Says continent has to do business with China, Russia, India, and Latin America, all of whom are opposed to the levy

Rising tensions with India and China over the European Union's "arrogant" law on carbon emissions could rob the region of the markets that can rescue it from economic malaise, airline leaders said on Thursday. They also said they had prepared contingency plans for a possible exit of Greece from the euro, as part of the industry's extensive crisis management, and they were worried about a domino effect of more countries' being forced out of the currency bloc, with implications for all businesses.

Move A Rejection Of 28/Day Poverty Line Formula
New Delhi: After the public outcry over the controversial Rs 28 a day poverty formulation, the Planning Commission has put the poverty debate in a deep freeze with the government setting up yet another expert group to take a relook at the existing methodology to determine the number of poor in the country.

The Planning Commission today announced the constitution of a new expert panel to be headed by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chief C Rangarajan to revisit the methodology for estimation poverty levels. The move comes in the wake of the Plan panel facing strident criticism for having fixed the poverty line at just Rs 28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities and Rs 22.42 in rural areas based on Tendulkar Committee recommendations. The group is expected to submit its report in 9 months.

The government on Thursday set up an expert technical group headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and overhaul the norms in keeping with the present-day prices.

The move follows all-round criticism of the Planning Commission's estimates on poverty released in this March and the controversy it generated in and outside Parliament on capping the poverty line at a daily consumption of Rs 28.65 per capita in cities and at Rs 22.42 in rural areas.

The World Bank has agreed to provide US$ 314 million (approximately 37 billion rupees) for Sri Lanka to develop education and urban development sectors in order to meet new challenges of the 21st century, the Ministry of Financial and Planning said.

The government has requested the World Bank for funds to expedite development programs which have already been formulated in the education and urban development sectors with foreign assistance.

NTPC Ltd, India’s biggest power producer, said it plans to spend as much as $15 billion (Rs 82, 521 crore) over a decade to secure overseas coal supplies as prices of the fuel tumble to a 19-month-low.

The utility may sign five- or 10-year contracts for the first time to import as much as 150 million metric tonnes of coal, Chairman Arup Roy Choudhury said by telephone from New Delhi on Tuesday.

Around the same time when Mohammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were writing their Nobel story of rural empowerment, a woman in the humble districts of south Bengal started a micro-credit scheme similar to that of the Bangladeshi icon who was feted with the Peace prize in 2006. Madhuri Ghosh hadn’t heard of Yunus or his work when she formed the Bagnan I Mahila Bikash Co-operative Credit Society Ltd in 1997, but her feat is no less inspiring.

SHILLONG: Biodiversity in the State is under threat due to deforestation, habitat destruction, mining and encroachment of forest areas, said Minister of Forests and Environment, Prestone Tynsong.

Tynsong was speaking during a function organized to mark the International Biodiversity Day at the U Soso Tham Audotorium here on Tuesday. This was the first that Meghalaya joined the Biodiversity Day celebrations.

Bhubaneswar: Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai on Tuesday said that Odisha has been able to reduce the net debt stock from 55.92 per cent of the GSDP in 2001-02 to 15.86 per cent in 2011-12, thereby achieving the desired level of 25 per cent recommended by the 13th Finance Commission. It is targeted to reduce the debt stock further to 15.55 per cent by the end of the current fiscal- 2012-13.

National Rural Livelihood Mission aiming at ensuring economic development of poor rural families is being implemented in 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh in the first phase. Now, livelihood activities of the mission will begin in ten more districts and cover 25 districts under District Poverty Initiative Project. These include 12 thousand 800 villages in 116 development blocks.