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NEW DELHI: With the joining of the USA and Russia at the East Asia Summit (EAS) at Bali in Indonesia in the middle of November, the regional grouping of the Asian countries will get a new dimension influencing the geo-politics in the Asia-Pacific. Energy will be a major area of discussion at the Bali summit since the Russia, the largest producer of oil in the world, will be participating and all the big countries including USA and China are engaged in expanding the area of operations for stepping up the production of oil as also ensuring ready imports.

It may be a coincidence that at a time when the government has shown signs of making a renewed attempt to control the media, it has appointed a person who evidently has a very poor opinion of scribes and can be of considerable help in shackling them. The government’s unhappiness with the media has undoubtedly been accentuated by the wide coverage of the anti-corruption movement. Hence, the proposal to set up a committee to regulate the media, which was dropped following protests.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Mr. Domenico Fanizza, visited Nairobi from October 13-31, 2011 to carry out the second review under the three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement approved in January 2011, consider the Kenyan authorities’ request for augmentation of access under the arrangement, and conduct the 2011 Article IV Consultation discussions. The members of the mission met with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Uhuru Kenyatta, Professor Njuguna Ndungu, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), other senior government officials, and representatives of the private sector, civil society and development partners.

African states came closer to finalizing a continental programme for the development of vital infrastructure as talks ended in Morocco at the weekend.

New York: A joint initiative of the United Nations and South Sudan is aiming to reduce maternal mortality by deploying midwives throughout the country, providing locals with the necessary skills to safely deliver babies, and improving the health facilities available to the wider population.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Canada from October 11–24 to conduct the country’s annual Article IV consultation.

New York: The United Nations agencies that deal with helping refugees and with fighting crime signed a joint agreement today to work together more closely to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Growth in the eight countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) is expected to remain robust, but policymakers should be mindful of inflation risks and take advantage of the strong recovery to rebuild policy buffers and prepare for any downside risks that might materialize, the IMF says in its latest assessment.

New York: The United Nations today launched the International Year of Cooperatives with the General Assembly President underlining their role as catalysts of socially-inclusive development and capacity to empower communities through jobs and income generation.

New York: A United Nations report issued today warns that the cooling global economy risks pushing the world into a double-dip jobs recession and triggering an outbreak of social strife unless governments take urgent action to stimulate employment growth.