Rubbishing reports that the Rs 12,000 crore-special package for Bihar was linked with current rift among NDA partners and an effort by Congress-led UPA to politically "lure" him, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said that development should not be bracketed with politics.

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it is recognizing Somalia's new government after a 22-year break in relations with the once-chaotic country, part of a general push by the United States, United Nations and the West toward encouraging rehabilitation there.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai has been re-elected as Chairman of United Nations Panel of External Auditors for 2013.

Expressing "deep sadness" at the death of 23-year-old Delhi gang rape victim, UN Human Rights Council chief Navi Pillay asked the Indian government to strengthen the country's legal regime to get rid of the "terrible scourge". The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said rape is a "national problem" in India, affecting women of all classes and castes and requires national solutions.

India, Brazil, China and other emerging nations will pay more to the United Nations after the General Assembly approved a five percent increase to the world body's budget for 2012-13 to USD 5.4 billion.

As India and Pakistan clashed in the Security Council over relevance of the UN observer group at the LoC, a spokesperson for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the force can be terminated only by a decision of the 15-nation body.

Tightening its norms for the private sector New Pension System (NPS), the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has disallowed fresh investments in equity mutual funds and ETFs from the corpus.

Over 50 million subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO will be able to apply online for transfer and withdrawal of their provident fund from July 1, a move aimed at speedy settlement of claims.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will on Tuesday inaugurate the ministerial session at the United Nations conference on biodiversity, which will have heads of states from various countries working to chart out a roadmap on biodiversity.

The United Nations on Wednesday hailed "concrete progress" at week-long climate talks in Bangkok, but environmental campaigners warned much faster action was needed to combat global warming.