-The Guardian Allowing foreign chains such as Tesco to open in India will drive up unemployment and exploit small producers India's ruling coalition has been rocked after its second-largest partner withdrew this week. The latest round of political instability comes about because prime minister Manmohan Singh announced a number of economic measures without consulting his allies. The announcements – that diesel prices were to be raised, and that India's retail and domestic...

-Outlook As threat to the Taj Mahal due to harmful gases emanating from nearby industries continue, green activists are now emphasising the need for implementation of a 'clean air action plan' to save the Mughal-era structure. Though environmentalists have been raising a hue and cry time and again, this time they have rung the alarm bell by flagging concerns over emissions from vehicles due to uninterrupted flow of traffic. Industrial pollution is increasingly...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Loading of uranium Fuel in the first unit of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant started on Wednesday, the Vinayaka Chaturthi day, as the controversial project took a major step towards becoming operational. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had given its final clearance for loading Fuel on Tuesday night. "Fuel loading has started and it will take at least 10 days for the process to be completed,"...

-The Times of India The anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) protesters may attempt to hold demonstrations and lay siege to Tuticorin port and government offices on Saturday. They had on Friday threatened to stop all activities at the port. The protest will be led by activist SP Udayakumar, according to media reports. Shipping minister GK Vasan had on Friday urged the anti-nuclear plant activists at Kudankulam to desist from stalling activity at...

-NDTV Tuticorin: Protests against the Kudankulam nuclear plant continue unabated as thousands of fishermen today laid siege to the port at Tuticorin, demanding the closure of the controversial plant. Nearly thousand fishing boats have blocked entry to the Tuticorin harbour, which is situated around 60 miles away from the nuclear power plant. The loading of nuclear Fuel, which is on at one of the reactors at the Kudankulam plant, has not in...