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Runway Recap: Spike Jonze’s Opening Ceremony Play, Naomi Campbell, David Beckham and more from Day 4 of NYFW

Spike Jonze's one-act play for Opening Ceremony, Naomi Campbell outshines Kendall Jenner, David Beckham supports his wife and more from Day 4 of New York Fashion Week.





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Designer Mary Katrantzou To Debut Costumes for New York City Ballet

London fashion designer Mary Katrantzou is among four designers who created costumes for the new York City Ballet. Others include Carolina Herrera, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton and Thom Browne.




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Leading Your Organization With the Diamond Process

A business is only as strong as its foundation. Retired Gen. Michael Diamond joins Lunch Break's Tanya Rivero to share a process he developed through years of high-level military service that can strengthen any organization. Photo: iStock




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Is Amazon's Bookstore Welcomed by Millennials?

Amazon.com opened a bookstore in Manhattan this May, but are young people interested in visiting it?




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WSJ's John Carreyrou: Reporting on Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes

Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou recounts some of the more unusual experiences he had while uncovering the story of Theranos's business practices.




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The Future of the Eurozone

Renault-Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn talks with WSJ Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray about Europe's debt crisis, its effect on the future Eurozone economy, and the ramifications for the auto industry in this excerpt from Tuesday's Viewpoints conversation.




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Barron's Buzz: Machine-Driven Market, Oil, E-Cars

Senior Editor Jack Hough looks at the latest issue. About 90% of market volume is money pouring into index funds and formula-driven funds. What that means for ordinary investors. Oil could be headed to $60. We have stock picks for energy investors. And how to invest electric cars while avoiding risk? Consider shares of Borg Warner.




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Barry Ritholtz: How ETFs Help You Make Money

Barron's Jack Otter talks to Barry Ritholtz about how exchange traded funds have helped investors by bringing costs down. Also, what to avoid in the ETF space.




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Dr Singh must send Anees Bazmi flowers

Anees Bazmi is now the unlikeliest part of Dr Singh's political life, thanks to his blockbuster.




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Zipcars As People?

With Avis Budget's announcement that it is acquiring Zipcar, WSJ's Andy Jordan looks at Zipcar's "personalization" strategy, which encourages users to refer to the cars by name and see them as their own.




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Grid-free, on the horizon


During the last 100 years, the production and consumption of power happened at two different places, miles away from each other. This will change in the future, writes Chandrashekar Hariharan.




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The relevance of Vanzara's letter


In his resignation, Vanzara gave no indication that obeying illegal orders bothered him. Instead, his lament is that he was used and thrown. In right-shifting India, it may next be the military's turn if the shift from Gandhinagar takes place, writes Firdaus Ahmed.




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Media Policy: A citizens' wishlist for Ambika Soni


Ammu Joseph




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Media Policy: A citizens' wishlist for Ambika Soni


For some time there has been an impasse between media and the government over the media regulation and the Broadcast Bill, with citizens left on the sidelines. A set of documents is being released into the public domain to stimulate public debate. Ammu Joseph has more.




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Home-schooling citizenship


Instead of imposing top-down controls on behaviour from the Supreme Court downward, would a better solution to our problems be to shift norms from the family outward, asks Rajesh Kasturirangan.




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Citizen voices, policy choices


It is clear that people across the country are driven by strong environment values. Therefore, without having a policy process that channelises their perceptions and crystallises them in policy statements, it is not possible to sequence and prioritise our environmental problems, says Videh Upadhyay.




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CAG indicts SEZ policy


In major finding, the Comptroller and Auditor General reported to Parliament earlier this year that a key objective of the SEZ policy, -- augmenting real exports -- has not only been defeated, but the policy had further resulted in revenue losses of hundreds of crores of rupees. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.




