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LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party leaders have threatened to put chief minister Mayawati behind the bar on the charges of corruption if their party was voted to power in next assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. At a time when assembly elections in UP are scheduled for 2012 it is a virtual war between Samajwadi Party and ruling BSP.

New Delhi: Expressing concern about the notification of provisions of the Competition Act 2002 relating to regulation of mergers, CII said, “The move is ill-timed given the present economic environment and regulatory & procedural obstacles may cause the country’s growth trajectory to get affected.”

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is no gainsaying the fact that the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has had a headstart in the campaign for the April 13 assembly elections. This was made possible because the LDF’s seat-sharing talks were refreshingly free from the bickering and bitterness which marked and marred the seat allocation talks among the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF).By the time the UDF managed to end the acrimony over the seat-division talks, the LDF had completed the first round of poll campaign!

Just a quarter of a century ago, a sizeable number of the world’s richest men, corporate head honchos and their wives, who assembled at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan to attend the concluding session of the first ever full-body International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) meet in India, listened with rapt attention Dr Karan Singh’s discourse on Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita talking about the futility of life and frugality of power, explaining the purpose of wealth creation and extolling the virtue of giving it away for the benefit of the society.

Economically judged, excluding societal concerns, India is seemingly on a strong wicket as it enters the new fiscal year 2012, with a budget of Rs.11.08 lakh crores voted in no time by Parliament, hastening end of a chaotic session in which Government and the opposition were at loggerheads over corruption and governance failures. The Government, badly mauled, with opposition attempts to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who stood his ground firmly, needs to rejuvenate itself and become more credible for the rest of its term till 2014.

New York: Disputes over the practice of cybersquatting rose sharply last year, with nearly 2,700 cases filed for arbitration with the United Nations agency charged with protecting inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright.

Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have noted that, owing to a track record of prudent macroeconomic management and a resilient financial sector, the economy has weathered the global crisis well, with growth starting to rebound. Directors observed that the main medium-term challenge is to achieve economic diversification through sustained reform efforts.

New York: United Nations experts have recommended that two pesticides, one severely hazardous pesticide formulation and three industrial chemicals be added to a trade “watch list” under a UN-backed treaty aimed at helping poorer countries more effectively manage potentially harmful imported substances.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Mauro Mecagni visited Cameroon during March 16–31, 2011 in order to conduct the 2011 Article IV Consultation. The mission worked closely with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development. It met with Prime Minister Philemon Yang, State Minister, Secretary General at the Presidency, Laurent Esso, other several ministers, members of the Committee of Finance and Budget and that of Economic Affairs of the National Assembly, the Governor and the National Director of the BEAC, senior officials, the business and diplomatic communities, representatives of labor unions and civil society organizations, and development partners.

New York: High food prices prevented more than 19 million people in the Asia-Pacific region from lifting themselves out of poverty last year, the United Nations said in a new study released today, warning that soaring food and fuel inflation will keep large sections of the region’s population below the poverty threshold.