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WASHINGTON — The World Bank has approved a new emergency grant of €19.3 million to enable Kenya's smallholder farmers to gain increased access to vital agricultural inputs and improved technologies to boost their output.

Is it not ironic that the left parties and the rightwing parties are playing a big role in steering the UPA government despite the government having a majority? When the UPA II was formed, the opposition was not only weak but also demoralised and divided. The Congress was euphoric after getting a second term. The people of the country heaved a sigh of relief that there was going to be a stable government for the next five years.

New Delhi: Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and US Trade Representative, Mr. Ron Kirk, has signed the India-US Trade Policy Forum Framework for Cooperation on Trade and Investment, in Washington yesterday.

New York: The top United Nations drug and crime official and Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom oversaw the destruction of some 6,000 illegal firearms today at the launch of a national programme to fight organized crime in a country that has a gun for every 10 people.

Economic activity in Chad remained sluggish in 2009, but inflation increased further, owing to food prices. Low rainfall, and therefore agricultural output, plus the trend decline in oil production led to a contraction in real GDP of about 2 percent. The bad harvest could imply food shortage for up to 2 million people (18 percent of the population). The need for additional food is estimated at between 80,000 to 100,000 metric tons, for which the government has requested external assistance.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved a 36-month, SDR 513.9 million (about US$790 million) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for El Salvador to help the country mitigate the adverse effects of the global crisis. The new arrangement, which the authorities intend to treat as precautionary, will succeed the 15-month SBA approved on January 16, 2009.

New York: The Security Council should urge Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to initiate an independent investigation into the food distribution programme in Somalia, a United Nations group of experts recommends in a new report which claims that humanitarian officials divert food aid for military use.

New York: The long-awaited and much-delayed presidential elections as well as reunification are the key issues for Côte d'Ivoire, the top United Nations envoy there said today, lamenting what he described as a “serious weakening” of the momentum toward holding polls.

New York: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it has contracted eight mills in Pakistan's conflict-affected Swat Valley to produce fortified wheat flour in a bid to boost the local economy and make food more easily accessible to families in the area.

New York: The United Nations Representative in Côte d'Ivoire met today with the new President of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in a bid to reenergize a stalled electoral process further delayed by last month's dissolution of the Government and deadly street protests.