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The successive governments in India have been tinkering with the prices of petroleum products for the final consumers. The hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas from time to time has tended to be ad hoc, hesitant and half hearted. To put away for populist considerations doing something, which is unavoidable, is neither good economics nor good politics. The UPA government-I & II, headed by Mr. Manmohan Singh has been unable again in facing squarely tough issues in the case of the fixation of the prices of crude oil and petroleum products.

New York: Sixteen months after an Israeli military offensive inflicted widespread damage in the Gaza Strip, about three quarters of the damaged buildings and infrastructure have still not been repaired, a new United Nations report says.

New York: Despite repeated global commitments to protect the planet's species and habitats, the variety of life continues to decline at an unprecedented rate, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned, urging action to curb the root causes of biodiversity decline.

The liaison officers, well-dressed and glib talking, have been the face of the modern capitalism before the economic liberalization. They moved along Delhi's Bhawans and official bungalows chasing files and greasing palms on behalf of their industrial houses. They all kept an office in Delhi. Bureaucracy and political hangers-on loved them but the rest of India had derided them as a symbol of the much hated 'licence-permit-quota raj'. In 1992, finance minister of the Narasimha Rao government had thundered: No more do we need those file chasers and touts.

NEW DELHI: India and China will be competing for filling the slot of one new permanent membership that will be filled by the G-8 by 2011.The issue will figure at the coming meeting of the group of eight developed countries at Toronto on June 25 and 26, 2010. G-8 presently consists of United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia. European Union is also a member.G-8 has other five participating countries- India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.

New York: The United Nations has for the first time named the military forces and rebel groups that are the most persistent violators of children in armed conflicts, identifying groups in Asia, Africa and Latin America which continue to recruit child soldiers and use them to wage war.

Japan's economy is gaining strength, but vulnerability to sovereign risk is rising. Decisive policy action and strong external demand are driving the recovery, but large fiscal deficits have pushed public debt to unprecedented levels. With global scrutiny of public finances increasing, the need for early and credible fiscal consolidation has become critical. Fiscal adjustment should start in FY2011 beginning with a modest increase in the consumption tax. Such efforts would be helped by policies to spur growth and combat deflation.

New York: Measles, a highly contagious viral disease mostly affecting children, has been making a rapid come back, threatening to roll back the progress made through vaccination campaigns during the past two decades, the United Nations health agency has warned.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mrs. Nita Thacker visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines during May 12-21 for the annual Article IV discussions on economic developments and macroeconomic policies. The mission met with the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the Acting Prime Minister Mr. Michael Browne, members of the Cabinet, the Director General of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Maurice Edwards, other senior government officials, as well as members of the opposition headed by Hon. Arnhim Eustace. The mission also met with representatives of the private sector and labor unions.

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) during May 7-20, 2010 to conduct the 2010 Article IV Consultation discussions and the second review of performance under the three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement approved by the IMF's Executive Board in March 2009. The team met with Honorable Prime Minister Rafael Branco, and held discussions with Minister of Planning and Finance Angela Santiago, Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe (BCSTP) Governor Luis de Sousa, other senior officials of the government and the BCSTP, members of the Economic and Finance Committee of the National Assembly, and representatives of commercial banks, the business community, and São Tomé and Príncipe's development partners.