Saturday, November 07, 2009 UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed on Friday that the world body is not evacuating staff from Afghanistan despite the dangerous security situation there. Ban, who has just returned from an overseas tour that included Afghanistan, briefed the UN Security Council on the recent developments in the Central Asian country. The UN is taking immediate steps to bolster security for all UN staff in the country, including the short-term relocating of some international staff, he told reporters. He refuted some media reports that had "inaccurately characterized this as withdrawal or evacuation." "We are not moving any international staff in the provinces out of the country," he stressed. "But let me be crystal clear: we are not evacuating," he said. "We will not, cannot and must not be deterred. Our work will continue." The secretary-general went on saying that "no critical staff will be moved, and our work on humanitarian development needs will continue as before." "Our colleagues will simply have to manage, temporarily, with less administrative support," he said. The temporary relocation of some of its staff, as the world body has announced, came as part of increased security measures following the deadly attack in the Afghan capital last week that killed five UN staff members and injured several others. Ban said he told the Security Council that the security situation in Afghanistan remained "dangerous" and that "we cannot procrastinate." He said he will soon bring forward specific proposals regarding additional resources to the General Assembly and other relevant UN bodies. While highlighting the urgency to establish a fund for the families of killed UN employees, the secretary-general said the Security Council is likely to issue a press statement on it soon.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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