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LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party activists feel that the appointment of Akhilesh Yadav, son of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, as state president of the party has helped in rejuvenating it.

KOLKATA: It seems the Trinamool Congress (TMC), new to the ways of coalition politics, is finding its feet after its setback in the Siliguri town Civic Elections. For the coming round of by-elections in ten Assembly seats in November, TMC supremo Ms Mamata Banerjee has offered three north Bengal seats to her ally, the Congress, opting to retain the remaining seven for her party.. Preliminary indications are that the Congress will fall in line with the suggestions with minor amendments. In case the seat sharing formula gets accepted, both parties will tacitly acknowledge their mutual areas of strength and not encroach on new territory.

New York: A new international convention is needed to prevent trafficking in organs, tissues and cells (OTC), protect victims and prosecute offenders, according to a joint study launched by the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

New York: There is a large gap between the rhetoric of heads of State on commitments to reverse global warming and what their negotiators are putting on the table, a senior United Nations official said today in the wake of recent climate change talks in Bangkok, Thailand.

New York: A United Nations conservation expert has called for the protection of gorillas and elephants to be included in global climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December as a major factor in sustaining healthy African forests, a central element in temperature control.

New York: The surge in world trade in recent years has failed to improve the working conditions and living standards for the majority of workers in poor countries, according to a new United Nations labour agency study.

New York: Governments must ensure that agriculture becomes more productive if it is to feed a growing world population expected to reach nearly 9.2 billion people by 2050 as well as respond to the environmental challenges ahead, a senior United Nations official said in a High level expert forum.

GENEVA: A joint study from the International Labour Organization and the WTO has found that high incidence of informal employment in the developing world suppresses countries' ability to benefit from trade opening by creating poverty traps for workers in job transition.

LUCKNOW: Deterioration in law and order, violation of the Supreme Court order by the Mayawati government in going ahead with the construction of statues and memorials in Lucknow are among the major issues, which are likely to dominate the election campaign for by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 11 assembly seats on November 7, 2009.

Will the ground realities surfacing during the election campaigns change the perception about the ruling Congress getting a comfortable majority in the October 13 Haryana Assembly elections? An answer to the question will have to wait till October 22 when the results will be out. However, a closer look shows the way the electoral wind is blowing and reveals the political and electoral trends confirming the state's reputation of being a land of unpredictable politicians. Both the Congress and the opposition parties are responsible for generating these trends.