New York - Shoes, furniture and cars have been mass produced on assembly lines for years. Why doesn't the same apply for houses?

This question has intrigued several architects, including Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright and Marcel Breuer, all of whom experimented with the idea of building homes using modular design principles. Their part practical, part utopian ideas are part of an exhibit in New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) entitled Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.

MoMA describes the exhibit as a survey of the past, present and future of the prefabricated home and a building project on the museum's vacant west lot. It aims to display the process of architectural design and production in equal measure with the actual end result.

New York  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned the series of terrorist attacks in Algiers.

"The secretary general extends his condolences to the people of Algeria and in particular, to the families of the victims," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

She said Ban called on the international community to support the efforts of the government of Algeria to combat terrorism.

New York  - Russia submitted a new draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, which it claimed reflects the six-point plan worked out by France to end the conflict in Georgia.

The Russian draft was aimed at countering another draft resolution already under discussion by the 15-nation council, calling for an immediate and unconditional end to hostilities in Georgia and for Russia to end its military occupation.

The draft being discussed by the council supports Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

New York, Aug 20 : The new leadership in Pakistan – mainly PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif – will have to show personal courage and broad political support to clean up its armed forces and intelligence agency ISI of the elements which have in the past killed Indian diplomats in collaboration with armed Islamic extremists.

India's top cigarette firm, ITC Limited has informed that its US-based wholly-owned arm ITC Infotech has acquired US-based Pyxis Solutions.

New York  - Wachovia Corp reached a multibillion-dollar settlement with regulators and governments on Friday, joining the banks settling allegations they improperly urged customers to buy a type of bond that fell apart in conjunction with the subprime mortgage crisis.

Wachovia will buy back from customers 8.5 billion dollars worth of auction-rate securities - a type of bond without a set interest rate for which rates are instead set at periodic auctions.