A rare print of New York - The United Nations headquarters prepares to lock down one more time this year when the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and US President George W Bush and Israeli President Shimon Peres attend a two-day conference on religion and peace, it was announced Monday.

Close to 70 government delegations will meet Wednesday and Thursday in the UN General Assembly for the "promotion of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation of peace."

The UN prefers the short title "Culture of Peace" to describe the aims of the meetings. UN and governments involved in the debate have wanted to bring more understanding among cultures and religions of the world in order to resolve political and armed conflict.

The UN headquarters in New York normally only barricades itself during the time of the General Assembly sessions for two weeks in September. Traffic on First Avenue in front of the UN will be closed and security will be enhanced

Bush attended the session in September and addressed the UN for the last time before stepping down on January 20. But he was not expected back so soon as lame duck president.

The UN confirmed the attendance of the kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the emir of Kuwait and Bahrain, and the presidents of the Philippines, Israel, Finland, Pakistan and Lebanon.

The prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Qatar, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Djibouti and Egypt are also coming. The UN said dozens of foreign ministers and high ranking government officials will attend.

The Vatican will send a cardinal while the Palestinian Authority will send its prime minister.

The presence of top Middle East governments and Bush at the UN has given rise to speculation that they may meet to pursue talks on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the UN could not confirm yet of any bilateral meetings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week he was encouraged by the high attendance to the Culture of Peace debate.

"This initiative will be a very important one that will provide us very important momentum where all the world leaders, representatives from different faiths, different regions, will sit together," Ban said.

Ban said the interfaith dialogue is built to deepen understanding and appreciation of religions, faiths and cultures, which will help create a favourable environment for the resolution of political issues.

The assembly had held two rounds of discussion on the issue in the past years at ministerial levels. It would be the first time that heads of state would take part in the discussion. dpa, ‘Sikkim’, has been restored by the Oscars Academy, and will be shown during the 14th Kolkata Film Festival to be held from November 10 to 17.

The documentary film, made in 1971, was banned by Indian censors for glorifying monarchy in a Himalayan kingdom that acceded to India. Commissioned by the then Chogyal King of Sikkim and his wife, the film earned censorship both from them and from the Indian government after the state’s accession to India in 1975.

Arup K. De, head of the Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, opines: “To imagine Satyajit Ray would glorify monarchy over democracy is utterly wrong because he is the same person who could make films ridiculing monarchy as we see in ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’.”

It was thought that all the prints of the hour-long documentary had been destroyed after it was banned by India. However, one was found at the British Film Institute in 2003, and it was restored digitally frame-by-frame by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Josef Lindner, preservationist with the U S Academy of Motion Pictures, told Reuters: “If everything works out, the video version would be shown at the Kolkata Film Festival. The 35 mm version would be ready by end of the year.”

According to an American Centre official, the rights of the film at present rest with a trust which had already given informal permission for the screening. (dpa)