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LUCKNOW: Political tension is mounting in Uttar Pradesh as the day is approaching for the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court announcing the verdict on title suit of Ram Janam Bhoomi and Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. In all probability, the verdict will be given within the next fortnight and already, the leading political parties of the state, especially the BJP, SP, the Congress and the BSP are busy formulating their respective strategy to meet the fallout of the verdict.

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India is having some perception gap with the Finance Ministry in pushing reforms in the financial sector. While the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister's Office have been strongly favouring the liberalisation in the banking industry and allowing more foreign direct investment in the insurance sector, the RBI is now proposing the bringing down of the foreign equity in private banks, not to talk of hiking it. The RBI is more concerned with the consolidation of the domestic banks rather than expansion with foreign funds.

On the eve of Bill Clinton's visit to India, the Vajpayee government had relaxed import of as many as 1,400 items which had prompted the then Japanese prime minister to warn US that China, not Americans, will be its real beneficiary. Such financial tribute to big power visitors has been an essential part of our post-1991 foreign policy. In the case of Barack Obama's state visit in November next, preparations had begun April last with a series of diplomatic exchanges to identify areas of cooperation. The nuclear liability bill to exempt the US suppliers from paying for damages is on top of the list.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today offered to help Cambodia and Thailand resolve their differences over a disputed temple area along their common border.

New York: The United Nations anti-crime agency is helping to bolster the justice system in Afghanistan, where reconstruction and development are hampered by corruption and poor governance.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Alejandro Santos visited Santo Domingo during August 3-19 to conduct discussions under the second and third reviews of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which was approved by the IMF Executive Board in November 2009.

New York: The United Nations and its diplomatic partners in the Middle East Quartet today called on the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume direct talks starting next month with the aim of reaching a wide-ranging agreement within the next 12 months to end the region's long-running conflict.

New York: Although Liberia continues to make considerable progress in consolidating peace and security, enduring political and social divides, among other factors, could roll back the strides made so far, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautions in a new report.

New York: The ability of illness-causing germs to resist drugs has become a challenge to efforts against infectious diseases, the United Nations health agency said today, urging countries to implement infection control measures to limit the spread of multi-drug resistant strains of micro-organisms.

New York: Thousands of Indonesian schools and hospitals have signed up to a United Nations campaign to encourage authorities to better protect such structures in vulnerable areas from the impact of future natural disasters.