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The US has lifted a 40-year-old ban on export of oil, thus pav- ing the way for energy defi- cient countries like India to open up another frontier to im- port oil from a distant friendly nation. The ban was lifted as President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus USD 1.8 trillion spending pack- age and tax bill for the current fiscal ending on September 30, 2016. P 16 Cop nod not must to run bars, hotels in Maha: In a move to make running busi- nesses easier and to cut red tape and end corruption, the Maharashtra government has said permit rooms, eating houses, lodges and swimming pools will no longer be re- quired to take permission from the police to operate. P 9 SNAPSHOTS US lifts 40-yr-old ban on oil export WEATHER Ahmedabad forecast: Mainly clear sky. Max temp will be around 28°C Max 27.4° C (-3) .......................... Min 12.4° C (0) Times Classifieds | P 8, 10 & 12 Ahmedabad: Sun Pharmaceu- tical Industries Ltd, the largest drug maker in India, on Satur- day announced that the compa- ny has received a warning letter from US Food and Drug Admin- istration (USFDA) for violating manufacturing standards at its facility in Halol near Vadodara. The letter follows inspection of the facility in September 2014 by USFDA inspectors. The warning indicates that the USF- DA is not satisfied with the reme- dial measures the company has been taking at the plant since the inspection. Sun Pharma is ex- pected to respond to the letter with a detailed plan within the stipulated time frame. Gujarati billionaire Dilip Shanghvi-promoted Sun Phar- ma maintained that the compa- ny had made signif- icant investments in automation and training to enhance quality systems apart from hiring consultants for remedial mea- sures at its Halol facility. “While our team is working to ensure that commitments made to USFDA in 2014 are com- pleted, we will continue to coop- erate with them and undertake any additional steps necessary to ensure that the agency is satis- fied with our remediation of the Halol facility,” Shanghvi said. TIMES NEWS NETWORK USFDA warns Sun Pharma’s Halol unit over mfg standards What does Silent Night really mean? Christopher Mendonca writes of inner silence Prof Farida Khanum writes on comonalities in Judaism, Christianity and Islam ... and more: Kerala's Muziris heritage site; Isa Ibin Maryam in the Quran and why teens can't sleep in today’s 8-page edition. Ask your vendor for a copy @ 3.00 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Continued on P 4 A shish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh were on Saturday re- called to India’s T20 squad for the Australia tour as selectors opted for experience before the upcoming ICC World T20. Un- heralded all-rounder Hardik Pandya found a place in the T20 squad as did Punjab pacer Brainder Sran in ODIs. The lat- ter’s prospects of inclusion were first reported by TOI. M S Dhoni will be retained as skipper till the World T20. Suresh Raina was surprisingly dropped from the ODI squad, while Ravindra Jadeja and Md Shami found berths in both. Manish Pandey and Rishi Dha- wan earned ODI recalls. P 17 Yuvi, Nehra in T20 squad; Sran for ODIs New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul on Saturday secured bail from the trial court after a person- al appearance in National Herald case and swiftly moved to celebrate the relief as part of their fight against Modi government’s alleged vendetta politics. “Charges cannot be termed serious in magnitude at this stage,” said Metropoli- tan Magistrate Loveleen as he rejected the argument of the complainant, BJP leader Sub- ramanian Swamy, that the ac- cused being “influential peo- ple” might flee the country and tamper with evidence. “They are respectable people belonging to the oldest political party. They have deep roots in the society,” ruled the magistrate as he granted bail to the Gandhis and other accused in the case on a surety of Rs 50,000 each . The hearing –the first time members of Nehru- Gandhi clan appeared in the court since former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978- lasted barely 7 minutes. Show Of Strength Bid To Deflect Attention From Herald Charges? Cong projects routine bail as win for Gandhis, tears into PM 11 MINUTES IN COURT & A SPEECH 9.30am | Cong workers, netas begin to gather at party’s Akbar Road HQ. Trickle swells into a crowd by 11pm 12 noon | Entry restricted at gate no. 2 of Patiala House courts 1.02pm | Area outside courtroom of metropolitan magistrate Loveleen cordoned off. Only court staff allowed to stay 1.15pm | 13 journalists with spl passes allowed to enter gallery outside Loveleen’s court 2.47pm | Sonia, Rahul enter court from gate no. 2 2.51pm | Court proceedings begin 2.58pm | All accused get bail. Proceedings over These people have been trying for long to target us. They will not succeed. None of us will be scared —SONIA GANDHI I don’t understand why #Congress is celebrating. Sonia & Rahul have got only bail not medal. Court has not dropped the charges against them —PRAKASH JAVADEKAR | ON TWITTER Narendra Modi levels false allegations and thinks the oppn will bow down. Congress and I will not do so —RAHUL GANDHI Sonia and Rahul Gandhi after Saturday’s hearing Sana.Shakil@timesgroup.com Bengaluru: Teenager Ishan Pandita, who once took a break from studies to pursue his pas- sion for football, is on verge of an achievement perhaps beyond even his wildest dreams — mak- ing it to a big European club. The 17-year-old from Bengaluru has taken baby steps towards inter- national glory by becoming the first