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New York: Lack of accountability is hindering progress in the peace process in Nepal, the top United Nations human rights official in the country said today, calling for perpetrators of violations, committed both during the decade-long civil war and afterwards, to be brought to justice.

NEW YORK: Is the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton keeping a low profile by choice or is her role getting diminished? This is the question debated in the power corridors of Washington for the past few days. Hillary Clinton certainly began well if one goes by the job approval polls held in May which gave her 71 per cent as compared to Obama's 65 per cent.

India stuck to its tough stand that WTO negotiations can progress only if concerns of developing nations are addressed.

Countrywide hallmarking and assaying of gold and silver jewellery is yet to take off in India. At present, 47 hallmarking and assaying centres are functioning in the country. Their spread across the country is uneven as can be seen from location of these centres. Of the total, nine hallmarking and assaying centres are located in Kerala, nine in Tamil Nadu, eight in Maharashtra, six in Delhi, five in Gujarat, three each in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, two in Karnataka, one each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, proving beyond doubt that globalised standards of gold and silver jewellery under the scheme of assaying and hallmarking is yet to take off! Only one hallmarking and assaying centre is in the public sector MMTC (Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation). The rest are in the private sector.

KOLKATA: Sikkim Chief Minister Mr. Pawan Kumar Chamling finds himself in the undesirable company of his west Bengal counterpart Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya: six major hydel projects in his state have been put on hold by the central government, following prolonged agitation by north Sikkim indigenous tribal groups.

BHOPAL: In Madhya Pradesh, both the Congress and the BJP are still busy soul-searching to determine what led to their poor performance on the electoral front.

New York: Asia's first centre for dealing with disputes related to intellectual property including trademarks, copyright and patent issues will open in Singapore, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported today.

New York: Mongolia is “a role model for many developing countries,” making progress in the fight against poverty, successfully transiting to democracy and taking an active role in United Nations peacekeeping missions, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

The IMF has praised Beijing's swift and concerted response to the global downturn, but says China needs to adjust its economic model for continued strong growth.

All is not well with industrial relations on Indian Railways despite its emphasis on staff welfare and thorough industrial relations machinery. On paper, industrial relations on Indian Railways have a very well structured mechanism at all levels of organisation. Pillars of industrial relations are: Permanent Negotiating Machinery (PNM), Departmental Council/Joint Consultative Machinery (DC-JCM), Participation of Railway Employees in Management (PREM) and Staff Councils for Production Units. Yet there are pin-pricks between the management and the work force, which often lead to strained industrial relations.