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New York: The United Nations health agency is set to develop the first-ever global information standards for traditional medicine, which is a primary source of health care for many people in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America and is increasingly being used in Europe and North America.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made history in Bihar by leading his Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition to an overwhelming electoral victory and winning 206 of the 243 Assembly seats. The landslide has reduced Mr Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal to a poor 22 seats, his partner Ram Bilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party to just 3 seats, and the Congress to a pathetic 4 seats, its lowest-ever Bihar score. Bihar has no official Opposition because none has won one-tenth of the Assembly seats. The results have important implications for national political trends.

When the NDA has virtually convinced itself that it has more than a fair chance of success in the next general election, it will be salutary to remember that the difference in the voting percentages of the JD(U)-BJP alliance and its three main opponents taken together – the RJD, the LJP and the Congress – is only four per cent. Lalu Yadav was not whistling in the dark, therefore, when he said after the results were declared that it was too early to write off the RJD.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $200 million loan to the Philippines for financial sector reforms to improve financial sector stability, increase the efficiency and liquidity of markets, and strengthen the regulatory environment in the wake of the global economic crisis.

Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have noted that a sharp contraction in domestic activity amidst the global downturn has weakened the fiscal position and banks’ balance sheets. Prudent macroeconomic policies have now laid the foundations of a recovery, but the outlook remains exposed to downside risks. In order to boost economic prospects, Directors encouraged the authorities to build adequate buffers against external shocks and address vulnerabilities in the fiscal domain and in the financial sector.

New York: The number of people in Latin America and the Caribbean affected by extreme weather events, including high temperatures, forest fires, droughts, storms and floods grew from 5 million in the 1970s to more than 40 million between 2000 and 2009, the United Nations said today in a report that graphically details the effects of climate change in those regions.

New York: The next two months will be crucial for Myanmar, potentially determining its political future and its place in the international community, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today, citing the unsatisfactory nature of recent elections and the need to include those who were excluded.

New York: Despite the fact that over 350 million rural people have escaped poverty over the past ten years, the bulk of the world’s poor are still found in rural areas, says a new United Nations report, which calls for greater investment in agriculture and efforts to boost livelihoods.

New York: Violence and discrimination against women and girls remains pervasive and is often overlooked, a United Nations independent human rights expert said today, adding that efforts to achieve the global anti-poverty goals should include closer attention to the protection of women’s rights.

The WTO Secretariat reported that during the period 1 January — 30 June 2010, the number of initiations of new anti-dumping investigations showed a 29% decrease compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The number of new measures applied also decreased during the first semester of 2010 when compared with the first half of 2009.