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Finance Minister P Chidambaram is, in a way, right. The government spending must be slashed to keep the fiscal deficit under control. And, every ministry needs to act upon it. The latest cut in petroleum subsidy by way of hike in diesel and petrol prices, partial increase in domestic cooking gas prices, imposition of service tax on rail fares from 1st October, etc., are unlikely make much impact on the fiscal deficit.

A year after reporting on the devastation caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan, the head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told the world body’s Member States today that nuclear power is safer than before the disaster. While expressing 'serious concern' about nuclear “activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”, IAEA also underlined its efforts in countering nuclear terrorism.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Japan today formally launched a bicycle-sharing scheme which will be tested in three cities for possible replication across developing Asia and the Pacific.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Kingston. This is not a town in the USA. It is a city in Jamaica, immortalized among many people by Harry Belafonte’s soulful voice in ‘Jamaica farewell’. It is very probable that by now audience in many parts of the world through TV and newspapers know of very small town of eastern USA. Some might have picked up names of neighbourhoods in New York City.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Courting controversies has become second nature to the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Government in Kerala.

LUCKNOW: UP Congress Committee, under the leadership of its president Nirmal Khattri, along with the eight zonal presidents and guidance of Rahul Gandhi, is making preparations for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

On the first day of the literature festival in Mumbai where V.S. Naipaul received a lifetime achievement award, the Nobel prize winner declared, apparently to the dismay of the audience, that he would not write any more on India. It was an announcement, however, which should have been greeted with cheers since it would have spared the readers of his “jaundiced” views, as another writer on India, William Dalrymple, said about the West Indian author of Indian origin.

The growth outlook for France remains fragile reflecting weak conditions in Europe generally, but the ability of the French economy to rebound is also undermined by a competitiveness problem. As financial stability risks abate, and with the prospects of a gradual resolution of the euro area crisis, France’s competitiveness gap emerges as the main challenge for macroeconomic stability, growth, and job creation.

Will Punjab be able to reclaim its lost glory? Not likely, at least in the foreseeable future. The state has been losing its sheen during the successive Congress and Akali-BJP government. What will disappoint Punjab’s well-wishers is the unabated deterioration in the state’s political, governance and financial health during the past few months.