New York - Seven years after the September 11 terrorist strikes, New Yorkers on Thursday will remember the attacks that killed more than 2,700 people with the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers.

The city will observe the anniversary with renewed calls for vigilance against the constant threats of new terrorist attacks. Names of the dead will be read yet again.

The presidential nominees of both US major parties, Republic Senator John McCain and his rival, Democratic Senator Barack Obama, plan to attend ceremonies at Ground Zero, site of the destroyed towers.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over the increased hostilities in northern Sri Lanka, warning that this would have grave humanitarian consequences for civilians.

The Sri Lankan government had requested the relocation of UN humanitarian staff in areas affected by the fighting between government and rebel forces.

New York  - High profile Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and scores of lesser known victims of terrorism on Tuesday appealed to the international community to focus on their unique needs and stop treating them as mere statistics.

Victims of terrorist attacks in Nairobi, London, Baghdad, Amman and Colombia met at United Nations headquarters for the first UN symposium designed to give them a voice, and shared their experiences with decision-makers.

New York, Sept. 9 : Republican vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is being hailed as a mix of Lara Croft and Britain’s “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher.

If the New York Post has praised John McCain’s decision to pick "the charming, but rock-solid, outsider Sarah Palin", the Scotsman has revealed that companies are scrambling to make dolls in Palin''s image.

One shows her as a bespectacled action figure with short white skirt, long black coat and pistol strapped to her thigh.

Republicans hope she can breathe new life into a party already demoralized by eight years of failure.

New York, Sept. 9: Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s frequent hugs with his running mate Sarah Palin leaves “room for the Holy Ghost”, says a etiquette and body language expert.

According to Christopher Buckley, a novelist and longtime satirist of the ways of Washington, Palin “seems to be cognizant that she is wandering into the danger zone, with the result that as she hugs him, she leans away from him so as to insert some chaste space between them.”

New York, Sept. 9 : Republican vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has indicated that she is ready to be grilled by what the McCain Campaign refers to as media “piranhas”.

Palin will sit down with ABC News for her first press interview at the end of the week, reports the New York Daily News.

Keen to tone down increasing criticism that Palin is being kept on a short leash while feeding off her crowd appeal, the McCain camp relented Sunday and said Palin will have her first press interview at the end of the week with ABC News.