Film-makers focus on poverty, despite United Nations row

Wim Wenders and Jane Campion are two of the acclaimed directors behind a collection of short films on the United Nations' fight against poverty, but the U.N.agency meant to sponsor the project has pulled out of it.

‘8', which premiered at the Rome film festival on October 23, brings together eight film-makers to illustrate the eight U.N.

Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000 and aimed at halving the number of extremely poor and hungry people by 2015.

Each director takes a different angle to show how poverty, climate change, lack of access to education and basic health facilities are affecting the world's needy but also those living in the rich West.

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‘Mahatma Gandhi's legacy is vital in today's world'

The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, whose non-violent struggle led to an independent India and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom around the globe, is vital in today's world where the rights of too many people are still violated, top United Nations officials said on October 2, the Mahatma's birthday.

Marking the second annual International Day of Non-violence UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that this year's celebration falls during the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among those present was India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

There is a profound philosophical connection between the fundamental principles of human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration and those practiced by Mahatma Gandhi," Ban told a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York.

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There is urgent need for coordinated action by global community on several fronts

The composition of the Security Council needs to change to reflect contemporary realities of the twenty-first century.

It is only a truly representative and revitalized United Nations that can become the effective focal point for the cooperative efforts of the world community. We need to expeditiously hold negotiations towards this end.

Globalization has contributed to ever widening circles of prosperity and we in India have benefited from it. But its benefits have not been equitably distributed. Ensuring inclusive growth within nations, and inclusive globalization across nations, is a central challenge that faces us.

There is (therefore) urgent need for coordinated action by the global community on several fronts.

The explosion of financial innovation unaccompanied by credible systemic regulation has made the financial system vulnerable.

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