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All those kinds of gaze


The disaster in Uttarakhand cannot be viewed as a result of isolated factors such as faulty governance or flawed environmental policy. It calls for a more holistic and deeper look at the entire range of issues that are endemic to the mountain region, writes R. Uma Maheshwari




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Special Exploitation Zone


At Cochin's Special Economic Zone, independence is a forgotten ideal. Here, as in other SEZs, the government has long treated native soil as territorial possessions of foreign nations, exempt from taxes, rules and safeguards that apply elsewhere. The only losers are the workers. P N Venugopal reports that now this charade is being expanded.




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Entertainment tax bonanza in Kerala


The Kerala government gives the entertainment industry a huge tax break, by reducing dues from the operations of amusement parks. With no political party interested in opposing the drain on the treasury, taxpayers will be left to foot the bill for this largesse, note M Suchitra and P N Venugopal.




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SEZs: A history of injustice and abuse


The origins of today's law for land acquisition for SEZs act can be traced to 1824, when the British colonial power felt the need to codify the undisguised forcible seizure of land. While colonial rule has long gone, the unjust application of the principle of eminent domain remains, writes Kannan Kasturi.




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SEZs: engine derailed?


The lack of economic activity in most SEZs leads to the suspicion that many were incapable of attracting economic production units in the first place. The rush to 'denotify' them only reinforces this, writes Kannan Kasturi.




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Why ants didn't win the Nobel prize


In his latest book, The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics, with numerous revealing historical arguments and anecdotes, Shankar Jaganathan traces how economics emerged from being a relatively obscure field to a structured discipline that may be used to explain the basis for every aspect of human life and society, writes Satarupa Bhattacharya.




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Mundra SEZ: Deemed, but not approved


The recent verdict of the Gujarat High Court regarding the operation of multipurpose industries on land leased out by the MPSEZ could have critical implications for environmental clearance of SEZs in general. Kanchi Kohli reports.




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Kerala pioneer eyes new horizons for jackfruit industry


A new food processing company in Kerala proposes to market innovative products, the success of which could well place the largely neglected jackfruit in the focus of attention of bigger players in the state’s food processing industry. Shree Padre reports.




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Water guzzlers in water-stressed areas


This summer, stories of the impacts of drought and water scarcity highlighting the conditions of farmers, cattle, and domestic water supplies in villages, towns and cities have been regular. What is not reported is the situation with industries, particularly the coal based thermal power plants, reports Shripad Dharmadhikary.




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Conservation in core zones


The people-versus-tiger conflict haunts every protected habitat of the beast, and unless relocated communities' needs are met, conservation efforts will remain uncertain. Rajasthan's plans to relocate villagers from Sariska's core zone will have a profound impact on all other tiger reserves, writes Sudhirendar Sharma.




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The tiny creature that has made the Assam zoo famous!


On 15 November, the Assam State Zoo opened its doors to three pygmy hogs, becoming the only zoo in the world to house this critically endangered species. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on an ongoing project that’s trying to save the animal and its habitats in the face of all odds.




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SEZs: Lessons from China


While single-minded pursuit of exports has helped China touch record growth figures, millions have been left behind, besides incurring huge environmental costs. And without even the limited dose of welfare that China offers its poor farmers, India must wary of copying China's SEZ-approach, writes Bhaskar Goswami.




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But don't be a zero


The world moves to the tunes of two kinds of men: the great kind and the evil kind. The rest of us are somewhere in between. But what heroes and Neros both get us zeros to do is ask questions, says Dilip D'Souza.




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SEZ today, gone tomorrow!


Close to 5500 hectares of land in six states, acquired for 52 SEZs, were subsequently de-notified and diverted for commercial purposes! Himanshu Upadhyaya draws attention to this and other findings in the CAG audit of SEZs, which leave several questions unanswered.




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Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007


A draft bill in Parliament attempts to mandate the care of elderly citizens in law, and envisions the establishment of tribunals to ensure its functioning. But its definitions and methods leave many questions unanswered. Priya Narayan Parker presents a legislative brief.




