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...

-PTI The West Bengal government said AMRI hospital authorities did not make effort to rescue trapped patients and that action against them where over 30 patients suffocated to death after a fire broke out in its premises on Friday. "It was horrifying that the hospital authorities did not make any effort to rescue trapped patients," public health engineering minister Subrata Mukherjee told Reporters after visiting the hospital. "Senior hospital authorities ran away after...

-The Telegraph   RBI governor D. Subbarao has expressed concern over Bengal’s low credit-deposit ratio, which means that funds from the cash-starved state are actually meeting the borrowing needs elsewhere. The erstwhile Left government used to blame banks for the skewed ratio. But bankers have blamed it on the poor credit absorption capacity of rural Bengal because of fragmented land holdings — a fallout of the land reforms. After a meeting with chief minister...

-The Indian Express   Supporting the ongoing discourse in India over the issue of FDI in the retail sector, the United States has said even though it is of view that this is in the benefit of India, it would desist to comment on India's internal affairs. "I think they have to work through their domestic political process and I don't want to comment on their internal affairs at this point," the Under...

-IANS The deadlock in Parliament over the government's decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail ended on Wednesday after an all-party meeting passed a resolution to suspend the move till a consensus was reached. Both houses of Parliament functioned normally and took the crucial Question Hour for the first time since the winter session began on November 22. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who chaired the meeting made a brief statement in...