World maternal mortality rate is an outrage, says Ban Ki-moon

July 21st, 2009 Forty years back this day that is July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin stepped on moon. US President Obama celebrates the 40 anniversary moon landing by paying tribute to the astronauts of Apollo 11.

July 6th, 2009 GENEVA - The global economic crisis will likely hamper efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals, which, in part, were already lagging behind the targets, the UN warned in a report released Monday. Aid to the world's poorest countries was falling short of pledges made by richer states, and the recession would probably cut into assistance budgets further.

May 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Twenty-year-old Gurpreet Singh, a Delhi student, still can't get over his NASA experience that won him two awards for designing a vehicle which can run unmanned on the surface of the moon. Excited about the achievement, Singh Thursday said educational institutes in India need to be better informed of such global events for students of the country to showcase their talent.

April 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The widening global financial crisis has created a development emergency, preventing many countries from achieving targets on reducing hunger, child mortality and major diseases, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and World Bank have warned in a report. The Global Monitoring Report, released Friday on the eve of IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, said it was unlikely that the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an ambitious programme adopted by governments in 2000, would be met by the target year of 2015.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The global financial crisis is imperilling the UN Millennium Development Goals and could hamper development, warned an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank report released Friday. Most of the eight globally agreed goals are unlikely to be met by the targeted 2015, including those related to hunger, child and maternal mortality, education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, the report said.

April 8th, 2009 SYDNEY - Difference in reflection of light from Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine, according to the latest research. Sally Langford of University of Melbourne's School of Physics, who conducted the study, said that brightness of the reflected earthshine varied as the Earth rotated, revealing the difference between intense mirror-like reflections of the ocean compared to the dimmer land.

April 6th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers are readying a robot with the help of an artist to place a little red cottage on the moon, as a symbol of what humankind can achieve. The goal is for the robot named Roony, to be able to place the cabin on the moon in 2012, under the project 'House on the Moon', a collaboration between Malardalen University and versatile artist Mikael Genberg.

April 2nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Kidney failure has emerged as a new killer on the horizon in Australia, resulting in more deaths than cardiovascular disease. Data from 2007 released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show kidney and urinary tract diseases have jumped to 10th on the leading cause of death list with 3,230 deaths being attributed as the single underlying cause.

March 5th, 2009 LONDON - Increased physical activity in middle age prolongs life, though it may take five to 10 years before an effect is seen, concludes a study published Thursday. Physical activity is beneficial for health, but about half of all middle-aged men in the West do not take part in regular physical activity.

February 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Bone fractures, even minor ones, increase a person's chances of dying, particularly if he is elderly. But hip fractures just double the risk for women, which is three times the risk for men.

February 3rd, 2009 KABUL - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on his visit to this war-torn country Wednesday promised strong support to Afghanistan. The UN chief met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and discussed the security situation as well as the upcoming elections in the country.

January 26th, 2009 SYDNEY - Breastfeeding cements a mother's bond with her baby and prevents mothers from neglecting them in later life, the latest findings have confirmed. Previous research, which Lane Strathearn, University of Queensland (UQ) paediatrician also incorporated in his findings, found the reward centres of a mother's brain lit up when she saw her own baby smiling.

January 14th, 2009 COLOMBO - The UN Thursday hailed Sri Lanka as 'a model for other developing nations' for scaling up its health services for mothers and infants, and succeeding in slashing maternal and neonatal mortality rates. The Unicef in its latest 'State of the World's Children' report said Sri Lanka has managed 'to halve its maternal mortality rate every six to 11 years by adopting sound strategies, allocating sufficient resources, providing free healthcare and making education for all a priority'.

January 11th, 2009 RAIPUR - Encouraged by Chandrayaan-I's success in October, India has planned a 'manned moon mission' by 2015, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said Monday.

December 29th, 2008 NEW DELHI - As the sun goes down Wednesday evening, two of the brightest objects in the winter sky - Venus and Moon - will get together to bid farewell to 2008. A beautiful conjunction of Venus and the slender crescent Moon will be visible in the southwestern sky for hours after sunset on New Year's Eve.