-The Telegraph   Oil companies today announced the first cut in petrol prices since deregulation in June last year, citing global changes but gifting Mamata Banerjee a political victory. The petrol price will go down in Calcutta by Rs 2.31 a litre to Rs 70.84. “We had gained Rs 1.85 per litre, excluding all taxes, since the last price revision because of a fall in global oil rates and a marginal appreciation in rupee...

Even as the details given by France on Swiss bank accounts of Indians continue to cause ripples back home, Denmark and Finland have passed information about another 2,000 bank accounts to India, prompting the I-T department to launch an investigation. Sources said the I-T department's Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) has been asked to probe these accounts. This is the third instance when foreign countries have shared details with Delhi about Indian...

The United Nations unveiled its 22nd annual Human Development Report on Wednesday, with grave warnings that unless countries take action against climate change and implement sustainable solutions, progress in human development will be in serious jeopardy. Trends over the past 40 years indicate extraordinary progress in health and education in some of the world's poorest countries, and if those trends continue, by 2050, most countries will have achieved or surpassed standards...

Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media? Gautam Navlakha (gnavlakha@gmail.com) is a member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi.   It would be churlish to dismiss “Team Anna’s” mass mobilisation which is an assertion of our collective right to protest. This is especially so in view of the fact that after having waited...

There is a China hand in India's inflation, one important reason why the steady rise in interest rates may not be cooling the high inflation. About 25% of imported inputs that go into manufacture of goods produced locally are imported from China. In addition, a third of consumer goods imported into India come from China. The inflation in goods exported by China was 10% in July, much higher than its overall...