HEADLINES

• Opposition parties join Anna Hazare's one day fast; vow to fight for strong lokpal
• Climate meet in Durban strikes deal on future treaty which will require all countries to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming
• US vacates Shamsi airbase in Pakistan; Pakistans states that it will shoot any drones that enter its airspace without permission
• Fire at Kolkata's AMRI hospital leaves 93 dead
• Famous Goan Cartoonist Mario Miranda passes away

NATIONAL NEWS

• Press Council of India Chairman, Justice Katju has sought “more teeth” for the PCI
  • Justice Katju, in a letter to the PM which is now public under the Right to Information Act, said that the only power of the PCI was under Section 14(1) to “warn admonish or censure the newspaper, news agency, editor or journalist”;
  • He has sought more teeth for the PCI and the expansion og its ambit over the electronic media and the internet for which, he suggested that a legislation should be introduced.
• Govt to frame policy to check Agricultural Land Diversion
  • Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Ministers have decided to sit together soon to chalk out a strategy to check the unbridled diversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purposes. Though land is a state subject, the Govt is thinking on lines of having a central policy to arrest this trend which has fast seen the decline of agricultural land in the country;
  • According to estimates, only a little over 45% of the country's area is cultivated at the moment and according to Govt estimates, the net sown area has declined by 2% between 2000 and 2010. Which means that around 25 lakh hectares of agriculture land has been diverted for non-agricultural purposes.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Binding climate deal in the making: a summary of the main points agreed
  • Extension of Kyoto Protocol: After the failure to agree on the extension at the Copenhagen and Cancun summits, the countries have finally agreed to a second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol from January 1, 2013 until the end of 2017;
  • Legal form: Agreement between parties on a new legally binding treaty to be decided by 2015 and to come into force by 2020. The process for doing so will be called the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, would develop a new protocol or a outcome with legal force;
  • Ambition Gap: At the request of the EU and the Alliance of Small Island States, the delegates agreed to launch a work plan to identify options for closing the ambition gap between countries current emission reduction pledges for 2020 and the goal for keeping global warming below 2 degree C;
  • Transparency: The Durban package brings into operation new arrangements for making more transparent the actions taken by develoiped and developing countries to address their emissions and build trust;
  • Finance: The Durban talks made headway on agreeing the structure of the Green Climate Fund to channel upto USD100 billion a year by 2020 to poorer nations but achieved little on where the money will come from;
  • New Market Mechanisms: Talks agreed to define new market mechanisms under a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol but pushed forward a decision to develop rules for them until next year. Parties will now work on developing a framework to new mechanisms over the next 12 months with a view to make recommendations at the next summit at Qatar in 2012.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this lead editorial on FDI in the retail sector
• Read this article and this article on the centenary of the New Delhi

EMINENT PERSONS IN THE NEWS

• Read this article and this article on the famous goan cartoonist, Mario Miranda. who passed away

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Read this article on the power crisis that India is facing