-The United Nations The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2011, according to a new United Nations report released today, ahead of the start next week of the latest round of global climate changes talks. The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which produced the 2011 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, said that between 1990 and 2011, there was a 30 per cent increase in radiative forcing –...

-The Telegraph The CPM is visibly enjoying Mamata Banerjee’s political isolation in her push for a no-trust motion and chose to make light of her overtures today, trying to suggest she was out of her depth in national politics. “She has completely misunderstood the issue. The issue is not the government; the issue is policies. Policies have to be reversed. What do you do if another government pursues the same policies?” politburo...

-The Times of India The Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Monday adopted draft report on the Lokpal Bill. The select committee has also taken care of the differences over federal rights of states on appointment of Lokayukta. According to TV reports, the panel has sought that the prime minister be brought under the purview of Lokpal barring departments like Intelligence, Atomic Energy which are RTI exempted. The panel has also recommended that a...

-The Times of India The government may not agree to a resolution on FDI in multi-brand retail under the voting clause, reasoning that there was no precedent to put on vote an executive decision that did not involve any legislation. The UPA allies got together on Friday at a dinner hosted by the PM to discuss the strategy for the Parliament session in which the opposition has threatened to seek a division...

-The Business Standard Worryingly, investment in clean energy declines  Global investment in clean energy will decline perceptibly this year for the first time in eight years, signalling an unwarranted complacency in the fight against climate change. A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance says funding for renewable energy generation in the first three quarters of this year was $164.2 billion, down from last year’s $196.4 billion. The downturn is the steepest at...