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New York: Illicit drugs and transnational organized crime can undercut security and development in countries and across regions, a top United Nations official told the Security Council today, stressing the need for concerted action to tackle these growing threats.

New York: The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, Australia’s Ningaloo Coast and the Ogasawara Islands of Japan were today added to the World Heritage List, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported.

For the past few days, there is a lot of speculation about the impending cabinet reshuffle. Aspirants are sitting near the telephone waiting for that important phone call form the Prime Minister’s residence while those in the council of ministers are nervous about their continuance as it has been said that the Prime Minister may axe those who had not performed well. This has provoked a tongue in cheek remark that it should begin from the top.

KOLKATA: It is just over a month that the new Government headed by Mamata Banerjee came to power in West Bengal. The beginning has been good. She has already addressed herself to some of the trickly problems of the State and the initial response has been encouraging.

When it comes to material pursuits, educated modern Tamils are certainly not behind Gujaratis, Marwaris or even Punjabis. But, in terms of business vision, today’s Tamil Nadu (TN) beats all other Indian states. A generation-old political dogfight between DMK and ADMK and a prolonged absence of Congress rule had no impact on Tamil Nadu’s economic progress and its stunningly high growth rate of gross state domestic product (SDP), which has ruled above the national growth (GDP) level for successive recent years.

Mid-2011, the world economy is battered by a host of challenges, fiscal and monetary, as post-crisis recovery slows - fiscal imbalances, weakened consumer and business confidence and unrelenting joblessness (USA), the protracted sovereign debt crisis in euro-zone periphery threatening a contagion across borders, and the toll on Japan’s economy and neighbourhood from its natural disasters.

New York: Twelve nations and the European Union today added their signatures to a United Nations treaty on the equitable sharing of the planet’s genetic resources in a ceremony at UN Headquarters.

The Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs has embarked on establishment of a nationwide database of all international relations scholars and experts. The measure has been taken in partnership with the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Jadhavapur Association of International Relations. To begin with, a closed Google mail group has been created to enable empanelled scholars to start interacting with each other to develop a close rapport with the Ministry in the Public Diplomacy Division.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fight against corruption will be the main agenda of our government’s 100-day programme, thundered Chief Minister Oommen Chandy while announcing the plan of action. However, its subsequent actions hardly match its words.

LUCKNOW: The Congress Party has launched a major offensive against Mayawati government on various fronts including farmers, bad governance, rise in incidents of rape and assaults on women especially dalits to emerge as front runner and eventually form the government through Mission 2012.