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WASHINGTON - The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors has approved a loan of $100 million to the People's Republic of China to support sustainable development in poor rural areas in Chongqing Municipality, Henan Province and Shaanxi Province. The World Bank loan is supplemented by a grant of $4.265 million from the Global Environment Facility focused on improving sustainable land resource management and climate change adaptation.

WASHINGTON, DC — The World Bank's (WB) Board of Executive Directors approved a US$450 million loan this Thursday to develop public policies aimed at supporting the Mexican government's efforts of promoting the adaptation of its water sector to climate change.

WASHINGTON — The World Bank has approved a credit of US$79 million for the Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP). The project will assist Bangladesh in further developing human capital resources by strengthening public and private training institutions that improve the skill set and employability of the workforce.

Abuja — Nigerian states have been actively reforming to encourage business activity over the past two years, finds Doing Business in Nigeria 2010. Launched on June 10, the joint IFC-World Bank report is the second in a series analyzing business regulation in Nigerian states and the first to assess the ease of doing business in all 36 Nigerian states and in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

New York: The Government and people of Afghanistan can count on the sustained support of the United Nations and the rest of the international community as they continue to strive for peace and development, the world body's representative in the country reaffirmed.

New York: The United Nations refugee agency has expressed sadness after learning of the deaths of nine Somali asylum-seekers who drowned while attempting to reach Mozambique, an increasingly popular route for Somalis trying to flee the violence and suffering in their homeland.

New York: The notorious rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is carrying out ever more deadly attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and also continues to abduct children to use as soldiers in its ranks, United Nations aid workers reported.

Slovenia's economy has been hit hard by the global crisis. The policy response to the crisis based on fiscal stimulus and support to the financial sector was appropriate. The economy is expected to recover slowly but uncertainty persists. However, the global financial crisis has changed the external financial conditions and the Slovenia's growth pattern should adapt. Compared with the recent past, policymakers should aim at a more balanced and sustainable growth in the future. Fiscal deficit should be reduced in a sustainable way in the medium term.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a statement to the Trade Negotiations Committee on 11 June 2010, said that that while all members are looking to gain more from the Doha Round negotiations, a more ambitious outcome cannot be achieved without a balanced package of benefits across the membership. He said that the challenge is “to aim for high ambition while ensuring balance”.

If anybody is to be blamed for the weak judicial magistrate court judgement in the 25-year-old Union Carbide case, it is the government of India and the charge-sheet filed by the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI). Judges do not act on emotions, passion or sentiment. They can only respond to specific charges on the basis on arguments and counter arguments by the prosecution and defence counsels. Their heads and hands are tied under the provisions of law. The Bhopal court had handed down the highest punishment to the offenders that could be served under the existing law. The offenders were merely charged with 'criminal negligence' by the prosecution and not 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder', which could have put the culprits behind the bars up to 10 years. Frankly, the case did not have much substance. 'Real culprits' were neither named, nor any effort made to involve them in the case.