-The United Nations   Signs of ozone depletion are again appearing over the Antarctic, the United Nations reported today, adding that prevailing temperatures and polar stratospheric clouds indicate that the degree of ozone loss this year will most likely be about average in comparison to the past decade. However, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted that it is still too early to make a definitive statement on the level of depletion of ozone...

Some commentators have compared the struggle led by Anna Hazare with the movement against corruption led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s. A man of integrity and courage, a social worker who has eschewed the loaves and fishes of office, a septuagenarian who has emerged out of semi-retirement to take on an unfeeling government — thus JP then, and thus Anna now. Superficially, the comparison of Anna to JP is flattering...

-Express News Service   An RTI activist from Union Territory of Diu who had sought information in connection with the construction of an allegedly illegal restaurant and bogus licence issued by Road Transport Office to bike vendors has been allegedly attacked by local politicians and government officers. Jaisukh Bambhania ,39, president of Diu auto-rickshaw drivers’ association, was attacked with sharp weapons and pipes on Sunday night. Later, acid was thrown on him. Bambhania has...

The key to Anna's appeal lies in his status as a detached, almost bewildered outsider in the world of FDI inflows, stock indices and GDP growth numbers. If two years ago, someone had predicted that the next popular leader who would catch the imagination of the middle class and become the spearhead of an unlikely protest movement spanning a large part of urban India would be a 73-year-old largely unknown man,...

A group of people, with placards showing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, staged a demonstration in Delhi a few days ago against Anna Hazare's proposals on the Lokpal and the methods used by his team. More often than not, Dalits look with suspicion on any attempt to tamper with the Constitution. Team Anna has, however, suggested that its Lokpal bill would benefit Dalits more than anyone else. This led me to look...