View Articles

New York: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is helping to find ways to ensure that children do not serve as soldiers in Central Africa, a region plagued by conflicts in which minors have been fighting on behalf of both militias and national armies.

New York: United Nations officials and international experts have co-authored a research paper that outlines design tools which can be used in measuring access to sources of energy.

After a long boom, Sweden was amongst the first to falter in the great recession, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the country. It said that output fell 5 percent in 2009. In this context, unemployment has risen to over 9 percent, corporate financial positions—notably of manufacturing exporters—have deteriorated, and output may be some 4 to 6 percent below capacity.

In the Context of the 2010 Article IV Consultation Discussions with Euro-Area Countries the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that policymakers need to take decisive action to complete the project of monetary union. The current euro area crisis results from fiscally unsustainable policies in some countries, delayed repair of the financial system, insufficient progress in establishing the discipline and flexibility needed for a smooth functioning of the monetary union, and deficient governance of the euro area. Consequently, divergences in economic performance have been allowed to fester, building up imbalances and leading to the recent dramatic wake-up call from markets.

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for concerted efforts to end what he described as the “scandal” of women dying in childbirth, saying even simple clinical procedures such as clean delivery rooms and the presence of a trained midwife could greatly reduce pregnancy-related deaths.

A joint mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission (EC) visited Riga from May 19 to June 7 as part of the third review of the country's Stand By Arrangement (SBA).

Globalization has greatly benefitted Finland over the last two decades, but has also left it particularly exposed to the global crisis. Given its extensive trade linkages and export characteristics, the economy has been hit hard, although there are signs of recovery. A decade of fiscal surpluses has allowed full operation of automatic stabilizers as well as sizable stimulus measures. The banking sector has weathered the crisis well, thanks to healthy capital buffers and prudent management. Nonetheless, it faces increased risks to profitability and asset quality, says International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the concluding statement under article iv consultation.

One has to live with one's past .But, it is not impossible to come out of the past's dark shadows. This seems to be happening with Punjab's ruling Akali Dal. Developments of the past some time indicate that the party is trying to free itself from some of the shackles of its ideological past. If it succeeds, it will be second time in the past fifteen years that it will be giving a positive and welcome turn to its hardline ideological commitments.

G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Banks meeting in Busan (Korea South) on June 4-5 called for accelerated progress on banking reforms with higher capital and liquidity requirements to ward off another systemic crisis in the global financial system, such as rocked the world in 2008 triggering a prolonged recession. The world economy is now on the path of recovery, though uneven across countries and regions.

New Delhi: Union Power Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde has said that Australia can play a major role in the energy sector of India which is growing at rapid pace with huge opportunities for investments and technology. Speaking at the 1st Australia-India Energy and Minerals Forum in Perth, Australia, today, he said that the two countries can work together in the areas of development of the use of Brown Coal (Lignite), energy efficiency, efficiency improvements of coal based power plants, hydro power development, power generation technology research and development of smart Grid in India.