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Bofors Arms Deal Scandal
The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and several other members of the Indian and Swedish governments who were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB, an arms manufacturer principally financed by the Wallenberg family's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, for winning a bid to supply to India their 155 mm field howitzer. The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$1.4-billion deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing of institutions. On 16 April ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haubits 77 ("Field Howitzer 77" Or FH-77)
Fälthaubits 77 (Swedish "Field Howitzer 77") or FH77 is a Swedish 155 mm howitzer, developed and manufactured by Bofors. It is also colloquially known as the Bofors gun in India. There were several versions, the original (sometimes referred to as Haubits 77 A) with a 38 calibre barrel and sliding block mechanism, the export version FH77 B version with a 39 calibre barrel and an interrupted ogival screw breech. For the demonstrator of the Archer Artillery System, some FH77A were modified into FH 77 AD L/45, while the series production were FH77Bs rebuilt into FH77 BW L/52. The carriage was also used for the "12 cm rörlig kustartilleripjäs m/80 KARIN", used in the Swedish coastal artillery. Design and development History In the 1960s, Sweden started to look for a replacement for the French Obusier de 155 mm Modèle 50 (''Haubits'' F). The American M109 self-propelled howitzer was offered and tested. Though the price was low, the Swedish Arms Administration found that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was established in London in 1851 by the German-born Paul Reuter. It was acquired by the Thomson Corporation of Canada in 2008 and now makes up the media division of Thomson Reuters. History 19th century Paul Reuter worked at a book-publishing firm in Berlin and was involved in distributing radical pamphlets at the beginning of the Revolutions in 1848. These publications brought much attention to Reuter, who in 1850 developed a prototype news service in Aachen using homing pigeons and electric telegraphy from 1851 on, in order to transmit messages between Brussels and Aachen, in what today is Aachen's Reuters House. Reuter moved to London in 1851 and established a news wire agency at the London Royal Exchange. Headquartered in London, R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referred to as Operation Vijay ( hi, विजय, ), which was the codename of the Indian military operation in the region. The role of the Indian Air Force in acting jointly with the Indian Army was aimed at flushing out both the Pakistan Army and paramilitary troops from vacated Indian positions along the LoC,http://>.nic.in/content/op-safed-sagar in what was designated as Operation Safed Sagar ( hi, ऑपरेशन सफेद सागर, label=none, ). The conflict was triggered by the infiltration of Pakistani troops—disguised as Kashmiri militants—into strategic positions on the Indian side of the LoC, which serves as the ''de facto'' border between the two countries in the disputed region of Kashmir. During its initial sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banking In Switzerland
Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along with the Swiss Alps, Swiss chocolate, watchmaking and mountaineering. Switzerland has a long, kindred history of banking secrecy and client confidentiality reaching back to the early 1700s. Starting as a way to protect wealthy European banking interests, Swiss banking secrecy was codified in 1934 with the passage of the landmark federal law, the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks. These laws, which were used to protect assets of persons being persecuted by Nazi authorities, have also been used by people and institutions seeking to illegally evade taxes, hide assets, or generally commit financial crime. Controversial protection of foreign accounts and assets during World War II sparked a series of proposed financial regulations seeking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, translit=Damiḷa īḷām vimukthi koṭi; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan Government.T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 1, Introduction (2003)T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 1, Chapter 1: Why didn't he hit back? (2003) Violent persecution erupted in the form of the 1956 and 1958 anti-Tamil pogroms which were carried out by majority Sinhalese mobs often with state support following the passing of the 1956 Sinhala Only Act. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajiv Gandhi Assassination
The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Rajiv Gandhi, were killed. It was carried out by Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), a member of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) along with Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan of the National Council of Khalistan (NCK) and Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala of the Khalistan Liberation Force. At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Subsequent accusations of conspiracy have been addressed by two commissions of inquiry and have brought down at least one national government, the government of Inder Kumar Gujral. Assassination Rajiv Gandhi was busy election-campaigning with G.K. Moopanar in southern states of India ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snamprogetti
Saipem S.p.A. (Società Anonima Italiana Perforazioni E Montaggi lit. ''Drilling and Assembly Italian Public Limited Company'') is an Italian multinational oilfield services company and one of the largest in the world. Until 2016 it was a subsidiary of Italian oil and gas supermajor Eni, which retains approximately 30% of Saipem's shares. History Early history The history of Saipem is deeply connected to Enrico Mattei's management era of Eni during the years of the Italian economic miracle. In the early 1950s Mattei had reorganized the Italian oil industry through a complex system of outright acquisitions and government investments, in order to guarantee Italy's self-reliance in energy. At first, Mattei focused on natural gas, the only abundant source of energy available in mainland Italy, through Snam, a newly formed gas pipelines company. In the late 1950s, Eni's subsidiary Snam came to head two sub-holdings: Snam Montaggi, created in 1955 to build pipelines and drillin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italians
, flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 = Argentina , pop2 = 20–25 million , ref2 = , region3 = United States , pop3 = 17-20 million , ref3 = , region4 = France , pop4 = 1-5 million , ref4 = , region5 = Venezuela , pop5 = 1-5 million , ref5 = , region6 = Paraguay , pop6 = 2.5 million , region7 = Colombia , pop7 = 2 million , ref7 = , region8 = Canada , pop8 = 1.5 million , ref8 = , region9 = Australia , pop9 = 1.0 million , ref9 = , region10 = Uruguay , pop10 = 1.0 million ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottavio Quattrocchi
Ottavio Quattrocchi (1938 – 13 July 2013) was an Italian businessman who was being sought until early 2009 in India for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Bofors scandal. Quattrocchi's role in this scandal, and his proximity to Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi through his wife Sonia Gandhi, is thought to have contributed to the defeat of the Congress Party in the 1989 elections. In 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Quattrocchi in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe. The case against him was strengthened in June 2003, when Interpol revealed two bank accounts, 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L, held by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria with the BSI AG bank, London, containing Euros 3 million and $1 million, a "curiously large savings for a salaried executive". In January 2006, these frozen bank accounts were unexpectedly released by India's law ministry, apparently without the consent of the CBI which had asked for them to be fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blacklisted
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, they are seen by a government or other organization as being one of a number of people who cannot be trusted or who is considered to have done something wrong. As a verb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list. Origins of the term The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy ''The Unnatural Combat''. After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father. The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is decided by the Swedish Riksdag. As of 1 January 2019, the funds stem from standard taxation. No advertising is permitted. Its legal status could be described as that of a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization. History The company – which was founded as AB Radiotjänst ("Radio Service Ltd") by a consortium of newspaper companies, the TT news agency, and radio manufacturing interests on 21 March 1924 – made its first broadcast on 1 January 1925: a relay of High Mass from St James's Church in Stockholm. It was officially renamed Sveriges Radio in 1957. Sveriges Radio was originally responsible for all broadcasting in Sweden, both radio and television, and hosted the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest. A reorganization in 1979 saw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yahoo! News
Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associated Press, Reuters, Fox News, Al Jazeera, ABC News, ''USA Today'', CNN and BBC News. In 2001, Yahoo! News launched the first "most-emailed" page on the web. It was well-received as an innovative idea, expanding people's understanding of the impact that online news sources have on news consumption. Yahoo allowed comments for news articles until December 19, 2006, when commentary was disabled. Comments were re-enabled on March 2, 2010. By 2011, Yahoo had expanded its focus to include original content, as part of its plans to become a major media organization. Veteran journalists (including Walter Shapiro and Virginia Heffernan) were hired, while the website had a correspondent in the White House press corps for the first time in February 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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