View Articles

New York: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is now at record levels with Asia bearing the brunt of the epidemic, says the United Nations World Health Organization in a report that also calls for better diagnosis of the disease.

New York: A United Nations tribunal has affirmed the conviction and 15-year sentence of a famous Rwandan singer and composer for his role during the mass killings that engulfed the country in 1994, and reduced the sentence handed down against a top official after reversing a number of his convictions.

New York: While more than 200 million slum dwellers worldwide have escaped their conditions in the past decade, the overall population of slums has swelled by nearly 60 million in the same period, a new United Nations report finds.

Brazil and India told the WTO Committee on Trade and Development on 18 March 2010 that they are pushing ahead with commitments to provide duty-free, quota-free treatment of imports from the least-developed countries (LDCs). The Committee elected Amb. Erwidodo (Indonesia) as its chair for 2010 and re-elected Amb. Jean Feyder (Luxembourg) as chair of the Sub-Committee on Least-Developed Countries.

New York: The Security Council has decided that the election to fill the vacancy at the principal judicial organ of the United Nations arising from the resignation of Judge Shi Jiuyong will take place on 29 June.

New York: Countries in the Asia-Pacific region must step up their cooperation to tackle the threat of highly infectious diseases - including H1N1 - crossing borders, a senior United Nations official has said.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistical experts are working with officials of the Bank of Botswana (BOB) and of the Nonbank Financial Regulatory Agency (NBFIRA) to improve the breadth and quality of data collected from the financial industry. The cooperative effort is part of an ongoing IMF technical assistance program and responds to calls by international groups, including the G-20, for improved data standards worldwide to support more robust macroeconomic and financial surveillance in the light of the global financial crisis.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$ 13 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for the Sustainable Cerrado Initiative, which seeks to guarantee the conservation of the most biodiverse savanna in the world, which covers nearly 25% of the Brazilian territory. The grant will be implemented by the federal and state governments, with World Bank support.

WASHINGTON - The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a US$65 million project to support the recovery of Haiti's critical infrastructure as well as the reestablishment of basic State functions following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010. This is part of a US$100 million emergency grant announced by the World Bank right after the earthquake.

WASHINGTON, DC ─ The World Bank has approved two education projects worth US$1.05 billion to India, designed to boost the number of children enrolling in and completing elementary school, and to improve quality of engineering education across the country.