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Politically, Pakistan’s democratic transition has been commendable but the new Government headed by Nawaz Sharif has inherited an economy in such desperate straits, with crippling power shortages on top, that it has had to agree, within a month of assuming office, for a new three-year IMF credit of 5.3 billion dollars. But the formal approval by IMF Board is expected only in September.

In politics there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies – there are only permanent interests. The saying’s validity has again been proved by the on-going efforts of the Congress and the BJP to retain their present allies and seek new ones. The developments of the past few weeks show that the tainted Congress-led UPA is scoring over the BJP-led NDA. The party has announced an electoral pact with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. It is now trying to find friends among other parties including Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).

New Delhi: India and Albania have signed an Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion relating to Taxes on Income and on capital.

BHOPAL: Two recent happenings may cause serious difficulty and embarrassment for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh. One incident relates to the resignation of Raghavji Bhai, the state's Finance Minister, in the wake of serious allegations of sexually exploiting his male servant.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The solar scam juggernaut is marching on, relentlessly, savaging reputations of UDF politicians left and right.

The Left parties convention last week received scant notice in the media but it has made certain eye opening observations. According to Left leaders, the post-2014 general election scenario looks extremely grim. Both the Congress and the BJP are likely to fall far short of a majority to cobble a coalition. According to their assessment, particularly of veteran CPI leader A B Bardhan, the Congress could not get more than 100-110 seats and the BJP not more than 140. The base of the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA has shrunk. Once the NDA had 24 parties at its constituents; today there are only two parties supporting the BJP.

New Delhi: The new regime in Pakistan has made a gesture to improve its relations with India.

New Delhi: India has expressed its appreciation for the Sri Lankan Government’s decision to conduct elections to its Northern Provincial Council, but is still awaiting actual devolution of power to the Tamil population through the proposed 13th Amendment to its Constitution.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of India has found that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old woman killed in an ‘encounter’ in 2004, was not a terrorist. It also found the involvement of senior officers of Gujarat police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

KOLKATA: There was good reason for thinking that by prolonging its legal battle against the West Bengal Government over the Panchayat elections, the State Election Commission(SEC) played into the hands of the ruling Trinamool Congress(TMC).