A high-level meeting on racism, scheduled to take place later this month under the auspices of the General Assembly, is threatening to split the world body and trigger a North-South confrontation. Expressing unfounded fears the meeting might turn out to be anti- Israel, several Western states, including Canada, Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Austria, have indicated they will not participate in the meeting. The boycott...

-The Business Recorder   Surging flood waters in northern and eastern India have affected millions of people, forcing many from their homes as swollen rivers wash away roads and make rescue work difficult, government and aid officials said on Friday. Aid workers said 5.2 million people are now affected, double the figure from 10 days ago, as tail-end seasonal monsoon rains sweep the heavily-populated states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam where...

-The Times of India   Picking holes in some decisions made by the home ministry, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pointed out that the ministry had incurred an "avoidable expenditure" of more than Rs 9 crore by flying helicopters from Delhi to the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir to aid its troops deployed in operations. Besides, it has also rapped the ministry and its police wireless wing for incurring an...

Floods are vital to Kaziranga; dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra could disrupt the balance A few weeks ago, much of the grasslands of Kaziranga National Park were under water. The monsoon floods bring with them their own set of problems—some of the animals, for instance, have to be rehabilitated—but they are required for the very existence of the park. The annual floods of the Brahmaputra creates grasslands, floodplains, and...

-PTI   Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast close to 11 years to demand the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur, feels Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption is "somewhat artificial." Called the 'Iron lady of Manipur', 37-year-old Sharmila also urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to treat her like Hazare, who on Sunday ended his 12-day fast against corruption that shook the nation. "It's (Anna Hazare's movement) somewhat artificial,...