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For all the hullabaloo that preceded the election of a new Chief of the International Monetary Fund, with calls from emerging nations to break the traditional European hold on the post, the Fund had little difficulty in appointing Ms. Christine Lagarde, France’s savvy Finance Minister, as Managing Director for a five-year term from July 5, 2011.This automatically followed once USA, wielding the highest voting power in the Fund, endorsed her over Mr. Agustin Carstens, Mexican central bank governor, her only credible rival.

Are there some vested interest groups, local as well as global, working in tandem to prevent India stepping into the next stage of industrial development and to put a brake to its high economic growth rate? The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, may disagree but events in the last two years, unfortunately, point finger at such a design.

New York: International tourism continues to rise around the world, with only the Middle East and North Africa lagging, and even those regions expected to improve later this year, according to the latest United Nations figures.

New York: A United Nations human rights expert warned today that a newly passed Salvadorian law requiring the country’s Supreme Court decisions to be unanimous could undermine the independence of the judiciary.

New York: Ministers and senior government officials from 31 countries, meeting at a United Nations-supported conference in Bangkok, have agreed to work more closely together on disaster risk reduction and make it central to national development strategies, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) reported today.

New Delhi: Is drug addiction a disease or crime, asked NGOs in response to the Government’s call to “think health, not drugs” on June 26, International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Calling for a revision of laws on narcotic drugs, a group of experts asked that drug use be viewed as a health concern and not as criminal or moral wrongdoing.

The government has done it again and hiked the prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG which will have a cascading effect on the common man and also increase food inflation. The people are already facing spiraling price rise in essential commodities and consumer goods. In all probability the inflation will go on increasing till early September as the impact of the latest hike will take some time to percolate.

New York: An international committee has designated Bangkok as World Book Capital 2013, the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) reported today.

KOLKATA: It’s too early to comment on Ms Mamata Banerjee’s performance as the new Chief Minister of West Bengal, but there are disturbing signs that her populism will prevail over the requirements of a prudential economic policy.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s decision to launch a ‘strong’ agitation has ratcheted up political temperature in the state.