A major investigation into India's illegal mining practices that led to the arrests of public officials for corruption was wound up last week without explanation, sparking concern about the extent of government complicity in illegal activities.

The investigation was set up by the government in November 2010 in response to public pressure to address India's escalating illegal mining practices.

Vijay Pratap, convener of the thinktank South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy, is convinced it was closed due to the extent of corruption uncovered in the country's mining sector.

More on: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/oct/22/indian-illegal-mining-investigation-shah-commission

“A PARADISE for spies” is how a former agent of the Soviet KGB described Japan in the 1980s. Little has changed, though now the politicians and bureaucrats more often pass information to journalists than to foreign agents. But this autumn Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, is trying to stop the leaks by passing a forceful new secrecy law, even as he seeks to pass economic reforms as part of his programme of measures known as “Abenomics”. He also wants to legislate for a new national security council in order to centralise intelligence information and speed decisions on national security. New rules on secrecy are needed for it to function well, says the government. The media, fearful for press freedom, are crying foul.

Japan’s allies, especially America, complain that information entrusted to it is too often leaked, says Nobutaka Machimura, a former foreign minister who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s task-force on the law. If passed, the bill would apply to all civil servants and to high-ranking politicians. “Special secrets” would be designated in three new fields of diplomacy, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism (in addition to defence). The penalty for leaks—also applied to those who encourage breaches, such as journalists—would be up to ten years in prison. Further details are scant, but the bill reportedly lacks important provisions, including independent review of what can be called secret, and a clear limit on the period of confidentiality.

Uruguay's drug tsar says the country plans to sell legal marijuana for $1 a gram to combat drug-trafficking, according to a local newspaper.

The plan to create a government-run legal marijuana industry has passed the lower house of Congress, and Uruguay's president, José Mujica, expects to push it through the Senate soon as part of his effort to explore alternatives in the war on drugs.

By: Christina England, 10/21/2013

If you thought things in the world of vaccines could not get any worse, then you were wrong. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has called for a public hearing on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, recommending that all children under the age of five whose parents want them to attend day care facilities be vaccinated with the annual flu vaccination and pneumococcal vaccines before they are accepted.

According to the ‘statement of basis and purpose,’ these vaccines are needed because children serve as a major source of transmission in communities. The statement says: “Influenza causes an estimated 200,000 hospitalizations and an average of 36,000 (range 3,000-49,000) deaths annually in the United States (CDC, 2010). Approximately 20,000 hospitalizations and 30-150 deaths occur in children under 5 years of age each year. Children typically have the highest attack rates of influenza, which can be as high as 40%, and children serve as a major source of transmission within communities. Each year, an estimated 15%-42% of preschool children contract influenza, and 38 million school days are missed due to influenza illness (CDC/ National Center for Health Statistics, 1999).”

Activists protesting against Chevron's plan to drill for shale gas in Pungesti, Romania, on Saturday. Photograph: Bogdan Cristel/Reuters

Energy company Chevron has been forced to suspend its plans to drill an exploration well for shale gas in the village of Pungesti in eastern Romania after the local community blocked the company's trucks from entering the area.

For four days last week many of the village's inhabitants, most of whom are elderly farmers, occupied the road leading into the fields earmarked for Chevron's construction site. Settling in for the long haul, they erected makeshift tents while those who had arrived by cart let their horses graze in the field.

The protests at Pungesti, a deeply religious area of Romania, have had the backing of Orthodox priests since the beginning and, as villagers kneeled in the road chanting prayers and demands, the protests promised to be peaceful.

More on : http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/21/chevron-shale-gas-exploration-omanian-pungesti