expects the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, to be present, and for Strauss-Kahn to skip the proceedings. If Strauss-Kahn, 63, and Diallo, 33, agree on the still undisclosed terms of the settlement, the one-time favorite for the French presidency would put to an end his sordid 18-month legal battle in the United States.
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have refused to give details of any pay-off, reported to reach somme $6 million if Diallo drops her civil suit. Until now, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers repeatedly said they would not agree to a deal and called Diallo a gold digger. Her legal team insisted equally strongly that she wanted her day in court to confront her alleged abuser.
Diallo’s allegation of attempted rape in May 2011 triggered a stunning fall from grace for Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as close to announcing he would run in an upcoming French presidential election. Criminal charges were quickly brought, and then thrown out when Manhattan prosecutors said Diallo’s testimony wouldn’t stand up in court. Meanwhile, Diallo filed her own civil lawsuit in a Bronx court, alleging that the 63-year-old leapt on her, naked, and forced her into oral sex.
Strauss-Kahn — who says a hurried, but consensual, sex act took place in his luxury room — returned immediately to France after the criminal case disintegrated. However, by then Strauss-Kahn’s career was in tatters, his marriage was on the rocks and he soon faced a string of other sex-related investigations by French authorities.
In France, Strauss-Kahn will learn December 19 if he is to face further investigation into pimping charges arising from allegations that he and associates arranged sex parties with prostitutes in the northern French city of Lille. His lawyers have filed a request for the charges to be dismissed.
French prosecutors last month dropped an investigation into Strauss-Kahn’s alleged participation in a gang rape after the woman involved said she had consented and was not pressing charges. Strauss-Kahn has also been accused by 32-year-old author Tristane Banon of trying to rape her in 2002.
0
hihru
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi
have been named among the top 20 most powerful persons in the world by
Forbes magazine in its annual power rankings which placed US President
Barack Obama as number one for a second year in a row.
India's richest businessman Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and and Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also feature in the list that comprises 71 mighty heads of state, CEOs, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who "truly run and shape the world of 7.1 billion people."
Gandhi dropped a notch from last year's list and ranks at number 12 this year ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang and French President Francois Hollande. Forbes said the 65-year-old leader of India's ruling political party has the reins of the world's second-most-populous country and tenth-largest economy.
"Son Rahul is next in line to take over India's most famous political dynasty," it added. Coming in at the 20th spot is Singh, the Oxford and Cambridge-educated economist who is the architect of India's economic reforms.
Singh had ranked 19th in the list last year. "But Singh's quiet intellectualism is increasingly seen as timid and soft," Forbes added.
Ambani, owner of the world's most expensive private residence, ranks 37th in the list. Forbes said the petrochemical billionaire is India's richest and Reliance Industries is the nation's most valuable company.
It however described Ambani's support for disgraced former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta as a "low point" for him in 2012.
Mittal, ranked 47th in the most powerful people list, has a net worth of USD 16 billion but also has "lots of headaches, including S&P and Moody downgrades of his company's debt to junk status." A highlight for Mittal during the past year was carrying the Olympic flame in the 2012 Torch Relay.
Forbes said 51-year-old Obama emerged "unanimously" as the world's most powerful person for the second year running.
The decisive winner of the 2012 US presidential election, Obama now has four more years to push his agenda even as he faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East.
"But Obama remains the commander-in-chief of the world's greatest military and head of the sole economic and cultural superpower--literally the leader of the free world," it said.
The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman, German chancellor 58-year-old Angela Merkel. She jumped up from the number four position last year to take the runner-up spot on the 2012 list.
Forbes termed Merkel as the backbone of the 27-member European Union, one who carries the fate of the Euro on her shoulders.
The list also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin at number three, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (4), General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping (9), Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (20), Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei (21) UN chief Ban Ki-moon (30), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (44) and former US President Bill Clinton (50).
Forbes dropped US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the list this year. Clinton, who had ranked 16th last year, does not feature in 2012 rankings as she is not expected to return to her powerful post for Obama's second term.
It is for the same reason that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also does not feature in this year's list.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is ranked 28th in the list
"The most powerful man in an unstable country; Pakistan's de facto leader controls nuclear weapons and one of the world's largest standing armies. Despite tension over drone strikes, Kayani remains a key ally in the war on terror," Forbes said, adding that a lowpoint for Kayani this past year came when the country's Supreme Court issued a series of rulings holding the military accountable for human rights abuses and political meddling.
Zaheer ul-Islam, the head of Pakistan's notorious intelligence service ISI, has been ranked 52nd on the list.
"The ISI has played both sides in the war on terror and, as US troops draw out of Afghanistan, will be hugely influential in determining the region's future," Forbes said.
Islam's high point in 2012 was his first official visit to the US for talks with then counterpart in CIA General David Petraeus.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who came in at the 25th spot, is one of the youngest persons on the list at age 29. He dropped significantly from last year's top-ten ranking after Facebook's much-anticipated IPO turned out to be a flop.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (18) is one of the list's biggest gainers. At the midpoint of her first term, Rousseff's emphasis on entrepreneurship has prompted a slew of new startups and energized Brazilian youths, Forbes said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (35) made a big upward move too. A year after he succeeded iconic founder Steve Jobs, the company is the most valuable in the world and Apple stock hit an all-time high in September, reaching above USD 700 a share.
