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New York: Economic recovery in developed economies may grind to a halt because of weak domestic demand and the replacement of stimulus packages with fiscal austerity measures as governments try to regain the confidence of the financial markets, according to a United Nations report unveiled today.

New York: Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders today held the first of two meetings this week devoted to property issues, among the thorniest in the ongoing United Nations-sponsored talks to reunify the Mediterranean island that has been split for almost 50 years.

New York: The new Libyan authorities have requested United Nations support for several post-conflict tasks, including elections, transitional justice and national reconciliation, according to a senior UN official who is in Tripoli to begin laying the groundwork for the world body’s operations.

New York: The United Nations and local partners in Nepal today called for immediate steps to better the lives of over 100,000 bonded labourers and family members, who have seen scant improvement in their often deplorable conditions since the Government abolished the system in 2008.

New York: Children are bearing the brunt of the Horn of Africa crisis and constitute the majority of all Somali refugees in neighbouring Ethiopia, the United Nations reported today.

New York: The United Nations tribunal set up to prosecute the most serious offences committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s today convicted Momcilo Perišic for crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced the former chief of staff of the Yugoslav Army to 27 years in prison.

New Delhi: A United Nations report for the first time took a dig at the faulty measures adopted and being adopted so far to bail out the world economy from the financial crisis which engulfed it since August-September 2008.

New Delhi: Prof. K.V. Thomas, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has directed NAFED and NCCF to intervene in the market immediately to keep the onion prices under check. Outlets of both the agencies in Delhi will sell onions at the rate of Rs. 20 per kg. The State Governments are also being requested to take similar steps for market intervention through their agencies.

India has just emerged from a major political crisis, which could have turned into a veritable disaster. At its centre was an attempt by Mr Anna Hazare and his core-supporters to set up a confrontation between Parliament and the people on the Lokpal Bill. Had Parliament not come into the picture just in time, and had violence broken out, India would have sunk into horrific disorder. This would have spurred calls for draconian measures, which would have further inflamed the situation.

The civil society members are not the first critics of a government to face official probes into their past. The most celebrated victim of the government’s wrath in recent years was the website, Tehelka.com, following its expose in 2001 of fraudulent deals involving the then defence minister, George Fernandes, and BJP president, Bangaru Laxman, who was caught on camera accepting a bribe. For its pains, the company was “ruined”, as the Wikipedia claims, because the Atal Behari Vajpayee government let loose the police and tax authorities against it.