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New rules for seizing land


Land acquisitions have raised a number of concerns related to fair compensation, valuation of land, definition of 'public purpose' and other issues. As the government moves to amend the Land Acquisition Act, Priya Parker and Sarita Vanka present a legislative brief on the proposed changes.




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Understanding the Bt Cotton maze


The Bt Cotton debate is a vexing one. Proponents praise the technology, while NGOs charge that it has failed farmers and is too risky. Dr Ronald Herring teaches political economy and political ecology at Cornell University and has been studying the transgenic movement in India. He talked with India Together's Subramaniam Vincent.




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"Compelling citizens to take an Aadhaar card is unconstitutional"


In December 2012, retired Justice K S Puttaswamy filed a PIL that recently culminated in the Supreme Court passing an interim order, forbidding authorities to make Aadhaar mandatory for provision of essential services. Bosky Khanna finds out what his key objections to this ambitious project are.




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Delhi's citizens acting en-masse


Arvind Kejriwal on how over one hundred and fifty citizens have filed applications seeking information about PDS ration records in Delhi's Food and Civil Supplies department.




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The path of Zarathustra


The traditionalists and the liberal Parsis have an never-ending debate on how to keep their community and faith alive. Recently released feature film The Path of Zarathustra directed by Oorvazi Irani looks at this debate and more. Shoma Chatterji reviews the movie and talks to the director.




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1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize


On June 29, about 50 press conferences were held across the globe to publicise the names of the 1,000 women from 153 countries jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. The Nobel Committee in Oslo had received the nominations in January 2005. Kamla Bhasin narrates the story.




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Despair and defensiveness in Azamgarh


The bomb blasts in Delhi and elsewhere have brought this UP district uncomfortably into the national spotlight. The 'terrorist' label is widely resented, but that doesn't mean residents have answers to all the new questions. Puja Awasthi reports.




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Abortion law's grey zone: retarded mothers


The SC recently ruled that a 19-year-old Chandigarh-based mentally retarded girl must be allowed to carry on her pregnancy that was caused by sexual assault. The verdict throws open more questions than it answers, writes Kamayani Bali Mahabal.




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Why voters in Telangana are still puzzled


Days before Telangana goes to polls, Venugopalrao Nellutla examines the lack of exuberance and the dilemmas among people in the region, even as they look ahead to statehood and their own government in weeks from now.




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In conflict zone, a battle to secure futures


With large parts of the state experiencing regular conflict between insurgents and security forces, and also between various ethnic groups, children in Assam, many of them forced into relief camps, face the risk of losing all access to education. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.




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Areca nut opens up new horizons for Assamese youth


Eco-friendly disposable plates and bowls made from sheaths of the abundant areca nut plant in rural Assam hold great promise for a lucrative industry with global reach. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on the enterprise.




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A human gaze


Harsh Mander's new book Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India talks about the growing inequality and the lack of compassion amongst the rich for the poor in India. Darryl D'Monte reviews the book which despite its candidness about the grim realities offers a message of hope and promise.




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The dirty dozen


A Toxics Link report on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the challenges for India.




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More substance, less fizz


The Joint Parliamentary Committee report on pesticides in colas reads like a charge-sheet on the functioning of many government ministries. Sudhirendar Sharma reports.




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Understanding Schizophrenia


Dr.Judith Jaeger, an expert on psychiatric disorders was recently in Chennai. She spoke to Lalitha Sridhar on schizophrenia and the current state of knowledge in the world about the illness.




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Living in a gray zone


Prem Kumar travels across the country, finding disabled children living in isolation and despair, carrying nature's cruel dispensation. But he is heartened as well by inspiring work that so many organisations carry out, and hopes that a brighter future awaits the children, thanks to their efforts.




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India’s sanitation puzzle: Missing the complete picture?


The focus on ending open defecation and ensuring a toilet in every home is a limited one. Lasting success will require a much larger focus on sanitation, writes Aditya Bhol.