New members of the list include LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman who is ranked 71.
Forbes said Hoffman is the world's most powerful venture capitalist and the most-connected man in Silicon Valley.
Making his debut on the list at rank 66 is Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind PayPal and Tesla Motors who is the most powerful man in space.
"His company SpaceX is a leader in the private space industry, and with that business set to boom, Musk stands to make out like a 19th-century railway tycoon," Forbes added.
A number of prominent people fell off the list entirely.
Chinese President Hu Jintao had ranked number two on the list last year and was the most powerful person in the world in 2010. With a new regime in place in China, Jintao is however on his way out of office, having already handed over some of his duties.
He would surrender the rest early next year.
In compiling the list, Forbes considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe.
It took into consideration factors including whether the candidate has power over lots of people, the financial resources controlled by each person, whether they are powerful in multiple spheres and the active use of the candidates' power.
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The Most Powerful People in the World
India's richest businessman Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and and Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also feature in the list that comprises 71 mighty heads of state, CEOs, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who "truly run and shape the world of 7.1 billion people."
Gandhi dropped a notch from last year's list and ranks at number 12 this year ahead of Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang and French President Francois Hollande. Forbes said the 65-year-old leader of India's ruling political party has the reins of the world's second-most-populous country and tenth-largest economy.
"Son Rahul is next in line to take over India's most famous political dynasty," it added. Coming in at the 20th spot is Singh, the Oxford and Cambridge-educated economist who is the architect of India's economic reforms.
Singh had ranked 19th in the list last year. "But Singh's quiet intellectualism is increasingly seen as timid and soft," Forbes added.
Ambani, owner of the world's most expensive private residence, ranks 37th in the list. Forbes said the petrochemical billionaire is India's richest and Reliance Industries is the nation's most valuable company.
It however described Ambani's support for disgraced former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta as a "low point" for him in 2012.
Mittal, ranked 47th in the most powerful people list, has a net worth of USD 16 billion but also has "lots of headaches, including S&P and Moody downgrades of his company's debt to junk status." A highlight for Mittal during the past year was carrying the Olympic flame in the 2012 Torch Relay.
Forbes said 51-year-old Obama emerged "unanimously" as the world's most powerful person for the second year running.
The decisive winner of the 2012 US presidential election, Obama now has four more years to push his agenda even as he faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East.
"But Obama remains the commander-in-chief of the world's greatest military and head of the sole economic and cultural superpower--literally the leader of the free world," it said.
The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman, German chancellor 58-year-old Angela Merkel. She jumped up from the number four position last year to take the runner-up spot on the 2012 list.
Forbes termed Merkel as the backbone of the 27-member European Union, one who carries the fate of the Euro on her shoulders.
The list also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin at number three, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (4), General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping (9), Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (20), Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei (21) UN chief Ban Ki-moon (30), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (44) and former US President Bill Clinton (50).
Forbes dropped US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from the list this year. Clinton, who had ranked 16th last year, does not feature in 2012 rankings as she is not expected to return to her powerful post for Obama's second term.
It is for the same reason that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also does not feature in this year's list.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is ranked 28th in the list
"The most powerful man in an unstable country; Pakistan's de facto leader controls nuclear weapons and one of the world's largest standing armies. Despite tension over drone strikes, Kayani remains a key ally in the war on terror," Forbes said, adding that a lowpoint for Kayani this past year came when the country's Supreme Court issued a series of rulings holding the military accountable for human rights abuses and political meddling.
Zaheer ul-Islam, the head of Pakistan's notorious intelligence service ISI, has been ranked 52nd on the list.
"The ISI has played both sides in the war on terror and, as US troops draw out of Afghanistan, will be hugely influential in determining the region's future," Forbes said.
Islam's high point in 2012 was his first official visit to the US for talks with then counterpart in CIA General David Petraeus.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who came in at the 25th spot, is one of the youngest persons on the list at age 29. He dropped significantly from last year's top-ten ranking after Facebook's much-anticipated IPO turned out to be a flop.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (18) is one of the list's biggest gainers. At the midpoint of her first term, Rousseff's emphasis on entrepreneurship has prompted a slew of new startups and energized Brazilian youths, Forbes said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (35) made a big upward move too. A year after he succeeded iconic founder Steve Jobs, the company is the most valuable in the world and Apple stock hit an all-time high in September, reaching above USD 700 a share.
New members of the list include LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman who is ranked 71.
Forbes said Hoffman is the world's most powerful venture capitalist and the most-connected man in Silicon Valley.
Making his debut on the list at rank 66 is Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind PayPal and Tesla Motors who is the most powerful man in space.
"His company SpaceX is a leader in the private space industry, and with that business set to boom, Musk stands to make out like a 19th-century railway tycoon," Forbes added.
A number of prominent people fell off the list entirely.
Chinese President Hu Jintao had ranked number two on the list last year and was the most powerful person in the world in 2010. With a new regime in place in China, Jintao is however on his way out of office, having already handed over some of his duties.
He would surrender the rest early next year.
In compiling the list, Forbes considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe.
It took into consideration factors including whether the candidate has power over lots of people, the financial resources controlled by each person, whether they are powerful in multiple spheres and the active use of the candidates' power.
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