New Delhi - Japan's Daiichi Sankyo had completed its acquisition of Indian pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy Laboratories, the companies said in a joint statement Friday.

It was announced in June that the Japanese firm would be acquiring a controlling stake of 63.92 per cent in Ranbaxy, India's largest pharma firm, in an estimated 4-billion-dollar deal.

In a regulatory statement, the firms announced Friday that they had closed the deal with the final transfer of remaining equity shares of the promoters of Ranbaxy, the Singh family.

New Delhi - India will be sending a battalion of Gurkha soldiers to replace some of its troops on the United Nations peacekeeping mission in strife-torn Congo, a Defence Ministry spokesman said Friday.

India, with 4,500 troops, is one of the largest contributors to the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, usually referred to by its French acronym MONUC.

The Gurkha battalion would be sent to Congo by the end of November, army spokesman Virendra Singh said.

New Delhi, Nov 6 : Defence Minister A. K. Antony has asked defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to be more competitive and modernize with the changing times.

Addressing the meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his ministry held in New Delhi today, the Minister expressed the hope that with vast experience behind it, there is no doubt that the company will rise to the occasion in meeting the future needs of the services.

New Delhi, Nov 6 : Australian Minister for Resources and Tourism Martin Ferguson today called on Minister of Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni.

During an hour long meeting here both the leaders discussed matters relating to bilateral cooperation in tourism sector. Both sides stressed on the importance of interaction within the tourism stakeholders in the two countries for better understanding of the tourism products in each other’s country.

Referring to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries both the leaders felt that India and Australia are important tourism markets for each other.

New Delhi, Nov 6 : A delegation led by Australian Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism Martin Ferguson called on Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel here today.

From Indian side senior officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas including R. S. Pandey, Secretary (P&NG) and concerned PSUs viz., GAIL, OVL, BPCL and PLL were also present during the meeting.

New Delhi, Nov 6 : Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora has returned this morning from a successful visit of Russia.

During his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Deora referred to India’s desire for formation of joint venture between ONGC Videsh Limited
(OVL) and Rosneft for taking up exploration and development projects in east Siberia.