-The United Nations   Corruption caused by weak governance is leading to unequal land distribution and poor resource management, according to a United Nations report released today, which argues that this lack of transparency is undermining social stability, investment and growth in developing countries. Weak land governance occurs as a result of low levels of transparency, accountability and the rule of law, the report says, which strains “the rules, processes and institutions that...

The number of journalists in prison worldwide has spiked to its highest level in 15 years. Of them, nearly half worked online, raising larger questions about Internet freedom for more than just reporters, but average citizens as well. Eighty-six out of 179 journalists who were in prison worldwide as of Dec. 1, 2011 were reporters or bloggers whose work appeared online, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect...

Anna Hazare today appeared to betray an ambition to become the next Jaya Prakash Narayan if not a Mahatma Gandhi II, asking the Opposition to join his agitation if the UPA defeated the efforts to enact a strong Lokpal. He asked the Opposition to hit the streets and fill the jails, sounding a little like JP who had brought the Right and the Left together in his 1970s campaign against the...

Leaders of farmer groups are meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday to press for allowing FDI in retail. Leaders from four states with lion's share in India's farm GDP--Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka -- will be part of the delegation.  "We will give December 31 as deadline for implementation of FDI. After that we will begin a nationwide stir," said PV Chengal Reddy, who heads Confederation of Indian Farmers, a...

-The Telegraph   The world’s nations negotiating for years on strategies to combat climate change have agreed for the first time to work towards a new pact that would force all big polluters, including emerging economies such as India and China, to curb their greenhouse gas emission. A UN climate change conference in Durban concluded this morning after negotiators from more than 190 countries agreed to consider a new document that would carry...