A political cartoon depicting a chimpanzee as the drafter of the American financial stimulus bill has sparked a racial row in the United States, with Democratic leaders up in arms against the New York Post, for what they believe is an offensive reference to President Barack Obama.The cartoon, published by the right-wing Post, shows a police officer telling his colleague who has just shot a chimpanzee that 'they'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill'
The United Nations Security Council's sanctions committee has not received any petition from Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front for Lashkar-e-Tayiba, to reconsider the decision declaring it as a terrorist group, a top official said on Thursday. Reports from Pakistan had said that the JUD is appealing the decision but Coordinator of Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee Richard Barrett said no such petition has been received.
The three-member international commission that the United Nations plans to appoint to probe the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto will be a fact-finding panel and will not carry out any criminal investigation. In a letter to the Security Council released on Thursday, Secretary-General Ban ki Moon said the life of the commission will be of six months. "You will note that the commission's mandate would be of a limited duration (a maximum of six months).
United Nations' top human rights official has voiced serious concern over the deteriorating condition of some 250,000 civilians trapped in the war-torn northern Sri Lanka and increasing casualties, displacement and alleged human rights abuses. "The perilous situation of civilians after many months of fighting, multiple displacements, heavy rains and flooding is extremely worrying," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.
A leading international human rights group has alleged that the Orissa government is recruiting children under 18 years of age as Special Police Officers to fight Naxalite insurgents, and asked the state to take measures to stop the practice. In a letter to Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, the Human Rights Watch asked the state government to develop and put into practice measures to ensure that children are not recruited as SPOs.
Thousands of Gazans remain homeless and hospitals still have a large number of intensive care patients, over a week after a ceasefire ended Israel's devastating three-week offensive against Hamas militants, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The pilot, Capt Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger, told National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Sunday that he decided to land the plane on water as trying to reach any airport could have led to 'catastrophic consequences' if it crashed in any populated area.
United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, who opened an emergency session of the 192-member body to discuss the "illegal Israeli actions" in Gaza, briefly clashed with an Israeli diplomat, who questioned the validity of calling the meeting.
A simple list to be checked off during surgery before anaesthesia, which includes knowing about patients allergy and counting surgical instruments has lowered the incidence of death and complications by one-third, a United Nations health agency said.
Indian Consul General Prabhu Dayal was especially invited to attend the opening session of the legislature at which Corzine delivered his "State of the State" address.
Federal prosecutors plan to appeal against the decision of a judge rejecting their plea for revocation of $1 million bail of the accused swindler Bernard Madoff.
An Egyptian-French initiative for a ceasefire to end an escalating Israel-Hamas war and allowing humanitarian supplies into Gaza won instant support from several Arab nations and members of the Security Council. The proposal calls for an immediate ceasefire by Israeli and Palestinian factions for a specific period to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza.The proposal was immediately backed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Major world powers trying to restart the stalled peace process in West Asia on Wednesday called on Israel and Hamas to immediately implement a ceasefire in the region.The international Quartet comprising the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States held discussions though a teleconference on the deteriorating situation in the West Asia following Israeli air strikes on Gaza Strip.The teleconference was today convened by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Aggressive diplomacy and a well prepared case against the JuD, parent organisation of Lashkar-e-Tayiba, led to Security Council's decision to call for worldwide freezing of its assets and putting four LeT leaders on a list of terrorists subject to sanctions, including ban on foreign travel. The case prepared by India was so convincing that even China, which bailed out Pakistan and prevented ban being imposed on earlier occasions, decided to go along.
Two key witnesses in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have again ruled out returning to India to depose before the courts, but their testimony has been recorded by a visiting two member CBI team in the US.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and superstar Shah Rukh Khan have been ranked among the 50 most powerful people in the world by prestigious United States-based magazine 'Newsweek' magazine, in a list topped by President-elect Barack Obama.Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who controls the country's nuclear weapons, is placed 20th on the list of the global 'power elite', at the beginning of 2009 in the magazine's January issue.
The issues of climate change, human rights, anti-corruption and access to water are among the hot topics that are factoring into investment and business decision-making processes, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Georg Kell said.
The United Nations Security Council has placed sanctions on Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation of banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba, declaring it a terrorist organisation.Four top leaders of LeT including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zaki-ur-Bahaziq have also been declared as terrorists by the UNSC.Imposing the sanctions, the Council asked all member states to freeze their assets and impose travel ban and arms embargo.
Describing Pakistan a 'failed state', an influential American lawmaker has underlined the need for the United States to tie aid to Islamabad with the Islamic nation, to ensure that the lawless areas bordering Afghanistan are not used by terrorists to launch attacks like in Mumbai. If Pakistan is not able to do that, the United States itself should go in, Congressman Frank Pallone told a meeting organised by the Indian community to pay homage to the victims of Mumbai terror.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all member nations, Pakistan's Ambassador to the world body Abdullah Hussain Haroon has said, building up circumstantial evidence has resulted in some of the costliest mistakes by mankind, the latest example being the US intervention in Iraq.
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