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  • New Tsukiji site highly toxic: panel

    The relocation site of the world-famous Tsukiji Fish Market has been contaminated with far more toxic chemical materials than previously thought and around 2 meters of surface soil will probably have to be replaced, an advisory panel to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Monday. The metropolitan government is planning to relocate the market by 2013 to the Toyosu area of Koto Ward because the Tsukiji site has become too crowded and facilities there have aged. Gov. Shintaro Ishihara indicated the relocation plan could be delayed due to the contamination problem.

  • Delhi NGOs submit recommendations to amend Master Plan 2021

    Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy has come to the rescue of NGOs in the capital, who were being sealed out by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The minister asked the NGOs to suggest some norms and criteria that can provide the basis for regularisation of NGO activity in residential and mixed-land use areas. Following the meeting with the minister last week, the NGOs have submitted a note to the ministry. At least 12 NGOs in the South Delhi district have been sealed so far. These include the Wildlife Trust of India and SOS Villages of India.

  • A Man His Own Best Judge

    The Manmohan Method * The PM is low-key but meticulous in understanding and implementing policy * He has monitored the NCMP on a monthly basis. The task was given to three IAS officers in the PMO. * Assessment of a political manifesto's implementation is unprecedented. * He has quietly pushed officers and tried to convince the political class to act on the NCMP. * In spite of disappointment over the Indo-US nuclear deal, he still hopes to make a mark in foreign policy through a trip to Pakistan. ***

  • Nissan to produce hybrid car batteries

    Nissan Motor Co. said Monday it will start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries by business 2009 as part of its efforts to catch up with rival automakers in developing eco-friendly vehicles such as gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Automotive Energy Supply Corp., a joint venture set up in April 2007 by Nissan, NEC Corp. and its subsidiary, NEC Tokin Corp., will take charge of production at a new production line to be built in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture. The line's initial annual output capacity is estimated at 13,000 units.

  • Jet-sharing for the eco-conscious

    It's the ultimate dilemma for the seriously rich with a conscience

  • Lawmakers Back Watered-Down "Green Crime" Law

    European Union lawmakers backed a watered-down law on "green crime" on Monday that would make dumping toxic waste or illegally transporting hazardous materials a criminal offence throughout the bloc. The draft law obliges the EU's 27 member states to treat and punish as criminal acts a list of nine offences ranging from harming protected plants or species to unlawful trade in ozone-depleting substances. But it does not set EU-wide sanctions to the dismay of environmentalists who doubt it will have much impact.

  • India, Egypt unveil economic agenda

    India and Egypt are on course to rebuild their ties by adding solid economic content to their relationship. The visiting Minister of state for commerce and power Jairam Ramesh held talks with Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Nazif. He also met the Ministers of investment, communications and information technology, finance, transport as well as trade and industry. These meetings took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (Middle East) where Mr. Ramesh is representing India as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy.

  • Climate Change Hitting Bird Species, Shows Study

    One in eight of the world's birds are at risk of extinction as climate change puts birds under great pressure, a leading conservation group warned on Monday. The population of rare birds such as the Floreana mockingbird of the Galapagos Islands or the spoon-billed sandpiper, which breeds in north-eastern Russia and winters in south Asia, has declined sharply and they could go extinct, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a report.

  • Garbage set on fire

    Angry residents in Naples attacked fire-fighters trying to extinguish burning garbage in the trash collection crisis in the southern Italian city, said authorities. Fire-fighters said the residents threw stones. No injuries were reported. Fire-fighters said the police had to escort them while putting out fires. Premier Silvio Berlusconi would preside over a Cabinet meeting in Naples this week to resolve the garbage collection crisis, which broke out in December 2007 when collectors stopped picking up trash because there was no more room at the dumps.

  • India, UNIDO sign $42 m programme

    India has signed $42 million "Country Programme India 2008-2012' with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to strengthen the competitiveness and productivity of its industrial enterprises, with a special focus on employment generation and the greening of industry.

