View Articles

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Alejandro Santos visited Santo Domingo during August 3-19 to conduct discussions under the second and third reviews of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which was approved by the IMF Executive Board in November 2009.

New York: The United Nations and its diplomatic partners in the Middle East Quartet today called on the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume direct talks starting next month with the aim of reaching a wide-ranging agreement within the next 12 months to end the region's long-running conflict.

New York: Although Liberia continues to make considerable progress in consolidating peace and security, enduring political and social divides, among other factors, could roll back the strides made so far, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautions in a new report.

New York: The ability of illness-causing germs to resist drugs has become a challenge to efforts against infectious diseases, the United Nations health agency said today, urging countries to implement infection control measures to limit the spread of multi-drug resistant strains of micro-organisms.

New York: Thousands of Indonesian schools and hospitals have signed up to a United Nations campaign to encourage authorities to better protect such structures in vulnerable areas from the impact of future natural disasters.

New York: An international tribunal set up by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter authorizing the use of force is among several options to prosecute pirates operating off the Somali coast laid out by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a new report made public today.

In view of the increased pressure on the airport infrastructure and also to create a world-class airport infrastructure upgradation/modernization of a number of Metro and Non-metro airports have been undertaken by Airports Authority of India (AAI), as well as through Joint Venture Companies.

China has been lauded for its “pro-active and decisive” policy response which helped its overcoming the global economic crisis and maintain robust growth, estimated at 10.5 per cent this year, while inflation appears to be benign though, according to IMF, a global downturn would have a major negative impact, mainly through trade channels. An IMF staff study notes the fiscal stimulus continues in 2010 and China has space for more counter-cyclical measures and can also loosen monetary policy again to give itself a significant cushion against a worsening of global growth outlook.

The power of sovereign states is under challenge all over the world not by separatist political outfits and terrorists alone. Mighty transnational corporations and their arrogant management pose an equal threat to state sovereignty and domestic laws as they have been proved time and again in various parts of the world, including fast growing countries such as China and India. BlackBerry's latest fight with the national governments of India, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates denying access to subscribers' communications data to national security agencies is just an exhibition of such arrogance.

New York: To sustain its economic recovery, the Asia-Pacific region needs to create new internal markets by addressing infrastructure gaps and alleviating poverty, according to a United Nations-backed gathering that wrapped up today in Bangkok, Thailand.