From Economic Observer Online:China has edged closer to levying an environmental tax on polluters, but remains divided over how to introduce the tax.Although the idea of reforming the system by which polluters are taxed was first proposed two years ago,

From AP:The United States on Thursday named a career diplomat with wide-ranging experience in East Asia to be the new head of its de facto embassy in Taiwan.The American Institute in Taiwan said William Stanton, currently the No. 2 U.S.

From the Chosun Ilbo:Many Internet users in China are celebrating after Beijing delayed implementing its order that Internet-blocking software be installed in all new computers.News of the delay turned a scheduled Internet boycott into an all-day celebration on Wednesday. Hundreds

From Time:When the outlandish stock-market events of 2009 are tallied up, the initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong of Chinese herbal shampoo maker Bawang International will be a standout. Within 10 minutes of the June 22 opening of the

The Guardian reports on the death of a suspect in police detention:Junior officers have claimed that a senior official told his men to "use violence to control violence" before they interrogated Wan. The official denied the allegation.Local press have also

The key fact is multiple targets -- and simultaneous attacks.' The BBC's Richard Watson on his controversial 26/11 report.

The Maoists will not lose ground because of the State. The way they are responding to people's problems is why they will lose ground' feels CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya.

Liberal Muslim leader Kamal Farooqui is dead against legalising gay sex.

With regard to foreign institutional investors, the survey said that there are signs that FIIs who had recorded net outflows in 2008-09 may have returned to the Indian market in the last two months.

The onset of monsoons in Jalpaiguri in West Bengal raised hopes for the farmers waiting to sow their crops. The region received almost 300 mm of rainfall in the past two days.

The recent petrol and diesel price hike by the government did not go down well with the common people who expressed their

Higher impetus on automation through higher funding of e-governance projects and rationalisation and clarity on levy of taxes would bring relief, says the computer hardware industry.

India's economic revival also depends on the government's capacity to push through some critical policy reforms in the coming months, says the Economic Survey 2008-09, which was

The upcoming Cabinet formation process will most probably grant President Michel Sleiman the tipping voice, well-informed sources close to Prime Minister- designate Saad Hariri said on Wednesday. The sources said discussions between the opposition and the March 14 coalition have

Four students abducted Wednesday by a group of gunmen in the mountainous region of Aqoura were released 90 minutes later by their captors in the nearby Homsya town after being stripped of their possessions, according to a security report. Later

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's latest report on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 does not sufficiently address the "dangers" of recently discovered Israeli spy cells, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Ban's 10th report, issued late on

Days after officials in Washington announced that a US ambassador would soon be sent to Syria, reports have emerged of an upcoming Syrian-Saudi Arabian summit to be held in Damascus that could include Lebanon. Conventional wisdom holds that any improvement

Today, and despite the successful democratic parliamentary elections accomplished on a national scale, the political leadership of our country remain once again faced with the same previously witnessed dilemma of satisfying different conflicting demands and conditions. Situation:

UPA allies DMK and Trinamool Congress, slammed the hike in petrol and diesel prices and demanded a roll back, which was rejected by the Govt.

Three persons, including a child, were killed and several injured on Thursday when a communal clash broke out over alleged desecration of a madrasa.