-The Telegraph Meet the Merciful Marxists, never mind the Bolsheviks preferred a bullet to the head and Meera Bhattacharjee graced a public platform in Calcutta to seek the death penalty. Prakash Karat today said the CPM had decided to advocate without exception the abolition of death penalty, almost a decade after its Bengal unit led a vociferous campaign to hang teen rapist and killer Dhananjoy Chatterjee. "The central committee has decided that...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India Inc has been conspicuously absent from a four-year-old United Nations-led global initiative against corruption, an unflattering distinction for Indian industry that could also buttress a widespread feeling that doing business in the country is difficult without bribing officials. Not one Indian company has yet joined a global panel of companies steered by the world body to act against corruption in their businesses and pressurise governments...

-The Times of India Fewer countries are carrying out executions than a decade ago, but India along with nations like Gambia, Pakistan and Japan bucked the trend to resume handing out death penalties. An Amnesty International report says that 21 countries executed convicts last year as compared to 28 in 2003. But there is greater concern that Indian courts had meted out at least 78 death sentences with more than 400 estimated...

-The Hindu Bangalore: In an open letter to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, Amnesty International India has demanded that the BBMP ensure that those affected by its forced eviction of around 1,200 families from the Economically Weaker Section Quarters in Ejipura are immediately provided with essential medical services, drinking water, access to sanitation and basic housing, “in line with international human rights standards”. Amnesty International said that it is particularly worried...

-The Hindu With increasing demands for execution of Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru, the Amnesty International has urged President Pranab Mukherjee to immediately halt all death sentences and go with the internationally accepted principle of “right to life”. In a letter to Mr. Mukherjee, Amnesty International India Chief Executive G. Ananthapadmanaban urged him to commute all death sentences into terms of imprisonment, halt further executions and establish an official moratorium on executions...