The government on Tuesday said it is alive to the situation of soaring prices and may take further measures if required to tame inflation that has crossed 8%.

Geneva: Brazil, India and other developing countries said on Tuesday that the new US farm bill will be an obstacle to global trade talks aimed at lifting millions worldwide out of poverty. A group of 20 developing nations also including China, Mexico and Argentina echoed criticism by WTO chief Pascal Lamy, who last week said the new US farm bill sent a bad signal to the world while talks on a new global trade deal were continuing.

The Income-Tax department's investigation wing has told the Himachal Pradesh government that it may have awarded two hydel projects worth Rs 6,500 crore in Kinnaur dstrict to a ghost company which took funding from an Adani group firm. In a report to principal secretary (power), the Shimla office of the I-T department has questioned the antecedent of Brakel Kinnaur Power (P) Ltd and doubted the ability of the company's alleged parent, Brakel Corporation NV, to handle the Jangi Thopan and Thopan Jowari projects.

Country's mining industry is projected to touch over $30 billion (about Rs 1,27,662 crore) accounting for about 2.5% of the GDP in the next four years, a latest report said. "Considering India's mineral resources, we believe there is strong potential for further development and scaling up of the country's mining industry.

Steel makers will honour their commitment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold prices for three months, but rates will go up thereafter, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel Sajjan Jindal said on Tuesday, after taking over as Assocham President.

India withdrew a tax benefit on the export of cement, a day after the government said producers of the building material are entitled to the incentive. The tax break allows duty-free imports of raw materials equivalent to the value of exports, under a system called the duty entitlement pass book program, or DEPB. The incentive was earlier scrapped in April to boost cement supplies and tame inflation. Tuesday's statement came from commerce ministry in New Delhi. BLOOMBERG

Wilmington: General Motors Corp on Tuesday said it was closing four truck plants and could sell its Hummer brand to cut slow-selling trucks and SUVs from its lineup in response to higher gasoline prices the automaker now sees as a permanent threat to its business.

Rome: World food production must rise by 50% by 2030 to meet increasing demand, UN chief Ban Ki-moon told world leaders on Tuesday at a summit grappling with hunger and civil unrest caused by food price hikes. The secretary-general told the Rome summit that nations must minimize export restrictions and import tariffs during the food price crisis and quickly resolve world trade talks. "The world needs to produce more food,' Ban said.

Hasna Moudud, green activist and former chairman of the special parliamentary committee in Bangladesh on environment and coastal areas, is founder-adviser of GLOBE International, a forum that brings legislators, scientists and business leaders together for dialogues on environmental issues. She talks to Narayani Ganesh of the need to focus on the gender aspect of climate change: What is the gender aspect of climate change?

PM must give a final push to nuclear deal There are media reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a last effort to rescue the nuclear deal from limbo and call an all-party conference to seek the understanding and support of political leaders. If this report is correct, it is a welcome move and he ought to have done it much earlier. Now he has only a very narrow window of opportunity to get the deal through while President George Bush is in office. There is no doubt that a deal on such favourable terms is extremely unlikely with any other US administration.

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