Indian to be part of the un- der-18 team of Spanish second- division club UD Almeria, which played in La Liga last sea- son. He was noticed by a scout in 2014 during a stint in Madrid with Alcobendas CF. TNN P 17 B’luru boy lives his Spanish football dream I n a setback to the Akhilesh Yadav government, the Su- preme Court in an emergency hearing on Saturday asked the UP government not to go ahead with swearing-in of Justice Vi- rendra Singh as lokayukta. The order was in response to a PIL alleging the UP govern- ment had “played fraud on the court” by including Singh in the panel for the appointment of lo- kayukta despite resistance from the Allahabad HC chief justice. P 12 Swearing-in of UP lokayukta on hold Mumbai: In the first inter-state heart transplant conducted in Mumbai, Kandivli (East) resi- dent R Desai got an organ that was flown across 296km from Surat to a hospital in Mulund within 92 minutes, on Friday night. Fifty-eight-year-old Desai, who was suffering from heart failure, became the fifth patient to undergo a heart transplant since August in Mumbai. Inci- dentally, the first heart trans- plant was conducted in KEM Hospital, Parel, in 1968. “It was the kindness and willingness of the donor’s fam- ily that made the fifth trans- plant happen. The surgery has been successful. The patient is now stable and will be kept un- der observation for the next 48- 72 hours,” said heart transplant surgeon Dr Anvay Mulay of Fortis Hospital, Mulund. Of the four transplants he had per- formed earlier, three patients are doing well while the fourth suffered immediate rejection and passed away within 24 hours of the surgery in October. In a first inter-state transplant, Mumbai man gets Gujarat heart TIMES NEWS NETWORK Continued on P 10 Rajeev Deshpande & Surojit Gupta TNN New Delhi: BJP MP Kirti Azad, who has persistently targeted Arun Jaitley over alleged wrongdoings at the Delhi & Dis- trict Cricket Association (DDCA), met Congress presi- dent Sonia Gandhi during the UPA tenure and this instigated an investigation by the serious frauds office, the finance minis- ter said. In an interview to TOI, Jait- ley said the meeting of minds between the Congress leader- ship and Azad resulted in a plan to target him. “One member of Parliament wrote to the Con- gress government, he met So- nia Gandhi… and they said we will fix Jaitley,” he said. “So they referred it to the Se- rious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). In 2013, the SFIO gave a report saying there are procedur- al irregularities in the company, no case of fraud is made out. And in any case members (are) re- sponsible for those procedural lapses… As far as Jaitley is con- cerned, he is not responsible. The whole issue ended.” Though he did not name Azad, the refer- ence was obvious as the MP has been frequently quoted by AAP and Congress leaders and is also scheduled to hold a press confer- ence on Sunda. P 10 Kirti met Sonia, they then decided to fix me: Jaitley One MP wrote to Cong govt, he met Sonia Gandhi… and they said we will fix Jaitley. In 2013, SFIO gave a report saying... as far as Jaitley is concerned, he is not responsible. The whole issue ended —ARUN JAITLEY INTERVIEW TOI Nairobi: After hectic nego- tiations for five days – ex- ceeding the scheduled clos- ing by almost 24 hours – the WTO Trade Ministers concluded their talks on Saturday evening without any com- mitment by rich countries to check subsidies. The objective of the talks was to lower barriers, in- crease trade and help devel- oping countries. A large ma- jority of countries wanted reaffirmation of the Doha mandate and work pro- gramme at the Nairobi min- isterial. The Doha round of trade talks was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 and has remain stalled because of the deep divide between rich countries and develop- ing nations on several is- sues, including farm subsi- dies. Commerce minister Nir- mala Sitharaman said In- dia put across its position ve- ry clearly on the table and strongly “protested” against the failure to reach an una- nimity on “reaf- firmation” to conclude over 14- year-old Doha round to safe- guard developing nations’ interest. However, the members of the global trade body agreed on a commitment for giving the developing nations a right to take recourse to Spe- cial Safeguard Mechanism to protect their farmers – a long-standing demand of In- dia. AGENCIES Rich nations rule out checks on subsidies Continued on P 10 WTO TALKS New Delhi: A day before his scheduled release, the juve- nile accused in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, now 20 years old, was report- edly moved on Saturday from the Observation Home for Boys at Majnu Ka Tila to an “undisclosed location” in complete secrecy. As per the terms of sen- tence under the Juvenile Jus- tice Act, the accused will be re- leased on completion of a three-year term, not later than 5pm on Sunday. The deci- sion, however, appeared set for a midnight court drama as the Delhi Commission for Women said it would file a Spe- cial Leave Petition in Su- preme Court late at night to prevent the move. TNN P9 Late-night bid to hold back juvenile DECEMBER 20, 2015 | PAGES 36 | INCLUDING AHMEDABAD TIMES (FOR AHMEDABAD AND GANDHINAGAR CITIES ONLY), TIMESLIFE! & TIMES PROPERTY | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | EPAPER.TIMESOFINDIA.COM O F I N D I A AHMEDABAD PRICE `5.00 Nawaz Wants Dialogue Tells ministers not to make remarks against India P 16 Life After Mourinho Guus Hiddink is Chelsea interim manager P 18 Seventh Pay Panel Service chiefs to meet Parrikar P 11 NIRBHAYA CASE Continued on P 10
