The Central Bureau of Investigation has charged a former Air India general manager and an entertainment company with cheating the airline to the tune of Rs.14 million.

Anil Kumar Sharma was general manager in the airline’s in-flight service department when he allegedly approved fake bills of in-flight entertainment programmes supplied by Eros International Media Ltd, a CBI official said Friday.

The airline had appointed Eros to supply short video programmes for screening on its flights but the company charged for a duration more than the actual one, the CBI said.

Eros was also accused of billing the airline twice.

Sharma is accused of fraudulently approving the bills sent by Eros without verifying them, in connivance with the latter’s officials, the CBI said.

Sharma and his family members were accused of having several bank accounts and owning three bank lockers in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chandigarh.

The CBI said he recently bought a flat in Defence Colony in south Delhi.

Top congressional Republicans held fresh talks on Saturday with President Barack Obama to try to break a deadlock on raising the US debt limit and expressed confidence that a default by the world’s largest economy could be avoided.

While engagement with the White House after a week of poisonous political stalemate was a step forward, a deal still seemed elusive. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said the two sides were not close to agreement with a Tuesday deadline looming to raise the government’s USD 14.3 trillion borrowing limit.

“I think we’ve got a chance of getting there,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said in a verbal joust with Reid on the Senate floor that kept observers guessing about whether the divided Congress could come together to thrash out an eleventh-hour solution.

“Republican leaders still refuse to negotiate in good faith,” Reid said.

Political wrangling around details of a compromise was expected to go into the night, but renewed White House participation in direct negotiations after being sidelined for days appeared to be a positive sign.

McConnell told reporters earlier he had spoken by phone with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and he was “confident and optimistic” a bipartisan agreement could be reached to avoid a default.

Unless Congress raises the debt ceiling by Tuesday, the government would be barred from further borrowing after then, according to the US Treasury, and could quickly run out of money to pay all its bills.

“Our country is not going to default for the first time in its history — that’s not going to happen,” McConnell said.

The top Republican in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner, also appeared before reporters with McConnell to express similar confidence that a compromise could be reached about ways to cut the budget deficit and raise the debt ceiling.

Holding out hope for an accord, McConnell said they wanted to have Obama involved in negotiations to ensure he would not veto any accord.

“He needs to indicate what he (Obama) will sign,” McConnell said.

Before he denied that a deal was close, Reid and the top House Democrat, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, held talks at the White House with Obama.

OUTLINE OF A DEAL, WORLD WATCHES

A day after the Republican-controlled House passed a bill to cut the deficit and raise the debt limit, the saga shifted to the Democratic-led Senate. [ID:nN1E76T061]

Earlier, McConnell called on Reid to move up a vote on his Democratic deficit reduction plan that was set for 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) on Sunday so the two sides could begin talks with the White House.

Senate Democrats’ debt-limit proposal, which would cut the budget deficit by USD 2.2 trillion over 10 years, was revised by Reid to incorporate parts of a “backup plan” first proposed by McConnell. Obama would be given authority to raise the debt ceiling in three stages to cover borrowing needs through the 2012 elections when he is running for a second term.

Senate Democrats and Republicans agree on the main contours of the deal. But they were deadlocked on Saturday over what sort of mechanism should be in place to ensure that Congress will agree to further budget savings after a special committee makes recommendations.

While Republicans have proposed a variety of automatic spending cuts, they are refusing to consider automatic tax increases, according to a Democratic aide. Republicans also want to tie the debt-limit increase to passage of a balanced-budget amendment — a nonstarter for Democrats.

Obama says any plan that would require another showdown over the debt limit in a few months would be unacceptable because it would lead to economic uncertainty, putting a damper on jobs and economic growth.

Adani Enterprises Ltd denied on Saturday any links to alleged illegal mining in Karnataka and said the company had never had any interest in mining iron ore.

Shares in Adani plunged as much as 26 percent on Friday on newspaper reports that the Karnataka Lokayukta’s report had accused the company of paying bribes and permitting illicit iron ore exports.

Adani said in a statement on Saturday that it did not own or operate any iron ore mine in any part of the country. The company was a port operator at Karnataka’s Belekeri port, but had stopped services there in June last year, it said.

“Any alleged illegal gratification or payoffs cannot be attributed to AEL given that AEL has been a mere port operator and the cargo interest always was with either miners or other parties,” the company said, referring to Adani Enterprises Ltd.

Karnataka, which is facing a mounting political crisis after the state’s chief minister agreed to quit over a $3.6 billion illegal mining scandal, has over 9,000 million tonnes of iron ore resources.

In clear signs that he might finally be relenting, Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa today said he would tender his resignation tomorrow, falling in line with the party’s directive.

In a signed statement that was read out to the media outside the Chief Minister’s residence by loyalist Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Yeddyurappa said he had already issued a statement on Thursday that he would tender his resignation on July 31 following the decision of the party’s parliamentary board and instruction from BJP central leaders.

But, he said, despite the statement, “even now, some media are misleading the public that I am not resigning”.

“I, hereby, again clarify that I am submitting my resignation on the afternoon of 31-3-2011″, he said.

Asked if Yeddyurappa’s demands were accepted by the party high-command, Water Resources Minister Bommai said the Chief Minister had a closed-door meeting with BJP top leaders  Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh and he does not know what transpired between them.

“..but certainly talks are going on in right way…positive way. Every thing will be solved”, Bommai said in his comments, which are seen as softening of his stand by the Chief Minister.

Significantly, a section of Ministers and MLAs loyal to Yeddyurappa who were believed to have refused to meet the central leaders to give their opinion on the succession issue earlier in the day, have now changed their mind.

The Chief Minister’s camp had claimed the support of 74 MLAs yesterday, a number which is believed to have dwindled.

Home and Transport Minister R Ashoka, identified in “anti-Yeddyurappa” camp, told reporters earlier today: “Those who were there (the Chief Minister’s camp) yesterday, have come here. You have seen them”.

As of today, Apple boss Steve Jobs is richer than Uncle Sam.

While the world’s most powerful government has just $73.76 billion in its reserves, the world’s top technology company has a neat cash pile of $75.87 billion on Thursday.

The US Treasury Department Thursday warned that it has now only this much operating budget as Republicans and Democrats fight over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. With only that much reserve at its disposal, the Obama White House has warned the Republicans that the US government won’t be able to meet its obligations as of Aug 2.

Facing a government default, Obama can definitely turn to Steve Jobs to give him a very brief breathing space.

The failure by the Republicans and Democrats to come to a compromise to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug 2 could lead to a hike in interest rates. The already battered dollar may also plunge further.

With its market capitalisation of $363.25 billion, Apple is the second largest company on the planet after American oil giant Exxon Mobil. The Cupertino-based Apple started rising suddenly in 2007 when it entered the smart phone market with the launch of its first version of the iPhone.

Within three years, Apple went on to overhaul BlackBerry company Research In Motion (RIM) which invented the smart phone and dominated the market.

But its fortunes skyrocketed last year with the launch of the iPad tablet which has sold in millions. In fact, the iPhone and the iPad have made Apple the czar of mobile computing technology as rivals play up catch-up.

The stock of the company, which doesn’t pay dividends, has now touched $400.

After Apple, another non-financial company sitting on a huge cash reserve is Microsoft whose own pile is about $40 billion.