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New York: United Nations-backed emergency efforts have successfully contained a massive Red Locust outbreak in Tanzania and upheld the livelihoods of millions of farmers, marking the first time that biopesticides have been used on a large-scale in Africa against the transboundary pests.

The Centre and the West Bengal government are clueless on dealing with the Maoists. The Marxists are in direct confrontation with the Maoists in Lalgarh which is under the latter's siege. The Government remains clueless while the Maoists fight them with the most modern weapons, automatic rifles, rocket launchers and explosives. Against this backdrop, the ban on Maoists by the Centre and the state is indeed a bold decision.

Some parts of India may experience drought this year as the country's official weather forecasting agency, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has lowered its expectation and said that the nationwide average cumulative rainfall in the four-month monsoon season which began in June would be below the normal range

LUCKNOW: Following on the initiatives to optimally utilize the immense potential of information and communication technology (ICT) in streamlining governance and transactions, Uttar Pradesh Government is going to launch new and much improved web-interface single window facility for entrepreneurs willing to set up industry in the state. Named 'Nivesh-Mitra' (Investment Friend), initially it is proposed to be launched in 18 identified districts on a pilot basis on July 06, 2009.

The nation awaits the first Budget (2009-10) of reincarnated UPA with huge expectations built into it by our Prime Minister and its author, the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee himself — big push to the social agenda with its plethora of flagship programmes while the economy would be kept growing at 7 to 8 per cent, creating jobs, in conditions of “low” inflation, and last but not the least, a credible path of return to fiscal prudence. The budget when out will be judged by these broad parameters.

New York: The annual gathering of the committee that examines requests for inclusion on the World Heritage List is underway in Spain, with 27 new sites up for consideration, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced today.

In a note released for the United Nations Conference on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development, which will be held this week in New York, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reiterated the case for a comprehensive approach to restoring public confidence in the financial sector and re-launching global economic growth.

On the eve of the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development slated to be held in New York from June 24, country's trade unions and civil society organizations have demanded that India take a firm stand by urging for replacing the ailing global financial architecture by a new one embodying principles of economic justice and equitable development.

A New World Bank analysis of the global economy paints an unprecedented picture: global output falling by 2.9 percent and world trade by nearly 10 percent; accompanied by plummeting private capital flows, likely to decline from $707 billion in 2008 to an anticipated $363 billion in 2009.

Sharecroppers, women and other marginal groups living in Orissa, one of India's poorest states will receive new employment and income opportunities under an Asian Development Bank (ADB), Government of Japan-funded project.