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New York: Urgent financial assistance is needed to ensure that Southern Sudan can avert severe hunger among its inhabitants, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today, calling for over $50 million to cover the food gap.

Despite the recent political fragility and the global financial crisis, the macroeconomic situation in Nepal remains broadly stable, says a latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) “Assessment Letter for the Asian Development Bank”. Real GDP growth in 2009/10 is expected to be resilient at 4 percent, slightly down from 4.7 percent in 2008/09 due to power shortages, difficult labor relations, and adverse weather conditions.

Should a power utility company, which is given special treatment by both the central and state government in terms of tariff fixation, taxation, credit availability, guaranteed return, etc., be allowed to divert funds to non-core businesses? Is it right to allow petroleum and natural gas companies, which also receive a host of financial incentives, including guaranteed return, from the government, to invest their shareholders' fund in non-related non-core activities?

Elephants are under threat. Their corridors of movement through jungles, forests and hills in West Bengal and NE India are coming under increasing pressure of human settlers as well as expanding infrastructure.

Should we not do something about our own security regulations after the recent Shah Rukh Khan detention at the Newark airport? The incident, which had been blown out of proportion by the media and the politicians, has provoked a mixed reaction with some including Shah Rukh himself wondering what is the big deal about it and others including some ministers condemning it.

By summarily sacking Jaswant Singh over his controversial book, the BJP may have created more problems for itself than it had hoped to solve. For a start, it has violated the first principle of such a punitive step by refusing to give the author a chance to explain himself. A party which evades the normal organizational process of serving a show-cause notice shows that it is not acting rationally. However, the reasons why it has resorted to arbitrariness typical of “kangaroo” courts are not far to seek.

New York: The total number of countries that have ratified the United Nations-backed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has inched closer to 150 after Liberia ratified the agreement this week.

New York: The top United Nations envoy to Liberia has stressed the need for greater awareness and behavioural changes to combat sexual exploitation and abuse in schools, and reiterated the world body's commitment to help the West African nation in its efforts.

In a small tent in the Angolan bush, four hours from the nearest major town, Helena Mazarro lived for almost two years. Food was tight in this remote corner in the summer of 1996, and Ms. Mazarro would fly off to Luanda, the capital, every two or three months and return a week later carrying a fraction of the food needed for the team of 15 humanitarian workers she was leading.

New York: The United Nations agency dealing with weather, climate and water says an El Niño event has begun in the tropical Pacific and is likely to continue into early 2010.