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The post-budget stock market has moved predictably. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share index (Sensex) rose 623.10 points to 18,446 on March 1, the day after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the union budget for 2011-12 before the joint session of Parliament. The market recorded the biggest single day gain in the previous 22 months. Without exception, all the 30 shares in the index gained. The National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) 50-share index (Nifty) gained 3.54 per cent, marginally outshining even the Sensex jump of 3.50 per cent. The union budget proposals had done the job. The most important driver of the market was the government’s permission to domestic mutual funds operators to raise money in equities from foreign investors directly. Investors across the world can now invest in Indian mutual funds.

TOKYO, JAPAN - More effective and efficient institutions are needed to complement Asia's market-driven regional integration and to manage the challenges of Asia's expanding role in the global economy, says a new joint study of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

New York: A joint delegation of the United Nations, the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) officials today backed calls for delaying Benin’s presidential poll, scheduled for Sunday, to allow time to ensure that the electoral process is credible.

New York: The United Nations envoy for children and armed conflict today called for a thorough review of procedures after NATO air strikes killed nine children in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province on Tuesday.

New York: Fighting between forces of Somalia’s transitional Government and insurgents has spread to areas near the Kenyan border, forcing some 5,500 residents of the Kenyan border town of Mandera to flee their homes, exacerbating the plight of people affected by drought, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today.

New York: Delegations of the parties to the Western Sahara dispute, Morocco and the Frente Polisario, and the two neighbouring States, Algeria and Mauritania, will gather in Malta on Monday for two days of United Nations-backed informal meetings as agreed during their last round of talks in January.

New York: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said today he is investigating alleged crimes against humanity committed in Libya, including by President Muammar Al-Qadhafi and members of his inner circle, following a request from the United Nations Security Council to probe the violent crackdown on protesters.

New York: A United Nations report unveiled today highlights the deprivations endured by thousands of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including poverty, denial of justice and lack of access to medical and psychological treatment, and recommends the establishment of a reparations fund.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Robert York visited Kinshasa February 20-March 1, 2011 to assess progress and discuss policies with the authorities in the context of the third review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.