-The Hindu     Hamadoun Toure seeks support for International Telecommunication Regulations ITU Secretary General Dr. Hamadoun Touré, who was at the centre of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) controversy which erupted at Dubai's treaty meet - World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in December 2012 - is visiting India this week. Experts in the know of the treaty negotiations believe Dr. Touré will lobby the government and the private sector to persuade India to...

-The Hindustan Times Ranchi: A team of female footballers from Jharkhand on the verge of making history at a tournament in Spain is allegedly facing severe abuse from panchayat officials angling for bribes. The members of Yuva Football Club, mostly poor tribals between 12 to 14 years of age, said they were slapped and even made to sweep floors when they went to the panchayat office on the outskirts of state capital...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Saradha group's collapse has possibly bankrupted lakhs of small investors robbing them of their life svaings, and has rendered thousands of its agents jobless. The scam highlights the failure of the government and its regulatory agencies to reign in the mushrooming chit fund companies in West Bengal. It also brings under the scanner the Trinamool Congress' proximity with the tainted group. In the wake of the...

-The United Nations The Asia-Pacific region, which has overtaken the rest of the world in consumption of raw materials as affluence and manufacturing increase, must boost its resource efficiency or risk losing ground in lifestyle, economic growth and environmental sustainability, according to a UN report released today. From 1970-2008, consumption of construction minerals increased 13.4 times, metal ores and industrial minerals consumption 8.6, fossil fuels 5.4, and biomass 2.7 times, according to...

-The Hindu Business Line   Arsenic and fluoride contaminated water has condemned millions to live wasted lives in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Business Line visited several villages in the affected regions for this special report by A. Srinivas. Sixty-NINe-year-old Renubala Ari of Deganga village in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is counting her last days. But it is not her death that worries her. Blind in both eyes and with painful...