French President Sarkozy energises normally sedate gathering, pushes for a stronger stance on climate change Port of Spain: As the 2009 meeting of the heads of government of the Commonwealth began on Friday — inaugurated in a colourful ceremony by Queen Elizabeth II — the normally sedate gathering of heads of former British colonies was energised by the presence of an unexpected guest, French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Along with the U.N....

India should insist that developed nations take the lead with substantial emission reductions, in line with the IPCC recommendations. Any non-binding agreement committing all nations without distinction should be rejected.  It is a measure of the current state of global climate negotiations that the only point on which all nations are likely to agree is that the prospects of an agreement at Copenhagen are far from bright. The moral and...

The article presents the political and economic impacts of various kinds of natural and man-made disasters and associated displacement of populations, and argues for a wider and more inclusive definition of disasters in the interest of human rights, social justice and equity for the victims of disasters. Legislation, Disasters and People Numerous disasters at national and international levels have caused governments to recognise the need for rapid and effective response to provide...

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 8.6% in September 2009, the same as the previous month and 2.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier. In the Euro area, the unemployment rate was 9.7% in September 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 2.0 percentage points higher than in September 2008. For the United States, the unemployment rate for October 2009 was 10.2%, 0.4 percentage point...

How green are our cities? The key number in measuring that now is the per capita emission or how big a carbon footprint an individual leaves. The developed world pegs lndia's per capita emission at 1.7 tonnes. But a study by a non-profit organization of 40 Indian cities says it is much lower at less than 1 tonne. The worst big city in India is Kolkata, at 1.83 tonnes, but it is...