-PTI Washington: United States has selected the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim for the International Women of Courage Award. The award would be presented posthumously by the First Lady Michelle Obama and the Secretary of State John Kerry, on March 8, an official announcement said yesterday. "For millions of Indian women, her personal ordeal, perseverance to fight for justice, and her family's continued bravery is helping to lift the stigma and vulnerability that drive...

-The Hindu The decision follows Wharton India Economic Forum’s cancellation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s live video keynote address scheduled on March 23. Following Wharton India Economic Forum’s cancellation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s live video keynote address, former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has pulled out of the event and the Adani Group of industries of Gujarat, the event’s “platinum” sponsor, has cancelled its sponsorship. Suresh Prabhu, a leader of BJP-ally...

-The United Nations Some 2,000 representatives from 150 governments, indigenous groups, businesses and civil society today gathered at a United Nations-backed conference in Bangkok, Thailand, which aims to find ways to stop wildlife poaching and illegal trading. At the conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), delegates will examine some 70 proposals to amend the current wildlife trade system, which has been in...

-The Business Standard FM allocates Rs 10,000 cr to implement the programme; this is apart from the usual food subsidy requirement of Rs 80,000 cr for the year The most ambitious social security programme of the government, the National Food Security Bill, got a leg-up in the 2013-14 Budget, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocating Rs 10,000 crore for implementing it. This allocation is over and above the usual food subsidy requirement of...

-The Hindu On February 11, the Supreme Court issued notice to the government, seeking its response on making intelligence agencies accountable to Parliament. This question is pertinent and in some ways captures the sentiments expressed by many and best vocalised by two leaders in recent times. Vice-President Hamid Ansari had said in his 2010 speech on this subject “....responsibility to the legislature, and eventually to the electorate, is an essential element...