Geneva, Sept. 24 : A well known supporter of the Kashmiri cause for self-determination, has said that the ongoing composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, is a good avenue for realizing this cherished goal.

Dr Shabir Choudhry told a conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the peace process, confidence building measures, and cease fire along the LOC have provided some relief to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially those living near the Line of Control.

He, however, warned that terrorist activities in both India and Pakistan are on the increase, and that it is necessary to nip this looming threat sooner than later.

Geneva, Sept 21 : In its latest Annual Malaria Report, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the disease killed nearly one million people worldwide in 
2006.

According to the report, most of the dead were children below five, and African countries were mostly affected. A total of 109 countries were prone to malaria in 2008, with 45 being in Africa, the Washington Times quoted the WHO report as saying.

Geneva  - A giant particle accelerator intended to provide clues as to how the universe began has been shut down for two months because of a fault, its operators said Saturday.

The move came after helium leaked into the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider on Friday afternoon, according to a statement released by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Geneva - South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu Thursday levelled sharp criticism at Israel over its bombardment two years ago of Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, which killed 19 Palestinian civilians.

Tutu, in a report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on the incident, accused Israel of a lack of cooperation in the inquiry and demanded it pay compensation to families of those killed in what he said could be classed as a war crime.

Geneva, Sept. 15 : A Spanish diplomat with eight years experience in Afghanistan has claimed that conditions there are far worse now than they were in 2001.

Appealing for a concerted American and foreign response, even before a new American administration took office, to avoid “a very hot winter for all of us”, diplomat Francesc Vendrell said the growing number of civilian deaths in attacks by American and international forces was particularly worrisome.

Geneva, Sept 14 : The number of children who die before the age of five has declined by 27 percent over the last 17 years, a report released by the UN Children''s Fund said.

According to the UN report, one of the contributing causes to more than one-third of child deaths worldwide is “under-nutrition”.

Despite progress in reducing the numbers of underweight children, UNICEF reports there are an estimated 148 million children in the developing world who are undernourished, it added.