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For thousands of years, most of the world's peoples lived as subjects under despotic emperors, kings and princes. It's only in the last century that significant numbers of people became citizens with political rights. For much of history, there was no rule of law. The monarch's will is all that mattered. Until recently, governments made no distinction between the armed services proper and the police. Soldiers rounded up suspected criminals, who were tried by judges who weren't independent from the king. The military-police distinction only evolved in the Modern Age.

The brouhaha over Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda Pushkar and Lalit Modi has made the critics of the IPL crawl out of the woodwork. While Mulayam Singh Yadav has demanded a ban on the videshi game on the lines of his party's ire against computers and the English language, Sitaram Yechury has accused the moneybags, the Left's perpetual enemies, of misusing the popular passion for cricket for shady dealings.

Against the background of elevated inflation getting generalised, the Reserve Bank of India has, for the second time in a month, raised the key policy rates by 25 basis points with immediate effect, along with a similar increase in cash reserve ratio to contain liquidity, in order to ensure that the ongoing growth recovery gets support and stabilised.

The Government of the Republic of Korea and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today announced that the high-level international conference on Asia will take place at the Daejeon Convention Center on July 12-13, 2010. Daejeon city, located two hours from Incheon International Airport, is Korea's science and technology hub. The theme of the conference is “Asia 21: Leading the Way Forward,” reflecting Asia's economic dynamism and global leadership role in the 21st century.

New York: The United Nations legal chief has called for donors to provide funds to support the UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia trying Khmer Rouge leaders accused of mass killings and other crimes during the country's genocide in the late 1970s.

New York: Significant progress has been made in combating malaria in Africa, but more remains to be done as the end of the decade dedicated to making control methods and treatments universally available approaches, the United Nations-led global partnership for coordinated action against malaria said.

New York: A United Nations conference on crime has concluded with a call for Member States to adapt their criminal justice systems to changing times, including through the use of new technologies and looking for ways to combat emerging threats such as cyber- and environment-related crime.

A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Costa Rica during April 7-13, 2010 to conduct the third and final review of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved in April 2009. The mission met with Finance Minister Jenny Phillips, Central Bank Governor Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, other senior officials, and representatives of the financial sector.

New York: The annual United Nations forum on indigenous issues opened with a call from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Member States to promote development while respecting the values and traditions of indigenous peoples.