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New Delhi: An American firm has shown keen interest in the Explosive Detection Kit (EDK) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). An agreement on Transfer of Technology is likely to be signed soon between the two sides.

How the mighty have fallen! The Congress party was so exuberant and confident after its Lok Sabha election victory last year that it imagined that it would be only a matter of time before it returns to the glorious past of one-party salience when it used to call the shots nationally and rule in all but a handful of states. Barely one-and-a-half years later, the party is besieged by scandal after scandal, buffeted by defeats in the Bihar Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls and various by-elections, politically confused, and organisationally demoralised. Suddenly, its return to power in 2014 no longer looks a near-certainty, as it did only some months ago.

Pakistan’s exclusion from the sub-continental team of hosts for the cricket world cup next year means that its dream of achieving parity with India in south Asia has turned to dust. The matches will be played only in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to underline Pakistan’s status as a pariah nation.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Mongolia with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will build a state-of-the-art road/rail linked logistics facility that will help expand and speed up trade, and increase the landlocked country's global competitiveness.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing $200 million to Indonesia for further reforms to speed up sustainable economic growth and accelerate the government's drive to reduce poverty.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank's (ADB's) Board of Directors has approved a $1.1 billion finance package for two major transportation projects in Viet Nam that will help unclog Ho Chi Minh City's overcrowded roadways.

New York: Opium poppy cultivation surged in South-East Asia by 22 per cent in 2010, apparently due to the global economic crisis, with potential production value rising dramatically to $219 million, a $100 million increase over 2009, according to a United Nations report released today.

GENEVA - The World Bank Group today called for a new “Aid For Trade Effectiveness Research Partnership” to address research, data, and knowledge gaps for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the post-crisis world. This partnership would build on the World Bank Group’s new Open Data, Open Knowledge, and Open Solutions initiative outlined by World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick in September.

New York: Some 200,000 low-income youth in sub-Saharan Africa will benefit from a United Nations-backed initiative announced today to increase access for them to financial services in a region where youth unemployment rates are two to three times that of adults.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Brian Aitken visited Colombo December 1-10 to conduct discussions for the Fifth Review of the $2.5 billion Stand-By Arrangement, approved on July 24, 2009. The mission met with government and Central Bank officials, as well as representatives of civil society and the private sector.