Denouncing as 'cowardly' and 'heartless acts' the deadly terror strikes in Mumbai, the Indian community in the US on Wednesday said it was an attack on the pluralistic fabric of India and sought strong measures to fight terrorism.
Contending that the world is not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals especially on poverty eradication front, India asked the industrial nations to show greater enthusiasm in fulfilling their pledges to Official Development Assistance and debt relief for poor nations, besides market access and technology transfer.
The gift from the Tata Trusts will allow Cornell to establish and expand partnerships with Indian scientists that build on its strength in applied agriculture research. The endowment will also be used to set up a scholarship fund to bring more Indian students, who may be discouraged by Cornell's price tag, to the university. The gift could eventually help support as many as 25 Indian undergraduate and graduate students at a time.
The UN food agency has sought a political and financial push to boost sustainable agriculture in poor countries and double global food production, saying that such a move would forge a world of economic and social progress.
Underlining the urgency of finding solutions to the major challenges facing Africa, India has called on the international community to effectively implement all its commitments and assist the continent to come out of "poverty trap".
Snow falling from the Martian clouds have been detected by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, with possibilities of it even reaching the planet's surface. Laser instruments on the lander have detected the snow clouds about 2.5 miles above the spacecraft's landing site and also followed its precipitation.
In a statement issued on Monday, foreign ministers of the three countries, partners in the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum, said expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories is necessary to make the council "more democratic, legitimate, representative and responsive."
India on Friday said it was confident of the passage of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal as it enjoyed bipartisan support among lawmakers, assuring that American firms would not be put at a disadvantage even if there is delay in getting a Congressional nod for the accord.
Given the strong fundamentals of the Indian economy, it will be able to sustain a growth rate of over 8 per cent over the next ten years and continue to attract investments in services and manufacturing sectors, Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said in New York. "Despite some developments that are not favourable, we will still manage to have robust growth," Ashwani Kumar said.
The ongoing financial crisis, poverty reduction, reforms including expansion of the Security Council, uneven progress in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Darfur conflict are likely to dominate the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly that begins on Tuesday. More than 170 heads of state and governments, foreign ministers and senior diplomats will participate in the discussion lasting about two weeks.
The United Nations members States have endorsed India's viewpoint that the General Assembly should begin the inter-governmental negotiations on expansion of the Security Council, with consensus emerging in favour of starting parleys by February next year. While all members agree that the Council should be expanded to reflect the current realities, a majority wants the expansion to take place in both categories and a minority subscribes to the UFC viewpoint.
Rising prices and global economic slowdown are threatening Millennium Goals, necessitating an 'aggressive push' to achieve the anti-poverty targets by 2015, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
A downgraded Hurricane Gustav packed with strong winds and heavy rains lashed the Gulf coast on Monday but spared New Orleans, the city which was devastated three years ago by Hurricane Katrina.Fearing a repeat of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, more than two million people fled their homes from coastal Mississippi, Albama and South-eastern Texas ahead of the storm, which was at one stage forecast to attain highest Category 5 before making the landfall.
Challenging the widely-held view that fossil fuel subsidies benefit the poor, the UN has asked for cutting back on such mechanisms to curb greenhouse gas emissions and propel economic growth.
Diplomats said that France, whose original draft is being opposed by Moscow, is working on fresh resolution that would try to harmonize the two opposing drafts even as most members stressed the need to have resolution, which could be adopted unanimously.
Thirty-six year old Aafia Saddiqui, a neuroscientist trained in US, who was arrested in New York after being brought from Afghanistan on Monday evening, will be produced before a court on Wednesday, South District of New York Attorney Michael J Garcia said.
Top United Nations experts on Latin America and the Caribbean have warned that global economic shocks could throw some 16 million people of the Americas into extreme poverty, threatening important gains toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the region.
Indian-origin International Criminal Court judge Navanethem Pillay has been named the United Nations' new human rights chief, despite some initial opposition from the United States. Pillay, 67, who is from South Africa, will succeed Louise Arbour of Canada who completed her term on June 30.
A world without tobacco 'is a world in which people live longer and have happier lives,' Bloomberg, New York Mayor who has a fortune of $16 billion, said at a joint press conference with the Microsoft founder Gates. They said the money would go to anti-smoking groups working with governments to curb the consumption of tobacco and related products, including World Health Organisation and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a veiled attack on people who are against the Indo-US nuclear deal, Indian ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen has said those who opposed the use of technology have proved wrong time and again.
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