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An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Senegal during September 15-29, 2010 to conduct the sixth review under the Policy Support Instrument (PSI) and discussions on the authorities' economic program that could be supported under a successor three-year PSI. The mission met with the Prime Minister and the ministers in charge of economy and finance, international cooperation and infrastructure, energy, the budget, and other government officials. The mission also met representatives of the private sector and development partners. The current Policy Support Instrument (PSI) for Senegal will end this year.

Twenty-four developing-country officials took part on 21—24 September 2010 in the sixth workshop designed to help their countries make use of flexibilities in the WTO intellectual property agreement in the area of pharmaceuticals.

The tenth review of the trade policies and practices of the United States of America took place on 29 September and 1 October 2010. The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of the United States of America.

New Delhi: A meeting was held recently between Ministry of Mines and Secretaries from State Governments to review steps taken to curb illegal mining.

India is known for its rich biological diversity .The country has already documented over 91,000 species of animals and 46,000 species of plants in its ten bio-geographic regions. Nearly 65,000 native plants are still used prominently in indigenous health care systems. The country is also recognised as one of the eight Vavilovian Centres of Origin and Diversity of Crop Plants. Here we have more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants still growing and evolving under natural conditions. At the same time we loose certain species or their number dwindles for various reasons. These are threatened plants.

There are 335-recorded threatened medicinal plants in India. They range from Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU) to Near Threatened (NT) as per IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. On the basis of their studies, Foundation for Revitalization of local Health Traditions (FRLTH), which is a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry, has assigned Red List status to these plants.

About 6.2 Million tonnes of hazardous wastes is annually generated in India from about 35,000 industries, out of which around 3.09 Million tonnes is recyclable, 0.41 Million tonnes is incinerable and 2.73 Million tonnes is land-fillable. This categorization of hazardous wastes into 3 classes is based on the hazard potential and its characteristics guiding its ultimate disposal, in accordance with the Hazardous wastes (Management, Handling & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008.

India and Mozambique have decided to renew their strategic political and economic partnership and set a target for bilateral trade at $ one billion by 2013.

New Delhi: A special bench of the Allahabad High Court Lucknow Bench comprising Mr Justice Sibghat Ullah Khan, Mr Justice Sudhir Agarwal, and Mr Justice Dharam Veer Sharma has finally decided today that the birth place of Ram, the area which is demarcated in a map Appendix 7 by Sri Shiv Shanker Lal, Pleader/ Commissioner appointed by Court. However, certain area demarcated in the map is the joint property of both the Hindu and Muslim communities.

Will the eight point Kashmir package announced by the Centre this week click or is it going to be one more formula, which fails to get response? Is there a ray of hope for the Kashmiris who have been facing violence and lack of development? Will the separatists fall in line and allow the normalcy return to the beautiful state and will the Pakistanis keep off from meddling in the state? These are questions that need to be answered by the various stake- holders but primarily it is for the centre and the state government and also the political parties to ensure that the package becomes a success.