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BHOPAL: The death of an RSS worker during “Shastra Puja” (Weapons' worship), the handling of an automatic firearm by the seven-year-old son of the district Superintendent of police and firing in the air from a gun of prohibited bore by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan - all on Dusshera day in Bhopal - have kicked up a controversy.

NEW DELHI: The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, which seeks major changes in the functioning of the insurance industry in the country and allows the foreign direct investment to go up to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent in the companies, is facing rough weather as both the BJP and the Left are opposing the hike in the FDI and are alleging that the UPA 2 Government is selling the insurance sector to the multinational insurance companies of USA and UK.

The good guy image of Union Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed is suddenly under threat of getting sullied by our business head honchos and their high-profile associations. Khursheed has upset them with his unsolicited advice that companies should refrain from handing out 'vulgar' salaries to their executives. The corporate world has reacted strongly against the suggestion exhorting the age-old capitalist cliché that 'it is for shareholders to decide on director's remuneration and the government has no role to play in managing executive salaries.'

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Japan are providing technical assistance to help the Indian state of Karnataka prepare a road sector master plan that will address its expected needs for the next 10 years.

New York: A successful new climate change deal hinges on industrialized nations committing to ambitious greenhouse gas emissions targets and reaching agreement on financing to help poor countries adapt, a senior United Nations official has said.

New York: Net investments of $83 billion a year, a 50 per cent increase, must be made in agriculture in developing countries if there is to be enough food to feed over 9 billion people in 2050, according to a newly published United Nations' paper.

Why should anyone raise eyebrows at the recent left support to the Congress candidate for the Siliguri Mayor's post? Is it not true that there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics? Having said that, it is surprising that the five-month-old Congress-Trinamool Congress (TMC) tie-up is already cracking. Is it so fragile that it cannot stand the test when the alliance is meant to last at least until the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal?

New York: Humankind is undermining a crucial natural ally in the battle against climate change through its activities in the world's oceans and marine ecosystems, such as seagrasses, salt marshes and coastal wetlands, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's meeting with the United States President Barack Obama on November 24 has assumed special importance in the context of the latest moves in the US administration on persuading India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) as a follow up of the India-US Agreement on Civilian Nuclear Cooperation. The issue was dormant during the last US President Bush's tenure but with the Democratic Party in power at White House, there is pressure on President Obama to force the issue during the November meeting.