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Victory over Coke

A small shopkeeper, Raquel Chavez, in Mexico City, has won a legal battle against the us drinks firm Coca-Cola's Mexican unit
- 30/12/2005
- - Soft Drinks
  - Trade
  - Mexico
In Court

stay on eviction: The Gujarat High Court (HC) stayed the eviction of about 38,855 tribals across 11 districts of the state. This came after the HC admitted a public interest petition filed by the
- 30/12/2005
Tannery menace

Effluents pollute Kalingarayan canal in Tamil Nadu
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
In Short

pongamia buses: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is running its 81 buses in Doddbalapur station (rural Bangalore), on a 10 per cent pongamia blend. These buses consume 6,000 litres
- 30/12/2005
Rights against research

Bioscience get short shrift in UNESCO document
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Who stacks, how

Cement industry is not doing too badly
- 30/12/2005
Watered down on social equity

BWSSB already wants to close public fountains in Bangalore city as the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike asn't paid up its dues of Rs 160 crore.Will GBWASP attend to the water needs of the poor? Right now,
- 30/12/2005
Train bound for controversy

More than 3,000 anti-nuclear activists attempted to block the delivery of atomic waste from France to the German town of Gorleben, on November 20, 2005. The activists staging a sit-down blockade on
- 30/12/2005
"We Prefer Bureaucrats"

Will making bureaucrats state information commissioners affect the act's implementation I don't think it will affect the act. We prefer bureaucrats because we need officials well-versed with the
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Sweetener unsafe

the 200 million global consumers of aspartame, a sweetener, could be at high risk of contracting cancer, claims a recent study. Conducted by researchers from Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, a non-governmental organisation in Italy, the study shows the sweetener can cause cancer in rats at levels approved for human consumption. This is the first experimental study to link aspartame to cancer and is scheduled for publication in Environmental Health Perspectives. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
A friendly Hand

Elizabeth Demaray, an assistant professor of art at the Rutger's University, New York has taken the help of paleontologists to design plastic shells for hermit crabs. The new forms have been tailored for various body sizes. The new homes offer an internal flange attached to the front opening for the crab to clutch with its holding claw. Similar to the hood-like structure found in a traditional shell, Demaray's shells offers an overhang for additional protection in situations where the body must be extended outside.
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
- - Beaches
  - United States Of America (US)
High concern

signatures of the past, embedded deep inside polar ice, reveal that the current levels of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (co2) and methane, are the highest over the last 650,000 years. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Healing bones

 an indian plant, Cissus quadrangularis , is used in traditional medicine to treat bone fractures. Recently, a team of researchers at the National Chemical Laboratory (ncl), Pune, tried to explain how the plant, which can be used both internally and externally, works. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Dino munchies

dinosaurs, especially the herbivorous ones, have been the largest land animals ever. It seems natural that they would have fed on trees and huge cycads to satiate their gargantuan appetites. But would they have deigned to feast on the lowly grass? Yes, is the surprising answer from the latest research. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Vaccine on the anvil

india may soon come out with a vaccine against cholera. The first and second phase of clinical trials for a recombinant oral vaccine, completed recently, have shown a good immunological response, according to a release by the department of biotechnology. Preparations are now being made for phase- iii clinical trials in Kolkata. Simultaneously, negotiations with industry are also being held to fine-tune, upscale and commercially produce the vaccine if it is found successful in the final trials. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Better storage

 scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (nist) in the us have created a new material that can store up to 10 per cent of its weight in hydrogen, taking hydrogen fuel cells closer to reality. Automobiles run on hydrogen is one of the potential applications of emerging fuel cell technology. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Who s hitting jackpot?

It's not every day that an innocuous email from a geophysicist leads you to a prime ministerial residence that is big time real estate. And we aren't talking 7 Race Course Road. I had to check out the villages of Prini and Jagatsukh near Manali, Himachal Pradesh, which had complaints against a proposed 192-megawatt hydro power project costing Rs 992 crore on the Allain and Duhangan rivers. Its proponent: the lng Bhilwara group, better known for the
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
Transgenic risk

a project to develop peas with pest-resistance induced through genetic changes has been given up after tests on mice showed allergic lung damage. 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
High handed governments

Broadcasting
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
- - Radio
 - Supreme Court
 - Libya
 - Nepal
No lame ducks

Duck Shooting 
- 30/12/2005
- Down To Earth
- - Wetlands
 - Birds
 - Australia