When India  won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games on Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become a national embarrassment. The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have not only made headlines around the world....

The land acquisition process for Haryana’s first nuclear power plant has started at Gorakhpur village (around 175 km from Delhi) in Fatehabad district. The site has been finalised by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for setting up the state’s first 4X700 mw nuclear power plant. As per the officials of Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL)—the nodal agency for the project—the land acquisition officer has already started issuing notices...

Claims that Indian paramilitary forces pursuing Maoist rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh tortured villagers are under investigation. Troops from the Border Security Force (BSF) allegedly beat and gave electric shocks to tribal people, including women, during interrogation. BSF director general Raman Srivastava said an internal inquiry was underway. A large number of Indian police and paramilitary are based in Chhattisgarh, a stronghold of Maoist insurgents. The rebels, who say they are fighting...

IN A remote corner of Bahia state, in north-eastern Brazil, a vast new farm is springing out of the dry bush. Thirty years ago eucalyptus and pine were planted in this part of the cerrado (Brazil’s savannah). Native shrubs later reclaimed some of it. Now every field tells the story of a transformation. Some have been cut to a litter of tree stumps and scrub; on others, charcoal-makers have moved...

Pickers say waste-to-energy incineration plants increase emissions and take away their only means of survival. The waste-pickers who scour the world's rubbish dumps and daily recycle thousands of tonnes of metal, paper and plastics are up in arms against the U.N., which they claim is forcing them out of work and increasing climate change emissions. Their complaint, heard on Wednesday in Bonn where the U.N. global climate change talks have resumed. The...