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New York: The United Nations and a coalition of financial institutions warned today that huge losses, both financial and environmental, could result from a failure to agree on a climate change agreement that spurs private sector investment in efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation.

New York: The use of amphetamine-type stimulants such as ecstasy and meth is surging around the world, a new United Nations report finds, warning that the growing trade in these illegal drugs and the high profits they bring to criminals are posing an increasing threat to health and security.

New York: Hailing the Nepalese Government’s commitment to establish long awaited transitional justice mechanisms to address the abuses of its decade-long civil war, the United Nations today warned against granting pardons or case withdrawals that would violate international human rights law.

New York: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today launched a programme honouring Rabindrânâth Tagore, Pablo Neruda and Aimé Césaire, three poets who, each in his own way, carried high the standard of humanist values.

Not many people except those belonging to Col Muammar el-Qadhafi’s inner circle will shed tears if he is captured (hopefully alive) or dead by Western-backed rebel forces, which are closing in on him near the Niger border. This may happen any day now. Qadhafi ruled Libya for 42 years, tyrannising his people and using the country’s great oil wealth to fund various misadventures, including the Lockerbie terrorist attack on an airliner, and attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Even before the Twelfth Plan envisaging a 9 per cent growth average for the five years (2012-17) is finalized, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia concedes that the target may prove difficult, with the embedded inflation in the economy and an unfinished reform agenda. Near term prospects for progress on both fronts can be virtually ruled out and hence understandably, the target was not more ambitiously set at 10 per cent, as the Prime Minister would have desired.

L.K. Advani confirms the correctness of two beliefs. One is that hope springs eternal in the human breast and the other is that age cannot be measured in years since it is a state of the mind. Despite contrary noises from his party, few will doubt that his latest rath yatra – the sixth since his memorable debut in 1990 – is intended by him to pitchfork him into the frontline in the race for prime ministership.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Climate change threatens to increase hunger and malnutrition among the Pacific region's poorest people unless there is action soon, says a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a $100 million loan to the Indian state of Gujarat to help accelerate the rollout of new large-scale solar power facilities.

People with university degrees have suffered far fewer job losses during the global economic crisis than those who left school without qualifications, according to the latest edition of the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance. Good education and skills are crucial to improving a person’s economic and social prospects.