-PTI LONDON: An Indian climate change activist who works with local communities and governments for environmental change has been awarded the Commonwealth youth award. Priti Rajagopalan, 23, received a 5,000-pound grant towards her work at a ceremony held at the Commonwealth secretariat headquarters in London, the Commonwealth said on October 19. "This award inspires me to move forward and to take a lot more people with me, with the same spirit, into the...

-The United Nations Efficient, well-managed and sustainable food systems are essential to end hunger and malnutrition as well as protect the environment, United Nations officials stressed today, marking World Food Day. "The key to better nutrition, and ultimately to ensuring each person's right to food, lies in better food systems - smarter approaches, policies and investments encompassing the environment, people, institutions and processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed and brought...

-The United Nations The specialized cancer agency of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that outdoor air pollution is a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths. An evaluation by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Programme found there is sufficient evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer and increases the risk for bladder cancer. In a news release, the IARC pointed out that air...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: On the eighth anniversary of India's landmark transparency legislation today, data mined on the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows it is, indeed, India's sunshine law, with an estimated 40 lakh people using the Act during 2011-12, the latest year for which all-India data is available. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an independent organisation closely associated with the RTI legislation, data-mined annual reports filed by the...

-The Economic Times The government must explain to the Supreme Court, with scientific evidence, why the pentavalent vaccine, now introduced into the immunisation programme, should not be banned. The vaccine is designed to combat five childhood diseases: diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, Hepatitis B, pneumonia and meningitis. So far, more than 82,000 doses have been administered and there have been 29 cases of adverse effects after immunisation. After examining the evidence, it is unclear...