Winds of Change
Cyclone Nargis may have done more than just wreck Burma's cities. It may also spell doom for the government.
News
-
-
How to Feed the World
Below, eight leaders in the fight against hunger offer up food crisis action plans, and long term ideas for how to end famine and bolster farming. Every day, 25,000 people die from hunger-related causes. And when food accounts for more than half a poor family's spending, price rises can be truly devastating for millions living on the edge.
-
Malaria and obesity: obese mice are resistant to cerebral malaria
The relationship between malaria and obesity are largely unknown. This is partly due to the fact that malaria occurs mainly in tropical areas where, until recently, obesity was not prevalent. It now appears, however, that obesity is emerging as a problem in developing countries. To investigate the possible role of obesity on the host-parasite response to malarial infection, this study applied a murine model, which uses the existence of genetically well characterized obese mice.
-
Fukuda to announce $10 billion climate change aid for Africa
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to announce a plan for Japan to offer $10 billion over the next five years to help African nations tackle climate change in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in late May, government sources said Sunday.
-
Ankleshwar cos to give training in handling chemical weapons
In an important development, the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has chosen at least two chemical producing companies where they will be sending chemical engineers and chemists from African countries to get formal training in handling chemicals used for making chemical weapons.
-
Canal's issues have knocked HC doors time and again
The problem of air and water pollution in the vicinity of Kharikat canal is so complex that even the committee formed by AUDA and AMC to resolve the issue in 2002 expressed helplessness before the Gujarat High Court then. A division bench headed by Justice BC Patel was surprised to know that the committee made a grievance before the court, as authorities rendered no assistance to it for carrying out court's directions. However, the issue continued to be debated in the High Court and directions were issued time and again.
-
Facelift will unlock realty jackpot for east Ahmedabad
Four months ago, Dimple Gandhi booked a 2bhk flat at Ishwarnagar along the Kharicut canal for Rs 11 lakh. Today, the apartment costs nothing less than Rs 18 lakh. The reason: The flat now overlooks a small patch of garden developed on a slab over the canal by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Soon, many like Gandhi will be grinning thanks thanks to the Gujarat government's plans to give a 20-km stretch along the canal, that's currently treated as an open sewerage, a green facelift.
-
On the turtle trail
Call it brand affinity. Kolkata-based Turtle, the men
-
Now, threat of lake burst
Thousands of persons are being evacuated from around a lake and a river at risk of bursting in south-west China's earthquake-affected zone, said relief officials on Saturday. The disaster relief headquarters in the Beichuan County said it received reports of water levels reaching danger point at the Laoyingyan section of the Qianjiang River on Saturday. The river has been blocked by landslips caused by the earthquake. "It hasn't burst yet, but we asked people to leave because we need to prepare for the worst,' said an official.
-
About 3 billion people are food insecure: U.N. report
The total number of food insecure people was probably closer to about three billion, or about half the population of the world, according to the United Nations midyear update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects. In addition, approximately 18,000 children die daily as a direct or indirect consequence of inadequate nutrition, the UN report says.
-
Climate change: A primer
International laws: Even as 1987 Montreal Protocol laid down rules to banish ozone depleting substances (ODS), several of the substitutes that came into use were GHGs. These were covered under the Climate Change Convention. The Kyoto Protocol included six GHGs and committed developed countries to mandatory emission reduction targets of these gases.
-
"Height of Narmada dam should not be raised'
Even as the Narmada Control Authority is looking at rehabilitation claims of States affected by the Narmada dam in Gujarat, the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People has said that there was no case for raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project and that it should be frozen at the current height of 121.92 metres. Several thousand people being displaced by the dam in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat are seeking proper rehabilitation and resettlement.
-
Vaccine production could resume: Anbumani
The three public sector vaccine manufacturing units in the country could be allowed to resume production if their restructuring was possible, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Saturday. Dr. Anbumani told mediapersons that a committee appointed by the Union Ministry of Health would visit the three units to investigate if a restructuring was possible to conform to Indian Good Manufacturing Practices, or GMP. (The units are the BCG Vaccine Laboratory at Guindy, Chennai; the Pasteur Institute, Coonoor; and the Central Research Institute, Kasauli.)
-
Uttarakhand seeks extension of special industrial package
Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has urged the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre to extend the period of special industrial package granted to the State till 2013 to facilitate its industrial and economic development. In this connection, Mr. Khanduri met Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath here over the weekend. The Chief Minister told Mr. Nath that initially while granting the package to the Himalayan State till 2010 the Centre had promised to reconsider extension of the Concessional Industrial Package for the benefit of the State.
-
No escape from smoke, stench here
Residents of a few pockets in the Okkiyam Thoraipakkam village panchayat, have been suffering due to the round-the-clock burning of plastics, kitchen waste and other forms of garbage. The village panchayat is among the 25 rural local bodies of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union (also called St. Thomas Mount Block). On the city's fringes and located off Rajiv Gandhi Salai or Information Technology Corridor, it has been witnessing massive development in construction of software and residential complexes.
-
Pilot project to arrest seawater intrusion
To arrest seawater intrusion at Besant Nagar, the Groundwater circle of the Public Works Department has proposed a pilot project to divert rainwater from Taramani and its neighbouring places to recharge the Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur areas. The project was approved by the State-level steering committee under the chairmanship of PWD secretary and has been sent to the Ministry of Water Resources for approval.
-
Worms pour with water!
The Corporation quarters on M M Road in Cox Town, opposite the Government Boys School, which houses 10 residences has been receiving coloured drinking water contaminated with worms for over a week. Leakage of water through the old corroded pipes in the area is said to be the cause for it and BWSSB has temporarily rectified the leakage on Friday.
-
Quake rocks China's insurance sector, damages touch $20 bn
The most powerful earthquake in China since 1950 shows the nation's insurance industry is decades behind those of the world's biggest economies. Just 5 per cent of the more than $20 billion of damages from the quake in Sichuan province is covered by insurance, according to estimates from an official at the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, who declined to be identified.
-
'Second Bhopal disaster is govt-Created'
Q&A: Satinath Sarangi Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action tells SREELATHA MENON that activists made a mistake by delaying raising the issue of removal of the 8,000 tonnes of toxic waste from Union Carbide's Bhopal plant. Where were you when the 1984 disaster in Bhopal took place and what brought you to work there among the survivors?
-
Workshop on solar water heating systems
The Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) Saligao, will be holding the Major State Level Workshop on Accelerated Promotion of Solar water Heating Systems in Domestic, Industrial and Commercial Sectors by Sensitization of Banks/Financial Institutions and other State holders at 10 am on May 21, 2008 which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamat in the distinguished presence of Chief Secretary/Chairman (GEDA) and Secretary (Non Conventional Energy Sources).