-The Hindu The climate talks continued here on Saturday with Conference of Parties (COP) 18 president Abdullah Bin Hamid Al Hattiyah of Qatar pushing for a conclusion, while accepting that everyone was unhappy with the proposals, but at the same time wanting an outcome. After a brief informal plenary in the morning where Mr. Al Hattiyah asked ministerial outreach groups on key issues to report back after consultation, the plenary convened briefly...

-PTI Global retail giant Walmart - waiting for years to open its supermarkets in India - has been lobbying with the US lawmakers since 2008 to facilitate its entry into the highly lucrative Indian market. As per the lobbying disclosure reports filed by Walmart with the US Senate, the company has spent close to $25 million (about Rs 125 crore) since 2008 on its various lobbying activities, including on the issues...

-The Hindustan Times Indians love slogans. So, since Independence, successive governments have offered catch lines to their electorates. Some slogans were inopportune because they were of dubious accuracy. Jawaharlal Nehru’s 1950s ‘Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai’ — Indians and Chinese are brothers — (even Nehru did not believe this), led to a battlefield defeat. The Congress’ 1975 Emergency-era ‘Indira is India and India is Indira’ and the BJP’s 2004 ‘India Shining’ were electoral disasters. Some...

-IPS News Doha: United Nations climate talks are on the edge of collapse Thursday, according to a coalition of civil society and representatives from half of the world’s countries. Once again, rich industrialised nations are putting nothing on the table in terms of increased emissions cuts and financial support for poor nations, said Celine Charveriat, director of advocacy and campaigns for Oxfam International. “This is just like WTO (World Trade Organisation) negotiations where...

-AFP DOHA: UN talks seeking to halt the march of global warming entered their final day in Doha on Friday with key points outstanding: extending the greenhouse gas-curbing Kyoto Protocol and funding for poor countries. Delegates are preparing for a long day and night of final haggling to find consensus on interim ways to rein in climate change and smooth the way to a new deal that must enter into force in...