View Articles

New York: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community today not to replace ozone-depleting gases that are now being phased out with highly potent global warming substitutes.

Asserting its monetary judgment on a holistic view of both global and domestic economy with its twin objectives of growth and price stability, the Reserve Bank of India has effected one more rise by 25 basis points to take the key policy rate (repo) to 8.25 per cent, and has, at the same time, ruled out any “premature change” in the policy stance in the immediate future.

KOLKATA: As feared by observers, Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wazed is in deep trouble over the non-signing of the Teesta water sharing accord with India.

It would be highly unfair to expect the country’s Prime Minister and his over worked cabinet colleagues busy in macro-managing the nation to know the retail market prices of brinjal or varieties of gourd, parwal, lady’s finger, coriander leaves, green chilli etc. Most likely even their hi-profile housewives may not know the prices of these vegetables alongside those of mutton, beef, pork, chicken, fish and eggs.

New York: The United Nations is set to launch an all-out attack next week on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), bringing together dozens of heads of State to promote the lifestyle changes needed to curb the soaring toll of a scourge that already causes over 63 per cent of all the world’s deaths.

New York: The number of young children who die each day has plunged over the past two decades, new United Nations figures show, but the world is still lagging far behind in efforts to achieve its target for reducing child mortality.

New York: United Nations officials today stressed that the tourism industry must ensure it does business in an ethical manner, saying that irresponsible travel could harm societies and the environment despite its benefits to the global economy through job creation and community empowerment.

WASHINGTON – The World Bank warned today that heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory conditions, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) increasingly threaten the health and economic security of many lower- and middle-income countries, and that most countries lack the money and health services to be able to ‘treat their way out’ of the NCD crisis. On the eve of a special United Nations summit on NCDs in New York, the Bank said the rise of chronic diseases, especially among young working adults in these countries, was a danger that warranted immediate global attention.

New York: Trade and agricultural policies are at the core of development, three senior United Nations officials said today, calling for much more to be done towards bringing greater coherence to the issue and warning against protectionism.

WASHINGTON – Financial systems across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) proved resilient during the global financial crisis and subsequent political shocks but have failed to provide access to finance, contributing to the region’s relatively weak growth performance and inability to generate jobs. This in turn has contributed to the deep-seated frustrations of the region’s large youth populations, say the findings of a new World Bank report.