-IANS The deadlock in Parliament over the government's decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail ended on Wednesday after an all-party meeting passed a resolution to suspend the move till a consensus was reached. Both houses of Parliament functioned normally and took the crucial Question Hour for the first time since the winter session began on November 22. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who chaired the meeting made a brief statement in...

-Express News Service   The parliamentary panel studying the Lokpal bill has recommended “appropriate representation” for the weaker sections in the search committee.   The standing committee on law and justice has, however, maintained that the choice of the ombudsman “has to achieve the selection of the best and the brightest at the entry point”. The committee, which adopted its final report this eveNINg, has suggested that the search panel must include “certain sections of...

China, India, Brazil say a pact must recognize the historical responsibility of nations that caused the problem to act first United Nations (UN) secretary general Ban Ki-moon said a global warming treaty may be ”beyond our reach” this week as India and China rejected pressure for developing nations to adopt mandatory pollution targets. “We must be realistic about the opportunity of a breakthrough in Durban,”” Ban said at UN climate talks...

The top 10 investment destinations for Indian companies in the last three years are all tax havens, if the US and UK which figure at number 4 and number 8, respectively, are discounted. The statistic, released by the finance ministry, reinforces the belief that the government has failed in curbing the flow of black money out of the country. Around 40% of the total investments in these three years have been...

-EPW   Will the blatant discrimination against Muslims in the administration of justice ever end? The word secular was inserted into the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd amendment in 1976; later on, the Supreme Court, in S R Bommai vs Union of India, held (in 1994) that secularism was an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution. And yet, it has been a long time coming – Indian...