  • Tent Towns House China's Earthquake Refugees

    When the earthquake came to Pingtong it destroyed all but four buildings in this town, once home to 9,700 people. A week later the survivors are refugees in the ruins, situated in a gorge directly above the fault-line that delivered a 7.9 magnitude blow to Sichuan province on May 12. The town lost 111 middle-school school students and 47 grammar school students. Every adult can give the exact count of the children lost and saved, although they are vague on the total number of deaths, estimated at about 500.

  • China Natural Gas Ready For Nasdaq, Thinks Bigger

    China Natural Gas Inc is speeding up its expansion plans and looking to a Nasdaq listing as soaring crude oil prices make cleaner energies more attractive, Chief Financial Officer Guo Lihong said on Monday. The provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) believes China's efforts to protect its environment and reduce its reliance on coal augurs well for its growth prospects, she told a visiting group of U.S investors. "We aim to become China's No.1 in terms of CNG filling stations within the next two or three years," Guo said.

  • State-run firms in metros to sell only costlier petrol, diesel

    Lakhs of vehicle owners in metropolitan cities and major towns will now have to shell out Rs.3 to Rs.4 a litre more for "buying petrol and diesel' as State-run Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have "decided' to sell only expensive "branded premium fuel' at these places.

  • Stranded in suburbia (editorial)

    By Paul Krugman I have seen the future, and it works. O.K., I know that these days you're supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of "old Europe." But we're living in a world in which oil prices keep setting records, in which the idea that global oil production will soon peak is rapidly moving from fringe belief to mainstream assumption. And Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices - gas in Germany costs more than $8 a gallon - have a lot to teach us Americans about how to deal with that world.

  • Quietly, Wind Farms Spread Footprint In US

    At 265 feet tall, four gleaming white wind turbines tower over the tiny farm town of Rock Port, Missouri, like a landing of alien intruders. But despite their imposing presence and the stark contrast with the rolling pastures and corn fields, the turbines have received a warm welcome here. As Eric Chamberlain, who manages the wind farm for Wind Capital Group, eats lunch in a local restaurant, local people greet him with a "Hey Windy!" and many say they are happy to be using clean electricity.

  • Reluctant Turks prepare for smoking ban

    For decades the tobacco haze filling Turkey's bars, restaurants and workplaces has been as much a feature of the country's cultural landscape as the stunning architecture of its mosques and historical buildings. But now Turkey's image as a land of hardened smokers appears doomed to obsolescence as it prepares to follow the international fashion for blanket public smoking bans. A prohibition on smoking with effect from Monday is certain to be a profound culture shock for millions of Turks used to lighting up with impunity regardless of the setting.

  • Carbon Trust "Could Do Better"

    The government-backed Carbon Trust's contribution to reducing UK carbon dioxide emissions is "pretty small beer" and it can do better, the Committee of Public Accounts said in a report on Tuesday. With a 100 million-pound budget to drive Britain's move to a low carbon economy, the Trust achieved a reduction in emissions of between 1.2 million and two million tonnes between 2006 and 2007.

  • "Stop Andhra plans to build checkdams'

    AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Monday urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to take steps to prevent the Andhra Pradesh government from going ahead with its plans to construct 10 checkdams across the Ponnaiyaru. In a statement here Ms Jayalalithaa said the Ponnaiyaru was the source of drinking water for Vellore, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Thiruvannamalai districts and construction of check dams would deprive these districts of their drinking water supply. The Ponnaiyaru originates in Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh and confluences with the Palar in Thiruvalam near Vellore.

  • Fears Of New Quake Prompt Panic In Chinese Town

    Tens of thousands of panicked residents rushed into the streets of Chengdu in southwest China early on Tuesday, alarmed by a television report that predicted another powerful earthquake would hit the region. The pandemonium triggered by the TV report, as China observed three days of mourning for the nearly 34,000 killed in the May 12 earthquake, showed how people's nerves have been stretched to breaking point by the disaster, and aftershocks.

  • Drought, Food Prices Threaten Millions Of Somalis-UN

    Soaring food prices, a devalued currency and drought mean millions of people in Somalia cannot feed themselves, the United Nations said on Monday. And the crisis will get much worse if April-June rains fail or are well below average, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said. Somalia, a country of nine million people, already imports more than half its grain needs. Soaring commodity prices and a weakening currency have made those staples 375 percent more expensive than a year ago, the FAO said in a statement.

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