At the president's informal stock taking plenary, held in the early hours of Sunday, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan made a final attempt to ensure that India's redlines - legally binding deal and differentiation between developing and developed countries - were not crossed.  Making her case, Natarajan reminded that India was in Durban to "find a solution to the entire issue of climate change."  "India has shown more flexibility than any other party....

-The Telegraph   The main points agreed upon in the Durban talks: Kyoto protocol extension After the failure of Copenhagen in 2009 to come up with a new, internationally-binding deal and only incremental progress a year later in Cancun, a partial legal vacuum had loomed as drafting a new UN treaty is extremely time-consuming. Sunday’s deal extends Kyoto, whose first phase of emissions cuts run from 2008 to the end of 2012. The second commitment...

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said she had come with an “open mind” as India showed signs of flexibility on accepting legally binding emission curbs, but wanted more assurances from developed countries before making further commitments. The comments, at the UN climate change summit in this South African city, came days after China for the first time indicated its willingness to accept legally binding cuts after 2020. The hint of a flexible stand...

Chanting loudly, thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets to the venue of the 17th United Nations Climate Change Conference to demand that their voices be heard for "immediate and drastic" carbon emission reductions to save the planet. Dubbing Saturday the "Global Day of Action", demonstrators from international and national non- governmental groups as well as labour, women, youth, academic, religious and environmental organisations came together to highlight civil society’s demands...

-CNN-IBN Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday claimed that foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector will significantly reduce post harvest losses and targeted the Opposition parties for obstructing the implementation of the FDI policy.   "Narrow political considerations are coming in the way of decisions like FDI in retail," said Pranab Mukherjee while addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. Reiterating that the Government will ultimately be able to persuade everyone...