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New York: The world's leading cocoa-producing and consuming countries reached agreement at a United Nations meeting on a new pact that aims to make the global trade in the $10 billion industry fairer and more sustainable.

New York: United Nations agencies have reported that the situation in Kyrgyzstan is relatively calm but still tense and that large numbers of those uprooted by the recent violence are returning to their homes, while adding that relief workers are still having difficulty reaching all those in need.

New York: Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has stressed that there must be no impunity for any serious crimes committed during the 2008 conflict in South Ossetia, Georgia, after they wrapped up an official visit to the Caucasus country.

New York: United Nations agencies are urging the international community to mobilize resources to boost child nutrition in Niger in the wake of new Government data that shows that the situation has deteriorated in the last 12 months.

New York: The United Nations has begun providing quality seeds to 100,000 vulnerable farmers in Burkina Faso, one of several nations in the Sahel region suffering from a growing food crisis that is putting millions at risk of hunger.

New York: Disparities in research capacity among social scientists across the world have reduced the capacity of the field to contribute to human welfare, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has said in a report.

New York: A new laboratory has been set up in the Ivorian port city of Abidjan to improve the monitoring of hazardous materials under a project backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that aims to prevent a repeat of a notorious incident in which thousands of people were sickened by toxic waste.

New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked the Press Council of India (PCI) to submit its report on paid news as soon as possible, the Minister Mrs Ambika Soni told reporters here yesterday.

New Delhi: After misuse of cough syrup, in North East India and bordering Bangladesh for “high”, medicines for menstrual pain and other such prescription drugs are becoming favourites among addicts in the region and other parts of the country.

If the costs of all other factors of production can happily move upward and companies are quick to factor them in pricing their end products, why is there so much government pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and public sector banks to keep the cost of funds to industry low and under control? What is preventing RBI from tightening money supply to check the double-digit-plus inflation rate despite the untold hardship it is creating to the common man? The argument that a tighter money supply resulting in higher bank interest rates would affect the economic growth rate is untenable. Economy is growing well despite rising costs of all inputs other than bank funds. Two to three per cent increase in the lending rates is unlikely to make much difference to industry and its profitability.