-Frontine Walmart’s disclosure that it spent huge amounts of money on lobbying in India and the allegation that it entered the retail sector through indirect means highlight the power of global capital in dictating the country’s policies. The world’s largest multi-brand retailer Walmart’s disclosure to the United States Senate that it had spent $25 million (Rs.135 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, which include enhancing access to the Indian...

-AFP Delegations from some 140 countries agreed on Saturday to adopt a ground-breaking treaty limiting the use and emission of health-hazardous mercury, the U.N. said, though environmental activists lamented it did not go far enough. The world’s first legally binding treaty on mercury, reached after a week of thorny talks, will aim to reduce global emission levels of the toxic heavy metal, also known as quicksilver, which poses risks to human health...

-Outlook Delhi Police has registered a case against Zee News for allegedly showing forged annexure of a CAG report on coal block allocation, a charge dismissed by the channel as a "figment of imagination, mala fide and oppressive". The Crime Branch registered the case alleging that the CAG report annexure shown by Zee News was forged, sources said. They also said a case of cheating and forgery were registered after finding that the...

-The Times of India The conspiracy of favouring candidates in the JBT exam by former chief minister Om PrakashChautala had begun in 1999 and he had even transferred two officers who did not comply with the directions given by chief minister's office. In its order, the court said Chautala was the "main conspirator" who was aware of every development in the scam. The court on Wednesday noted that Chautala could not carry out...

-The United Nations Communities in developing countries are facing increasing health and environmental risks linked to exposure to mercury, according to new studies by the United Nations environmental agency. Produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the studies note how parts of Africa, Asia and South America could see increasing emissions of mercury into the environment, due mainly to the use of the toxic element in small-scale gold mining, and through the...