New York  - Children in the Gaza Strip continued to suffer and feel insecure despite a ceasefire that has mostly ended three weeks of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas, the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict said Monday.

Radihika Coomaraswamy said grave violations of child rights had been committed during the fighting that began on December 27 when the Israeli Defense Forces launched airstrikes against Hamas militants who had been firing rockets and mortars into southern Israel.

New York  - Plunging demand and restructuring costs eroded earnings for the world's largest appliance maker Whirlpool Corp, which Monday reported a 75 per cent drop in profits to 44 million dollars in the final quarter of 2008.

Revenues fell by 19 per cent to 4.3 billion dollars due to the increasing strength of the dollar, which made exports less attractive, the company said.

New York  - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Monday the keys to the city to the five-member crew of US Airways Flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson River last month without endangering the lives of the 150 passengers.

Bloomberg presented the keys at a City Hall ceremony, calling the crew "five real American heroes."

"That day could have been one of our most tragic, but became one of our most triumphant," Bloomberg said.

New York - Hasbro Inc, the worlds second-largest toymaker, reported a 30 per cent decline in fourth quarter profits compared to the year before, despite the burst of new products from the Star Wars and Transformers films.

Net earnings dropped to 93.6 million dollars. Revenues were down 5 per cent to 1.23 billion dollars from 1.3 billion dollars.

New York, Feb. 9 : THE heat is on George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to give up their precious perks.

In "Citizen-in-Chief: The Second Lives of the American Presidents," out this week, Leonard Bernardo and Jennifer Weiss claim that while early commanders-in-chief lived their later years on modest incomes, today''s ex-presidents are fat cats.

"Cashing in on the presidency has become routine," the New York Post quotes both, as saying.

New York, Feb 9 : American political commentator Ann Coulter has come under the scrutiny of the election commission in connection with her voting rights.

A spokeswoman for Connecticut's Elections Enforcement Commission has revealed that a "thorough investigation" is being carried out to determine whether Coulter broke the law by voting in the Nutmeg State, while living in New York City.

The matter came to light after Coulterwatch. com blogger Dan Borchers filed a formal complaint.