New York, June 19 : A new media code proposed by the Sri Lankan government contains overbroad and vague language that could have a severe and chilling effect on free speech, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

On June 17, the mass media and information ministry officially proposed a Code of Media Ethics that would apply to print and electronic media, including the Internet.

The proposed code comes at a time when the government has taken various measures to clamp down on Sri Lanka's once vibrant media, including forcing some electronic media critical of the government to close down.

New York, June 10 - Sri Lankan authorities should challenge a parliamentarian’s claim as to the whereabouts of a political cartoonist who was forcibly disappeared in 2010 and provide information on his fate, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

Lawmaker Arundika Fernando told the Sri Lankan parliament June 5 that Prageeth Ekneligoda, a cartoonist and government critic who has not been seen since leaving work Jan 24, 2010, is currently living in hiding in France.

New York, May 30 - Two threatening letters sent last week to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg contained the poison ricin, the city's police department announced Wednesday.

One of the letters was received last Friday at a New York municipal office and the other arrived at an office in Washington that houses the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an advocacy group Bloomberg founded to push for stricter gun control laws.

Bloomberg never came in contact with the letters.

The letters contain threats against Bloomberg over his policy against the unrestricted sale of firearms, an effort in which he has become more active after the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school massacre last December.

Preliminary tests performed on the letters confirmed the presence of ricin, a deadly poison.

New York, May 29 - US consumer confidence increased again in May to hit a five-year high, said a report by the research institute of Conference Board.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose to 76.2 from the revised-up figure of 69.0 in April, the report said Tuesday. The May reading marked the highest level since February 2008 and topped market estimates, reported Xinhua.

The report showed that the present situation index increased to 66.7 from 61.0, while the expectations index, which is a gauge of consumers' expectation for business conditions over the next six months, improved to 82.4 from 74.3 last month.

New York, May 25 : New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has reopened its European paintings galleries after a two-year renovation, giving a privileged space to Spanish masters Velazquez, El Greco and Goya.

Prior to the overhaul, the Met's large collection of works by Velazquez, Goya, Ribera, Murillo and El Greco had been distributed in different galleries organized either by artistic movement or thematically.

But as of Thursday, this museum now has a dedicated space for Spanish art.

New York, May 23 - Russia has been asked to increase the level of staff it commits to UN peacekeeping missions around the world, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said.

"Our peacekeepers are in great demand. We have been asked to increase the number of peacekeepers involved in UN peacekeeping operations," Kolokoltsev said after meeting UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

Kolokoltsev said that about 80 Russian police officers are currently serving with eight UN peacekeeping operations.

New York, May 16 - Authorities in India and Bangladesh should take all necessary steps to protect Shukhoranjan Bali, a long-missing witness in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Bali, a Bangladeshi, claims he was abducted by the Bangladeshi police from the entrance to the ICT courthouse, detained, then forced by security forces across the border into India.

In India, he claims he was detained and tortured by the Border Security Force (BSF) before being held in Kolkata’s Dum Dum jail.

New York, May 16 - Authorities in India and Bangladesh should take all necessary steps to protect Shukhoranjan Bali, a long-missing witness in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Bali, a Bangladeshi, claims he was abducted by the Bangladeshi police from the entrance to the ICT courthouse, detained, then forced by security forces across the border into India.

In India, he claims he was detained and tortured by the Border Security Force (BSF) before being held in Kolkata’s Dum Dum jail.

New York, May 10 : An Indian American businessman has been awarded by a US business chamber as its 2013 Ambassador of the Year.

Kiran Patel was named as the 2013 Ambassador of the Year by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce in the city of Henderson in the US state of Kentucky, thegleaner. com reported Thursday.

"Like previous winners of the Ambassador of the Year Award, (Patel) puts in several hours every day at their job and is very active in the chamber: attending ribbon cuttings, Brown Bag lunch events and other chamber events held throughout the year," the report quoted award presenter Janet Hortin as saying.

New York, May 7 - An Indian-American woman is running for a city council in the US state of Washington, according to a media report.

Clinical pharmacist Vandana Slatter is running for the Bellevue City Council and challenging the incumbent, Don Davidson, the Northwest Asian Weekly reported Monday.

Vandana works as a senior regional medical sciences liaison official at American biopharmaceutical company Amgen and is also a public leader, her campaign website said.

New York, May 4 - A Jersey City man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for targeting Indian-American families for their high-quality jewellery in a series of home break-ins in 2009.

Miguel Ortiz and his crew of burglars took their search for gold to a "sinister" level, said Superior Court Judge Charles Delehey on Thursday sentencing Ortiz at the Burlington County Courthouse in Mount Holly, New Jersey, according to phillyBurbs. com.

New York, May 4 - The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to establish the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (or UNSOM), the world body said.

The mission will be based in the Somali capital Mogadishu from June 3 for a one-year initial period.

The Council stressed the need for "effectively coordinated international support for Somalia's federal government", and said the mission's mandate would in particular include providing assistance to the government and the existing African Union peacekeeping force
(AMISOM) with advice on peace and state building.

New York, May 2 - A US based Sikh rights group has announced a million-dollar reward for those individuals whose testimony and evidence may result in the conviction of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.

The reward will be given to those individuals who will come forward with tips, evidence and testimony leading to the reversal of a Delhi court's judgement acquitting Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) announced.

SFJ said it would engage top advocates to prosecute the appeal against the acquittal of Kumar before Delhi High Court.

New York, May 1 - An Indian in the American state of Indianapolis has been sentenced to three years in jail for selling drugs and is facing deportation to India after serving his sentence.

Phulbir Singh used four aliases. He was given the prison term by Delaware Circuit Court Judge 5 Thomas Cannon jr, who also said that nobody knew who the accused was given that he used different names and had no clear identity since arriving in the US, the Muncie Free Press reproted.

Singh was blamed for selling drugs that killed people and for not having a legal status in the country.

However, representatives of a gurdwara in Indianapolis said that Singh, 28, was a hardworking man with a helpful attitude.

New York, May 1 - US consumer confidence increased in April after an unexpected drop in March, said a report by the research institute Conference Board.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index reached 68.1 in April, higher than the revised figure of 61.9 in March, reported Xinhua.

The report showed that the present situation index increased to 60.4 from 59.2, while the expectations index, which is a gauge of consumers' expectation for business conditions over the next six months, improved to 73.3 from 63.7 last month.