KARNATAKA MINING SCAM: Lokayukta indicts Yeddyurappa, Reddy brothers!

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PTI / The Hindu / BANGALORE, July 27, 2011.

Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde arrives at his office before a press meet regarding the submission of the final report on illegal mining to the Karnataka government, in Bangalore on Wednesday. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy - The Hindu.

The Lokayukta report on illegal mining on Wednesday strongly indicted Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyruappa, Reddy brothers and various others and recommended their prosecution under Prevention of Corruption Act and other laws.

In damning evidence against the Chief Minister, the Lokayukta headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde found that a mining company had donated Rs. 10 crore to a trust managed by his family members which also sold a piece of land to a mining company for Rs. 20 crore far above the guidance value of Rs. 1.4 crore.

After submitting the report running into 25,228 pages including annexures, Mr. Hegde told a press conference that he has named Chief Minister Yeddyruppa, former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, Reddy brothers (who are ministers and mining magnates), their camp follower and another minister H. Sriramulu, Congress MP Anil Lad’s wife and over 600 officials in the mining racket that cost the exchequer Rs. 16,085 crore between 2006 and 2010.

“Having come to the conclusion that there is as a matter of fact an offence made under the Prevention of Corruption Act I have made a recommendation to the Governor to take further action,” Mr. Hegde said in respect of the donation made to the trust run by the Chief Minister’s family members.

At another point, he said, “I have made a recommendation for prosecuting everybody. I have stated this to the Governor. It is for him to act.”

To a question, he shot back, “Action under Prevention of Corruption Act should be taken. What else?”

The report castigated the BJP government, which is in power since May 2008, for its failure to check irregularities and illegalities in mining in the state.

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VIDEO CLIP: Space Shuttle Atlantis Makes Historic Final Landing, Ends 30-Year Program!

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By NED POTTER (@NedPotterABC) / July 21, 2011.

Shuttle Atlantis Landing: End of an Era.

For one last time, the Space Shuttle Atlantis made a long, steep turn, lined up with the runway and landed in the half-light before dawn at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"After serving the world for 30 years, the space shuttle has found its place in history," said Christopher Ferguson, the astronaut who commanded Atlantis' final mission, by radio to mission control. "Wheels stop." The ship came to rest at 5:58 a.m. EDT, after a flight of 12 days, 18 hours, 28 minutes and 55 seconds.

And that was that.

After 135 flights in 30 years, the space shuttles are now history. NASA said before landing that with Atlantis' flight over, the five shuttle orbiters would together have traveled 537,114,016 miles in orbit. Three hundred and thirty-five astronauts have flown on them; 14 died when the shuttles Columbia and Challenger were lost.

Atlantis alone made 33 flights, carried 191 space fliers, spent 307 days in orbit, circled Earth 4,848 times and put 125,935,769 miles on its odometer.

Full Coverage: End of an Era

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http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/space-shuttle-atlantis-landing-ends-nasa-shuttle-program/story?id=14117477