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LUCKNOW: Is Chief Minister Mayawati going ahead with early assembly polls to take advantage of divided opposition? This is the question now uppermost in the minds of the opposition leaders as all the parties are gearing up for preparing for the assembly elections next year.

The assembly elections in Kerala, known as God’s own country is interesting this time because for the first time, the division in the CPI-M is glaring. Although there were rumblings in the party in the 2006 polls, the fight is in the open between the chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan and the state party chief P. Vijayan. It had reached to such heights that the party leadership went to the extent of denying a ticket to the chief minister. The 87-year old Achuthanandan was given a ticket after a dramatic turn of events. The party state committee, which decided not to give a ticket to the chief minister, had to reverse its decision after the intervention of the Politburo, which took note of the revolt in the party. Realising a possible electoral devastation in the absence of the chief minister with a clean image, the party was forced to field him.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), reeling under rampant factionalism and trouble over sharing of seats, has suffered another setback.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu faces a stark choice when it votes on April 13 whether to perpetuate Mr Karunanidhi’s undisguised family grip over the state, yielding to the gifts his DMK has on offer, or opt for the rival Dravidian formation led by an imperious Jayalalithaa, buttressed by an amalgam of screen heroes and the Left fringe, determined to end a 'corrupt regime'. Both the ruling DMK-led, highly caste-based alliance with the Congress in tow, and the rival AIADMK-led formation lack any ideological base beyond the promise of more welfare in their bid for power.

KOLKATA: With the long-awaited Congress-Trinamool Congress (TMC) alliance finalised in West Bengal, pro-CPI(M) youth activists reacted oddly while talking to newsmen.

New York: Community and grass-roots initiatives have a crucial role to play in preventing drug use, the United Nations anti-narcotics chief said today.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved a new 24-month precautionary Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in the amount equivalent to SDR 3,090.6 million (about €3.5 billion, 300 percent of quota), with the SBA coming into effect on March 31, 2011. The authorities have informed the IMF that they intend to treat the new arrangement as precautionary and therefore do not plan to draw under it. The SBA will be in conjunction with precautionary support from the European Union of €1.4 billion and a loan from the World Bank of €0.4 billion.

New York: The United Nations will turn out the lights at its New York Headquarters tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. in observance of Earth Hour 2011, a global event aimed at promoting awareness of the need to take action on climate change.

The International Monetary Fund has introduced an analytical framework for assessing vulnerabilities and emerging risks in low-income countries (LICs) arising from changes in the global economy. The proposed Vulnerability Exercise for Low-Income Countries is intended to enable Fund staff to spot vulnerabilities and assess member countries’ resilience to emerging risks before they materialize, and thus help guide policy responses.

New York: As many as 1 million people have been driven from their homes in Côte d’Ivoire in the months-long turmoil stemming from the outgoing president’s refusal to leave office, with violence mounting and his loyalists using heavy weapons against civilians, a top United Nations official said today.