Republicans planned to offer an alternative bill that included lifting the Obama administration's blanket moratorium on deepwater drilling, setting up a bipartisan commission with subpoena power to investigate the Gulf oil disaster and propose reforms, and allowing for revenue sharing for states that permit offshore drilling.

CNN: Top issues: Energy and environment

Faced with the choice of setting tighter limits on Congressional power or upholding a national scheme of drug-enforcement laws, Scalia voted for law enforcement.

FORBES: Obamacare's Fate Hangs With Roberts, Not Kennedy

Arab leaders are dab hands at setting up parliaments and advisory councils with a semblance of independence but no real power.

ECONOMIST: Arabs tiptoe to democracy

Clearly the dangers posed by North Korea reside not only in its arsenal, but in the precedents Pyongyang keeps setting for just how much a rogue regime can get away with in this era of receding American power.

FORBES: The Pyongyang-Tehran Proliferation Playbook

In villages across India, the group has helped to train local entrepreneurs in setting up marketing chains, arrange decentralised credit and finance, and link the villages with manufacturers of village power units.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Energy