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US President Obama told the television talk show queen Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview that he deserves a “ solid B plus” for his first year in office which ends on January 20 but what does America think of his freshman year? The opinion polls do not give him such high grades despite his getting a Nobel Prize. Some experts say that the first year of the presidency is more of a settling down period, and the major decisions will come only next year. After that he will concentrate on his re-election for the 2012 elections.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Asian economies are poised for accelerated growth as the global economic crisis recedes, but recovery remains fragile and carefully calibrated policy adjustments along with increased integration efforts will be needed to sustain growth and cushion the region against future shocks, says a new study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

New York: The peace process that ended a 10-year civil war in Nepal has remained largely stalled over the past three months, with tensions and mistrust between Maoists, the Government and army threatening its very survival, according to a new United Nations report.

New York: Properly managed grasslands – even more than forests – could fight climate change by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, according to a newly released report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

New Delhi: Ministry of Finance, Govt of India, is in pre-budget exercise mode in which meetings are being held with various interested groups and the states to formulate the General budget 2010-11 for the country. Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee held such a meeting with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories here today to deliberate on issues that would have a bearing on the annual Budget.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Viet Nam's low-lying and flood-prone Mekong Delta region will get support from Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help cope with the potentially devastating impacts of climate change.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has set up a multidonor Urban Financing Partnership Facility to support its wide ranging urban development projects, with the Government of Sweden the first to inject funds.

2010 has opened glowingly for China, with its spectacular ride-out of a global recession, underscoring the increasing shift of economic power to the East, but its remarkable export rebound could well re-ignite tensions with its major trading partners, USA, and European Union, chiefly over its “under-valued currency” making its goods cheaper on the world markets.

As the second decade of the twenty-first century begins, our principal political parties are still oblivious of the sweeping changes that have enveloped the Pakistani landscape in the year gone by. This, as the lack-lustre debates in the recent winter session of Parliament have shown, is true not only of the Opposition, but to a large extent, also of the ruling UPA.

New York: In the wake of last week's unrest in southern Italy, two United Nations independent human rights experts called on the European nation's Government to rein in the rising xenophobic attitudes towards migrant workers.