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• Please, this is not the '90s economy

  T T RAM MOHAN AT THE beginning of the year, many commentators saw the turmoil in the international financial markets as posing a threat to the growth of the global economy as also the Indian economy. This threat has turned out to be smaller than the pessimists had contended. Growth in the US has slowed down appreciably but there is still no recession, defined as two quarters of negative growth. Growth in China and India has been showing signs of slowing down only slightly

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Economy
    • Petrochemical Industry
    • Fuel Pricing

• Myanmar tightens access to cyclone disaster zone

  Myanmar's ruling junta has tightened access to the cyclone disaster zone in the country's south, frustrating aid groups trying to bring help to survivors, reporters and aid agencies said yesterday. Relief groups are furious over the regime's refusal to allow foreign experts into the country to mount a full-scale disaster response, and say they face even more constraints in bringing help to some two million survivors.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Daily Star (Bangladesh)
  • • Natural Disasters
    • Cyclones
    • Myanmar
    • World Food Programme (WFP)

• Save the forests, save the world

  AT last, the Conference of Parties (COP 13) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Bali, Indonesia, has agreed upon the future of the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries (REDD) as a carbon reduction tool in the post-Kyoto protocol regime that will come into action after 2012.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Daily Star (Bangladesh)
  • • Forests
    • Climate Change
    • Green House Gases
    • Kyoto Protocol

• Land acquisition and social justice

  The crucial change required in cases of compulsory land acquisition is to pay the farmer the replacement cost of the asset being acquired at the time he receives the compensation, says Prabhu Ghate

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Land Resources
    • Air Transport
    • Farmers
    • Nagpur (D)

• Water crisis aggravates in port city

  Mainul Haq, a senior executive of a shipping company, requires water supply at least thrice a day to carry his daily household work and other needs of a four-member family at his Agrabad CDA Colony residence. Instead, he gets water twice a day and sometimes once, and this poor supply for the last few weeks put him in deep trouble and hassle. And he often found at a loss how to cope with the ever-compounding crisis.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Daily Star (Bangladesh)
  • • Water Resources
    • Water Supply
    • Bangladesh

• Spread of the small car fever

  It Indicates India's Manufacturing Prowess

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Automobiles
    • Auto Industry
    • Bajaj Auto
    • Tata Motors

• Delhi hit by storm: 4 killed

  High-speed winds brought un-seasonal rain and thunder to the Capital on Wednesday morning, uprooting trees and wreaking widespread havoc that claimed four lives and left several injured.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Hindu (New Delhi)
  • • Natural Disasters
    • Storms
    • Delhi

• Merkel Says Brazilian Biofuels Must Respect Amazon

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Brazil on Wednesday to adopt tougher environmental standards in producing biofuels but said rich nations needed to pay up to help protect rain forests and their biodiversity. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of ethanol, which it derives from sugar cane. Critics say increased production is pushing cattle ranchers and farmers deeper into the Amazon and accelerating the destruction of the world's largest rain forest.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Planet Ark (Australia)
  • • Amazon
    • Tropical Forests
    • Biofuel
    • Biodiversity
    • Germany
    • Brazil

• Talent Shortage May Stunt Green-Building Movement's Growth

  AS THE green building movement in India gathers steam with growing numbers of real-estate developers adopting eco-friendly construction methods, it is trying to overcome a huge shortage in green-friendly industry professionals.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Ecosystems
    • Green Products
    • Green Buildings
    • Urban Architecture
    • India

• Online matrimonials help zoo animals

  If you thought that finding Mr Right or Ms Right was complicated enough in the world of humans, just think about the plight of the hundreds of wild animals housed in zoos across India. In what seems like a move to facilitate the matchmaking process, the Central Zoo Authority of India has signed up as a member of the US-based International Species Information System (ISIS), a global network, which enables the 700 members affiliated under it to exchange information about the animals living in zoos in these countries.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)
  • • Animal Care
    • Endangered Species
    • Zoos
    • Wildlife Management
    • WWF

• Storm winds of 94 kmph kill 3 in city

  At severely affected even as civic authorities received numerous complaints of water-logging from various parts of the city. The rains drenched the city for about two hours, measuring up to 6.2 mm and bringing the temperature down to 22

  • 15/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)
  • • Natural Disasters
    • Storms
    • Delhi

