Russian potash merger ..[ 2133 ]

Russian potash merger facing fresh legal challenge

MOSCOW | Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:33am EST

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian potash miners Uralkali (URKA.MM) and Silvinit (SILV.MM) are set for a new legal challenge to their merger from fertilizer group Acron (AKRN.MM), which wants a better deal for its small Silvinit stake.
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Uralkali (URKAq.L) and Silvinit (SILV.RTS) -- both majority owned by billionaire tycoon Suleiman Kerimov and associates -- agreed merger terms at a shareholder meeting earlier this month.

The combined group would be the world's second biggest producer of potash, a key ingredient of fertilizer used in farming, creating a Russian national champion in a global industry.

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Acron has long opposed the deal and unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to postpone the crucial shareholders' meeting that approved the merger in early February.

It believes the terms of the deal are stacked against minor shareholders in Silvinit and strongly favor those in Uralkali.

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"(Acron is) again attempting to challenge the share conversion ratios duly approved by the shareholders of both companies and (is) seeking an injunction to block the merger-related procedures," Uralkali said in a Monday statement.

"Uralkali and Silvinit believe that the claim is entirely without merit and intend to contest it vigorously," it added.

Acron's stance was backed late last year by Moscow's Investor Protection Association and many analysts. Ill treatment of small shareholders has long been seen as a deterrent to overseas investors in Russia, who consider corporate governance standards at many companies to be unacceptable.

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Uralkali said Acron and three investment groups had filed a claim against the two potash companies in a court in Perm, a city east of Moscow close to Uralkali's home base of Berezniki.

The claim is seeking to scrap the decision to approve the merger, overwhelmingly supported by other shareholders and expected to be completed in May.

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A spokeswoman for Acron declined to comment.

Russian business daily Vedomosti reported earlier this month that Acron's Chief Executive Ivan Antonov had asked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to stop the deal, although Kerimov is known to be an ally of Russia's most powerful politician and is likely to have secured his backing.

(Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

NASA Image of the Day, Feb 27h ..[ 2132 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Sunlight

Backdropped by a cloud-covered part of Earth, space shuttle Discovery is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 26 crew member as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station during STS-133 rendezvous and docking operations. Docking occurred at 2:14 p.m. EST on Feb. 26, 2011.

 

Image Credit: NASA

Κυριακή, 27 Φεβρουάριος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

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sanctions imposed on Gaddafi and close aides..[ 2131 ]

U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions on Gaddafi

TRIPOLI / UNITED NATIONS | Sun Feb 27, 2011 5:33am EST  (Reuters)

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United Nations Security Council diplomats vote on a resolution during a meeting on Libya at U.N. headquarters in New York February 26, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/ Joshua Lott

By Maria Golovnina and Louis Charbonneau

TRIPOLI/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - 

The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed travel and asset sanctions on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and close aides, ratcheting up pressure on him to quit before any more blood is shed in a popular revolt against his rule.

It also adopted an arms embargo and called for the deadly crackdown against anti-Gaddafi protesters to be referred to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecution of anyone responsible for killing civilians.

The 15-nation council passed the resolution hours after Gaddafi's police abandoned parts of the capital Tripoli to the revolt that has swept Libya and the United States bluntly told him he must go.

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In the oil-rich east around the second city of Benghazi, freed a week ago by a disparate coalition of people power and defecting military units, a former minister of Gaddafi announced the formation of an "interim government" to reunite the country.

To the west in Tripoli, the 68-year-old Brother Leader's redoubt was shrinking. Reuters correspondents found residents in some neighborhoods of the capital barricading their streets and proclaiming open defiance after security forces melted away.

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Western leaders, their rhetoric emboldened by evacuations that have sharply reduced the number of their citizens stranded in the oilfields and cities of the sprawling desert state, spoke out more clearly to say Gaddafi's 41-year rule must now end.

"When a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now," an aide to U.S. President Barack Obama said of phone talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over Libya.

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the Security Council measures against Gaddafi and 15 other Libyans, including members of his family, were "biting sanctions" and that all those who committed crimes would be held to account.

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"Those who slaughter civilians will be held personally accountable," Rice told the council after the vote. Speaking to reporters later, she praised the council's "unity of purpose."

The death toll from 10 days of violence in Libya is estimated by diplomats at about 2,000.

Talk of possible military action by foreign governments remained vague, however. It was unclear how long Gaddafi, with some thousands of loyalists -- including his tribesmen and military units commanded by his sons -- might hold out against rebel forces comprised of youthful gunmen and mutinous soldiers.

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London-based Algerian lawyer Saad Djebbar, who knows a large number of Gaddafi's top officials, said that for Gaddafi staying in power had become impossible.

"It's about staying alive. (Gaddafi's) time is over," he said. "But how much damage he will cause before leaving is the question."

TRIBAL LOYALTIES

One key element in the opposition's efforts to unseat him may be tribal loyalties, always a factor in the desert nation of six million and one which Gaddafi, despite official rhetoric to the contrary, tended to reinforce down the years.

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UN slaps sanctions on Libyan leaders

Evacuation of foreigners from Libya ..[ 2130 ]

Libya protests: Evacuation of foreigners continues

 

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BBC., 25 February 2011 Last updated at 22:44 GMT

Posted here 26 Februaty 14:25 Local 

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Thousands of foreigners, many of them Egyptians, have fled Libya by land into Tunisia in recent days

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Many foreign governments are evacuating their citizens from Libya, as unrest continues in the country.

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In Libya were the following nationalities : Bangladesh 60.000,,Bosnia 1.500,, Brazil 278,,Canada 344..China 30.000,,Egypt 1.500.000,, France 550,,Germany 169.. Greece 210.. India 19.000,, Italy 1.000,,Philippines 30.000,,Russia 500,, S.Korea 575,, Thailand 23.000,,Turkey 10.000,, Tunisia 23.000,,Ukraine 33.000,, U.K. 500,, USA 600,, Vietnam 10.000...

For  details per each Nationality  click

• Foreigner evacuation plans

Kuril Islands dispute ..[2129 ]

Japan eyes participation in investment projects in Kuril Islands

TOKYO , 26 February 2011,(RIA NOVOSTI)

Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara

TOKYO ( Ria Novosti ),,Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said on Saturday Tokyo is looking up at an opportunity to participate in joint investment projects in the Kuril Islands with Russia.

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"The Foreign Ministry is studying whether it is possible for the proposal [on investment] not to hamper the Japanese judicial position," the minister was quoted by the Mainichi newspaper as saying.

Click for Full story: en.rian.ru