P&G Buy Gillette for $57 Billion

PROCTER & Gamble, the consumer products giant, announced today that they have Gillette in a deal of £30.2 billion. P&G said bringing products such as Pampers nappies and Wella hairspray together with Gillette razors and Duracell batteries under the same roof is “a unique opportunity”. The combined company would boast more than $60 billion in annual revenue, giving it increased leverage at stores ranging from discounters to grocers. This deal create The deal values Gillette, best known for its razors, at $53.94 per share, an 18 percent premium to its Thursday closing stock price. (more…)

Violence tolls in election, Bloodiest Day for U.S. Troops in Iraq.

Violence has only increased ahead of Sunday’s election, which will create a 275-member National Assembly and regional legislatures. 31 US troops died in a helicopter crash in Iraq and five more were killed in insurgent attacks on Wednesday in the deadliest day for American forces since they invaded the country 22 months ago. Four days before the country’s crucial elections, militants set off at least eight car bombings that killed 13 people and injured another 40, including 11 Americans.

A group led by Al Qaeda’s Abu Musabal-Zarqawi, which has been behind most of the worst attacks in the run-up to the ballot, warned voters to stay away from the ‘‘infidel election centers’’ and added they will have only themselves to blame for the consequences if they voted. Militants have launched a campaign to derail Sunday’s election carried out at least six car bombings and a flurry of other attacks on schools to be used as polling stations. Al-Quida warned Iraqis to stay away from the polls. They said that Iraqis have themselves to blame if they are hurt in attacks which are happening against the call of U.S. President George W. Bush on people to “defy the terrorists” and cast ballots in the crucial election. Insurgents have threatened to disrupt the Iraqi election, scheduled for Sunday, and U.S. military commanders predicted the current increase in attacks. They have responded with an increase in operations designed to disrupt insurgent activities. Sunni Muslim terrorists have threatened to sabotage the election by killing voters and poll workers. Many Sunni clerics have called for a boycott because of the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops. (more…)

Over 36 soldiers killed in deadliest day in Iraq

A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed during the pre-dawn hours in western Iraq (near the town of Rutbah, 354 km west of Baghdad) in a desert sandstorm. 31 US troops killed in this chopper crash. This deadly accident took the life of 30 Marines and one Navy sailor aboard. The crash occurred around 1:20 a.m. (2220 GMT) when a U.S. Marine transport helicopter, carrying troops from the 1st Marine Division on a security mission in support of Sunday’s elections. According to Marine Corps, the copter was involved “security and stabilization operations” at about 150 kilometers from the Jordanian border. A Pentagon source said the helicopter was a CH-53 Sea Stallion, which is normally configured to carry 37 passengers, but can take up to 55. Since the March 2003 invasion, at least 23 US aircraft have crashed in Iraq, with the loss of some 80 troops.

The authorities have not announced officially any possible cause of the crash, but indactions are going toward the bad weather in the area. A weather map showed that there were sandstorms Wednesday in western Iraq near the Jordanian border where the crash took place, the US military said. An investigation is in progress. Military officials said a search and rescue team was at the site and an investigation was under way. “I’ll let the military provide information to you about what they know at this point. They’re investigating the matter,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said earlier. While in one other incident six other American military personnel died in insurgent ambushes. It’s the deadliest day for US forces since the Iraq war began. (more…)

Hundreds die in stampede, fire in Mumbai, India

Stampede kills at least 300 in India during a religious procession. Pilgrims angered by the accidental deaths of several people inside a Hindu temple set fire to shops along a crowded walkway outside Tuesday, triggering a stampede that killed more than 250 people, police said. An estimated 300,000 people had gathered for a festival in and around the hilltop Mandra Devi temple in western India near the small town of Wai, about 100 miles southeast of Bombay. Witnesses said the stampede started around midday, after pilgrims slipped on the temple’s steep stone steps, which had become wet after coconuts were broken as an offering to the local deity Kalubai.

“A couple of devotees slipped and fell on the floor. A mob from behind walked over them,” Police chief Chandrakant Kumbhar said. “When their relatives, who were still climbing the stairs, heard the news, they became angry and set fire to some shops.” “People were running down the hill — it was madness,” said Vijay Wankhede, who has a small shop near the temple, squinting and coughing as smoke spewed from the gutted shell of his home and shop. “There was no place to keep the bodies,” said Sanjay Mete, who sells flowers and offerings near the temple. “There were so many bodies that we stacked one body on top of another.” (more…)