Two countries to set up joint task force to explore investment opportunities. With the US continuing to nudge India to reduce its dependence on oil from Iran, India today indicated that it was looking at the possibility of increased oil supplies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Addressing a joint press conference with his UAE counterpart Shiekh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan here, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna underlined that ‘’The UAE is our largest trading partner, significant contributor to our energy security and hosts about 1.75 million Indian expatriates.’’

India and the United Arab Emirates on Friday discussed the prospects of closer energy ties including more import of oil, which could partly offset declining purchases from Iran, and investment in the downstream sector such as refineries.

While visiting External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his visiting UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed investments in India, officials met on a parallel track to build on last year's 16 per cent increase in import of crude from UAE principalities.

Hyderabad: The environmental activism of Union Minister Jairam Ramesh appears to have set him on a collision course with his party’s government in Andhra Pradesh. Joining the debate on the proposed bauxite mining in the coastal Andhra region, the Environment Minister made it clear that he would not allow mining “as long as he was a member of the Union Cabinet”.

Though the Congress government in the state is keen on going ahead with the mining project, Ramesh asserted he would continue to oppose it in the interests of safeguarding the rights of local tribals.

Global planemaker Airbus joined a chorus of concern that a European scheme to charge airlines for carbon emissions risks triggering a full-blown trade war, with implications for plane deals and even Europe's crippling sovereign debt crisis.

The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), introduced on January 1, has drawn howls of protest from airlines around the world, with China banning its carriers from taking part.

Talk of a Middle Eastern green energy boom is likely to prove no more than a mirage with little hope of the region saving clean technology companies from the shrinking project pools of Europe.

Instead India, China and Latin America offer some hope for green energy companies struggling in a European market drowning in debt and a North American market awash with gas.

Thirteen drug companies, the governments of the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lions Club and other smaller charitable organizations on Monday announced a joint effort to tackle 10 neglected tropical diseases in a coordinated fashion.

After Nyamgiri forests of Orissa, it is now the turn of north coastal tribal belt of Andhra Pradesh to emerge as a new battleground to stage mass protests against the proposed bauxite mining in the region. The situation has turned volatile with the Maoists entering the scene and stepping up the anti-mining campaign. The local tribals, civil rights activists, environmental groups and Opposition parties have been opposing Andhra Pradesh government’s proposal to exploit the abundant bauxite reserves.

The ambitious $10-billion project to connect Gulf nations through a modern rail network, stretching over 2,000 km, is expected to become operational by 2018, with authorities working to ensure that construction starts on it by 2014.

Authorities across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) want the project to provide cost-effective means to transport goods and services in the region and plans are also afoot to ultimately link the railway network to Yemen via Muscat.