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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.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala politics has entered a new phase with the recent merger of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) faction, which has severed ties with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), in Kerala Congress (Mani), a partner of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

New York: Africa, with its limitless potential, can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Cameroon, calling for “less talk, more action” to help the continent meet the globally-backed targets.

Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have said that sound macroeconomic policies followed by Paraguayan authorities in recent years had permitted the timely shift to a countercyclical stance, which had helped limit the fall in real GDP. A rebound in growth is expected for 2010, underpinned by the continuation of prudent demand policies while keeping inflation under control. Directors noted, however, that the economy remains vulnerable to swings in commodity prices, weather-related shocks, and financial risks associated with high dollarization and the operations of savings and loans cooperatives. These highlight the need to continue to press ahead with the ambitious agenda of institutional reforms and export diversification, with Fund technical assistance as appropriate.

Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have concluded that the recent slippages in Papua New Guinea in the implementation of the framework have undermined its stabilization objective. Spending from accumulated mineral revenue above the framework's limit imparted a fiscal stimulus in 2009 larger than warranted. Although the 2010 budget reduces the stimulus, the planned level of spending is likely to be too expansionary given the expected strength in private activity. Further, spending from trust accounts outside the budget will add to demand pressures. Delaying some infrastructure spending would ease overall demand pressures and help ensure that good value is achieved from this spending.

New York: The top United Nations envoy to Timor-Leste has underscored the need for dialogue to bring an end to gender-based violence in the fledgling South-East Asian nation.