• Greenhouse Gases Highest For 800,000 Years-Study

  Greenhouse gases are at higher levels in the atmosphere than at any time in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of Antarctic ice on Wednesday that extends evidence that mankind is disrupting the climate. Carbon dioxide and methane trapped in tiny bubbles of air in ancient ice down to 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) below the surface of Antarctica add 150,000 years of data to climate records stretching back 650,000 years from shallower ice drilling.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Planet Ark (Australia)
  • • Carbon Dioxide
    • Climate Change
    • Green House Gases
    • Norway

• The Way Forward

  ALREADY acknowledged as one of the leaders in environmentally-friendly construction, India could surpass the United States within four years to become the country with the most space covered by 'green buildings', according to the agency that sets standards and certifies eco-friendly realestate development. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), which today has about 110 million sq ft of green real estate registered with it, is targeting a nearly ten-fold increase in eco-friendly property development to a billion sq ft, the council's chairman Prem C Jain said.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Indoor Air Pollution
    • Green Products
    • Water Conservation
    • Solar Energy
    • Green Buildings
    • India

• Residents file petition in top court

  The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for hearing in July a writ petition filed by the residents of Rajouri Garden challenging certain provisions of the 2020 Master Plan for Delhi as being "arbitrary", "unreasonable" and "violative" of the citizen's Fundamental Rights. A bench of justices Arijit Pasayat and P. Sathasivam said it would tag the matter along with other writ petitions filed on the issue.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)
  • • Urban Development
    • Supreme Court
    • Delhi

• France offers aid in transport

  The chaotic Bus Rapid Transport System (BRT) is inviting much international attention with the French government now pitching to help the city cope with its transport crisis. Though the Delhi government has politely turned down the French offer to solve the BRT blues, it showed interest in a detailed survey and study for commissioning tramways in the city.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)
  • • Public Transport
    • Urban Transport
    • High Capacity Bus
    • Trams
    • France
    • Delhi

• Giant Study Pinpoints Changes From Climate Warming

  Human-generated climate change made flowers bloom sooner and autumn leaves fall later, turned some polar bears into cannibals and some birds into early breeders, a vast global study reported on Wednesday. Hundreds of previous studies have noted these specific changes and most suggested a link to so-called anthropogenic global warming, but a new analysis published in the journal Nature correlated these earlier studies with changes in temperature, the study's lead author said.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Planet Ark (Australia)
  • • Climate Change
    • Global Warming

• China Warns Of Burst Dams As Quake Death Toll Rises

  The death toll from China's deadliest earthquake in decades climbed to nearly 15,000 on Wednesday, as officials warned of calamities downstream from broken rivers and dams strained to bursting point. Tens of thousands of troops, fire-fighters and civilians raced to save more than 25,000 people buried across a wide swathe of southwest Sichuan province under collapsed schools, factories and hospitals after Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake. Many schoolchildren were buried as they were taking an afternoon nap. One body of a boy was found clutching a pen.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Planet Ark (Australia)
  • • Dams
    • Earthquakes
    • China

• Centre relaxes rules for tourists visiting Arunachal

  The Centre has agreed to relax the Protected Area Permits (PAP) for foreign tourists and has created four new tourist circuits which will allow foreigners to visit Arunachal Pradesh and go up to Tuting close to China border. The Union home ministry has delegated power to the Arunachal Pradesh government to issue PAPs to foreign tourists in a group of only two or more for up to 30 days, an official release said here. Earlier foreign tourists were allowed to visit certain areas in the state in a group of no less than four for only 10 days.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Economic Times (New Delhi)
  • • Tourism
    • Arunachal

• Govt defends BRT project

  The Delhi government is fighting tooth and nail to save its high-profiled Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) project. In a presentation given to the urban development ministry, the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transport System (DIMTS) painted a rosy picture of the BRT corridor and assured that the teething problems will be tackled soon.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)
  • • Public Transport
    • Urban Transport
    • High Capacity Bus
    • Delhi

• US FDA Defends Safety Of Baby Bottle Chemical

  The US Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday said it sees no reason to tell consumers to stop using products such as baby bottles made with a controversial chemical found in many plastic items. Norris Alderson, the FDA's associate commissioner for science, said although the regulatory agency is reviewing safety concerns about the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, "a large body of available evidence" shows that products such as liquid or food containers made with it are safe.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Planet Ark (Australia)
  • • Chemical Industry
    • Plastics
    • Child Health