New Delhi, Apr 9 In yet another major public-private partnership, Tata Steel will float a joint venture company with state-owned MMTC Ltd for acquiring mining projects in India and abroad. The JV will focus on African countries like Angola and Namibia and central Asian countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to bid for gold and diamond mines, besides acquiring coal and iron ore mines.

Ivory Coast Arrests Suspect In Toxic Waste Case IVORY COAST: April 7, 2008 ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast has arrested the head of the local company which unloaded and dumped toxic waste in Abidjan nearly two years ago, leading to the deaths of 16 people, a judge familiar with the case said on Friday. Salomon Ugborugbo, director of the Ivorian waste handling firm Tommy which unloaded the toxic slops from the ship Probo Koala in August 2006 and dumped them at sites around Abidjan, was arrested on Thursday and is being held pending trial, the judge said.

Rising food prices across the world are generating a great deal of heat and dust. Some of that high-decibel debate about food versus fuel and end of an era when food prices were declining, has found its way into India as well.

US warns on economy as Africa seeks climate aid Agence France-Presse . Bangkok The United States warned Thursday a worsening economy limited what it could give to help poor nations fight global warming, as African activists appealed for major polluters to commit one per cent of GDP. More than 160 countries are meeting in Bangkok in a bid to lay the groundwork for a deal on combatting climate change after the landmark Kyoto Protocol's commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2012.

Rising food prices could spread social unrest across Africa after triggering riots in Niger, Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, African ministers and senior agriculture diplomats have warned. Kanayo Nwanze, the vice-president of the United Nations' International Fund for Agriculture, told a conference in Ethiopia that food riots could become a common feature, particularly after the price of rice has doubled in three months. "The social unrest we have seen in places such as Burkina Faso, Senegal or Cameroon may become common in other places in Africa," Mr Nwanze said.

US warns on economy as Africa seeks climate aid Agence France-Presse . Bangkok The United States warned Thursday a worsening economy limited what it could give to help poor nations fight global warming, as African activists appealed for major polluters to commit one per cent of GDP. More than 160 countries are meeting in Bangkok in a bid to lay the groundwork for a deal on combatting climate change after the landmark Kyoto Protocol's commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2012.

Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas group, is likely to secure energy assets in Libya alongside Eni gaining a long sought entry to north African oil and gas fields and tightening its grip on European markets. Paolo Scaroni, the Eni chief executive and Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, discussed the idea during talks in Moscow last Thursday, the Italian said in a statement disclosing the location of the assets. Industry sources said Eni had agreed to share assets with Gazprom "in a north African country, probably Libya'.

Alarmed by the growing influence of China in the oil and gas sector in many African countries, India has decided to turn its focus from the OPEC countries to the African nations for acquisition of oil

LONDON-based Vedanta Resources is planning to invest $15 billion in the mining sector in India and Africa by 2010. Vedanta Resources executive chairman Anil Agrawal told ET that the company is planning to become the largest producer of metals in the world. "We are targeting at achieving the 1 million tonnes per annum production capacity in copper and zinc while in Aluminium, where we have already touched the magical 1 million figure, we are trying to scale it up to 3 million tonnes per annum,' he said.