-The Business Standard Govt pushes biofuels again, despite bitter experience The nearly decade-old programme to promote ethanol-blended petrol has failed to make much headway despite continued attempts by the government to get it going. The latest such attempt was last week, when the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) made the very poor decision to force oil marketing companies to mix five per cent ethanol with petrol throughout the country from...

-The United Nations Temperatures this year are the ninth highest on record since 1850 despite the effect of La Niña, a meteorological phenomenon which is supposed to have a cooling influence on the Earth’s atmosphere, says a new United Nations report released today. High temperatures were accompanied by unprecedented melting of the Arctic sea ice and multiple weather and climate extremes which affected many parts of the world. The findings are among the...

-DNA India’s already grim sex ratio scenario runs the risk of turning worse with more women than men preferring sons over daughters. Historically women here have longed for the girl child much against the wishes of the men in their lives. But that appears a thing of the past, according to the latest statistics and programme implementation ministry report titled Women and men in India 2012. The October 31, 2012 issue of ministry...

-One World South ASIa South ASIa’s households fall into poverty as the result of higher food prices as food prices increase. According to the latest Food Price Watch, global food prices increased 10% between June and July 2012 with staples such as wheat increASIng 25% in the period. The crisis continued affecting food and nutrition security throughout South ASIa. Bad weather, trade curbs, oil prices and bio-fuel diversions have all led to...

-The Indian Express India ranks 78th among 97 countries in guaranteeing access to all civil justice, a latest report released today said, while its neighbouring country Sri Lanka leads the South ASIan nations in most dimensions of the rule of law. The 'Rule of Law Index 2012' report by World Justice Project's provides country-by-country scores and rankings for eight areas of the rule of law. India, the report said, has a robust system...