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New York: Thanks to improved economic conditions worldwide, international tourism recovered strongly last year following the decline brought on by the global financial crisis and recession of late 2008 and 2009, the United Nations agency tasked with monitoring the sector said today.

New York: General Assembly President Joseph Deiss said today he hopes “real negotiations” may at last get under way this year in the almost two-decades-long process to enlarge the Security Council, bringing the United Nations body whose decisions are binding into line with the Organization’s current membership.

New York: Last year was full of “big events” for public health, including the launch of a new meningitis vaccine and an aggressive new strategy for polio eradication, the head of the United Nations health agency said today, while stressing the need to ensure that progress is maintained in the year ahead.

New Delhi: Government of India have announced the sale (re-issue) of (i) “7.99 percent Government Stock 2017” for a notified amount of Rs.4,000 crore (nominal), (ii) “8.08 percent Government Stock 2022” for a notified amount of Rs.4,000 crore (nominal) and (iii) “8.26 percent Government Stock 2027” for a notified amount of Rs.3,000 crore (nominal) through price based auctions. The auctions will be conducted using uniform price method. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on January 21, 2011 (Friday).

New Delhi: The Government of India today signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $89.7 million for the Assam Power Sector Enhancement Programme, Tranche- II, within the overall Facility of $200 million. This tranche will assist to build two 220/132 kV and six 132/33 kV new substations, construct 342 km of transmission lines (185 km of 220 kV and 157 km of 132 kV transmission lines) and augment 11 existing substations. It is the second ADB project in support of Assam’s Power Sector Development Program that is planning to build 14 new substations, construct over 600 km of transmission lines, extend & augment two transmission substations, augment 18 existing other substations, and upgrade approximately 715 km of ground wire to fiber optic cable.

New Delhi: The Government of India today signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $208 million for Tranche 3 of this Investment programme titled ‘Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy Development Investment Program’. This Facility is for a series of loans to provide funding for four run-of-river hydropower projects totaling 856 MW in Himachal Pradesh, for an amount of $ 800 Million from ADB. This particular loan provides partial funding for stages II & III of the Integrated Kashang Hydroelectric Project totaling 195 MW located in District Kinnaur, and for the 100 MW Sainj Hydroelectric Project located in District Kullu.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee held a meeting with noted economists to get their inputs for General Budget 2011-12, here today. This was the fifth meeting in the series of pre-Budget consultations held by Finance Minister with the stakeholders of different sectors. First meeting was held on 7th January with the stakeholders of agriculture sector followed by meetings with captains of Indian industry on 11th January, representatives of different trade unions on 12th January, 2011 and with different NGOs on last Friday i.e., 14th January, 2010.

New York: With 1.6 billion people in developing countries still lacking access to electricity, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for a global revolution to address the world’s energy challenges.

New Delhi: The Indian Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee on Monday urged for South Korean investment in in infrastructure sector in the country including transport, power and IT network. He said that both the countries can benefit by sharing of their knowledge in financial and economic areas.

New Delhi: The visiting Peruvian Minister of Trade and Tourism, Dr Eduardo Ferreyros today met both the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma and the Indian Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed and agreed to boost bilateral trade and tourism.