-The Telegraph New Delhi: The US today pledged financial and technical assistance to help India expand its renewable energy programme, monitor air quality over its cities and improve India-specific climate forecasts among new initiatives on energy and climate. A joint statement issued tonight after delegation-level talks led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama outlined proposed actions that could help India curb its growth of greenhouse gas emissions and...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Leprosy may have disappeared from the state's health mandate, but there is compelling evidence that the infection is returning to the community. Though officially eliminated from the state ten years ago, last year leprosy infected over 16,400 people, 13% of them children. Also, the state accounted for 13% of the country's new leprosy cases. Statistics also reveal that 57% of the newly detected cases were multibacillary leprosy-an...

-Newsclick.in By 2016 the richest 1% of the world's population will own more than 50% of the world's wealth, says Oxfam's recent report on global wealth inequality. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said: "Do we really want to live in a world where the one percent own more than the rest of us combined? Clearly, the scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and the gap between the richest...

-The Indian Express The NDA government took over from the UPA more than eight months ago but it appears to be deja vu for activists fighting against the constitutionality of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which empowers police to arrest people for social media posts. Following the previous government's line, the NDA regime has lent its support to the validity of Section 66A, saying the "danger was present and clear"...

-AFP Paris: Wealth accumulated by the richest 1% will exceed that of the other 99% in 2016, the Oxfam charity said on Monday, ahead of the annual meeting of the world's most powerful at Davos, Switzerland. "The scale of global inequality is quite simply staggering and despite the issues shooting up the global agenda, the gap between the richest and the rest is widening fast," Oxfam Executive director Winnie Byanyima said. The richest...