Senior United Nations officials today called for urgent steps to rein in the rising prices for basic farm produce, petroleum and raw industrial materials whose volatility hits the world’s poorest people the hardest.     “Such volatility has huge negative impacts on vulnerable groups, such as low-income households in developing countries, for whom food expenditure can account for up to 80 per cent of household budgets,” UN Conference on Trade and Development...

The world economy may have turned around from one of the worst Economic Recessions that left it scarred in 2009 but things still look far from being radiant as global unemployment remains at a record high for the third consecutive year. If Global Employment Trends 2011, published by International Labour Organisation, is anything to go by, then low job creation remains a major stumbling block in the global economic recovery....

As world leaders and wealthy business executives prepared to mingle and chat at the World Economic Forum , U.N. figures revealed Tuesday that 205 million people were unemployed last year in the wake of the financial crisis and that little improvement was expected in 2011. The International Labor Organization said the number of jobless worldwide held steady last year and is forecast to dip less than 1 per cent this year...

Despite a sharp rebound in economic growth for many countries, global unemployment in 2011 is likely to continue at the record highs of the past three years, highlighting the need for long-term policies that prioritize quality job creation, according to the United Nations labour agency. Moreover, a narrow focus in developed economies on reducing fiscal deficits without addressing the challenge of job creation will further weaken employment prospects in 2011, the...

Every fifth person who killed himself in Maharashtra in 2009 was a farmer, recent suicide data says, nailing the state for most farm suicides for the tenth year in a row. Nationwide, 17,368 farmers killed themselves in 2009, 7% more than the count in 2008. The data is part of National Crime Records Bureau`s annual report of deaths and suicides across the country. Overall, India reported 418 accidental deaths a day...