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Rabindranath Tagore attained early success in literature in his native Bengal. Though successful in all literary genres, he was first of all a great poet. With his translations of some of his poems he also became rapidly famous in the west. Among his fifty and odd popular volumes of poetry are the likes of Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], and Gitanjali (1910), which fetched him the Nobel prize for literature in 1913.

Better city, better life with Information and Communication Technology is the theme of this year’s celebration of World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD). This day marks the signing of the first International Convention and Foundation of International Telecommunication Union in 1865. World Telecommunication Day is being celebrated annually since 1969. Telecommunication services which because of technological evolution morphed into Telecommunication and Information Services prompted the Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya to rechristen the World Telecommunication Day as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

New York: Everyone has a right to information affecting their lives but too often government secrecy and a lack of accountability ensure that the public are deprived of vital facts, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said as he called for a wholesale change in attitudes towards press freedom.

More than 10 million different species of animals, plants, fungi and micro–organisms inhabits the Earth. They and the habitats in which they live represent the world’s biological diversity or biodiversity as it is often called. Humans use at least 40,000 species of plants and animals on a daily basis for food, shelter, clothing and medicinal needs.

New York: The United Nations and MTV are reaching out young Kenyans to highlight that HIV is not a death sentence though a new three-part television series exploring the lives and love of a group of friends in Nairobi.

New York: The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is working to boost the nutrition of children at risk of malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases through state-of-the-art nuclear technology.

New York: Progress on achieving greater social integration as envisioned in a landmark declaration in 1995 has been mixed, the head of the United Nations social development commission said, calling for accelerated efforts to boost the participation of the world’s most vulnerable groups in decision-making processes.

New York: With adverse weather causing air traffic delays and aircraft accidents, the United Nations kicked off a week-long meeting in Hong Kong to examine the link between aviation and climate and look at improving the accuracy of forecasts, especially in light of the expected increase in extreme weather events.

New York: The joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Darfur region today strongly rejected “unfounded allegations” levelled by the Sudanese military's spokesperson that it is collaborating with the rebel group known as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

New York: Forensic science, more often associated with solving murders in prime time television crime series, is now helping the United Nations fight illegal fishing, fraudulent product substitution and false documentation that not only cheat consumers but also endanger fish stocks and threaten livelihoods in developing countries.