If the international community concentrates on empowering women through gender equality, it will actually be promoting the cause of democracy, mitigating poverty and improving general health, joint secretary in the ministry of women and child development Kiran Chadha told the ongoing session of Commission on Status of Women.
Addressing the Committee for Development Policy, Sha Zukang, under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, said the worst economic crises since the great depression have thrown many more people into poverty.
James Otis, the owner of five of Mahatma Gandhi's personal items, on Thursday decided to withdraw from the controversial auction of the prized memorabilia, hours before they were due to come under the hammer. Sources close to Otis said he would formally communicate to the New York-based Antiquorum Auctioneers that he would like to withdraw from the auction.There was no immediate word from the auctioneer, who have maintained that the auction will take place as scheduled.
Indian diplomats in New York are making all out efforts to stop the auction of Mahatma Gandhi's personal items, even as community leaders and groups are working out strategies to buy them if the auction goes ahead on Thursday.
Caught in a racial row and faced with threats of boycott, the New York Post apologised on Friday over its controversial political cartoon, depicting the drafter of the US economic stimulus package as a chimpanzee, which many believe was a caricature of President Barack Obama.
Pressing for "actual negotiations" on the issue of UN Security Council expansion, India has asked the General Assembly for discussions to be held in an interactive format, as representatives of the world body met in New York to launch parleys on reforms.
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.
Accusing the company of deceiving consumers into believing that VitaminWater provides remarkable health benefits by marketing, advertising and labeling the VitaminWater flavours with names, including 'defense', 'rescue' and 'energy', the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the drink was basically sugar water. Coca-Cola bought Glaceau's VitaminWater for $4.1 billion in June 2007.
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.