Chemical vanilla
Coal tar, paper mill effluent, what else What we know as vanilla, the queen of spice, is not vanilla. It smells like it (somewhat). It can even look like it. But it is not the real thing, which
News
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Snippets
• Argentina recently filed a case in the International Court of Justice against Uruguay to stop constructing pulp mills along the shared Uruguay river. Argentina fears these mills will cause
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In Short
mad cow victim: Florida-based Charlene Singh, 25, suffering the only known instance of the human form of mad cow disease in the US, died recently. She was ill since 2001. She suffered from the
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Don t fish : a global call
Britain's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has issued an alarm, saying the marine ecosystem around the world is on the verge of collapse. In its recent report Turning the Tide , it has
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Basin watering recipe
The Amazon basin countries recently launched a new initiative to help the region's inhabitants manage water, forests and wildlife more efficiently. Water will be the focus area of the project,
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Bust the mills
The governor of Argentina's Entre Rios province, bordering Uruguay, recently announced his decision to file a complaint with us -based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, opposing the
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Laissez Faire
Government sits back, carmakers make hay No one knows where to place the ultra-low-cost cars in the overall paradigm shift in technology in India. Small cars and downsizing have begun to find
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In Short
danger spilling out: Mexico's oil monopoly Pemex recently confirmed the fifth fuel spill in the past four months, even as authorities quoted a requirement of US $9 billion to repair the country's
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• 17 Chinese fisherfolk, who were arrested and convicted for poaching in Philippine waters off Palawan, have been pardoned by President Arroyo as they were "first-time offenders'. • Hong
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• Australian scientists digging in an Indonesian cave uncovered a jawbone that adds evidence to the existence of a tiny 18,000-year-old Hobbit-like species called Homo floresiensis, three
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• The EU announced on April 25, 2005 that it has approved a method for testing the Bt10 variety of genetically modified corn. The move might end an EU ban on the import of US corn gluten and
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Finally, some action
The Chinese government recently announced that it will close down around 4,000 small coal mines annually, over the next three years. Zhao Tiechui, head of the state administration of Coal Mine Safety
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IN SHORT
vehicles restricted
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Unbearable!
Polar bears in Arctic are suffering due to industrial chemicals
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Lead to a fall
<font class="UCASE">the</font> Doe Run Company (<font class="UCASE">drc</font>) in Peru has been held responsible for lead, antimony and cadmium poisoning of the residents of La Oroya town in Peru.
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The last of the humble farmer
In any democratic country, environmental concerns can get integrated with developmental programmes only if the leader is sensitive to them
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Urban growth model needs reality check
Urban India is beginning to explode. The question is if our cities will be able to manage this growth or will they just burst at the seams? The reason I ask this is because we still don t have a clue
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Economics of congestion
THE Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers siam says India produced over 10 million vehicles in 2006. The number of cars was more than one million. As the manufacture and sale of vehicles are
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Olympics - Beijing Orders Tighter Emission Rules On Cars
Beijing will ban sales of new cars that fail to meet new emission standards starting from March, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, in another move to clean up its air before the August Olympic Games. All new cars are required to meet the new national standards that are equivalent to Euro IV standards, Xinhua said, citing Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the city's Environment Protection Bureau. The tougher emission standards will extend to heavy vehicles used for public transportation, sanitation and mail services from July, the report said. About a third of the main pollutants in Beijing such as nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide come from vehicle exhaust, said Du. The new standards are estimated to cut emission of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides by 48,000 tonnes, 5,300 tonnes and 4,100 tonnes, respectively, this year. The capital city will keep a ban on diesel vehicles which emit three times as much nitrogen oxide as gasoline-power ones, Du was quoted as saying. Beijing already ordered petrol stations in the city to sell gasoline and diesel that meet Euro IV standards at the start of 2008. The city has about 3.1 million motor vehicles, and every day about 1,200 new ones hit the road, Xinhua said. (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Jeremy Laurence) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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Rs 25,000 crore in State's kitty
A plan of Rs 25,000 crore for Maharashtra for the year 2008-09 was on Wednesday approved by the Planning Commission at a meeting in New Delhi. The approval was given during today's meeting of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh with Planning Commission deputy chairman Dr M S Ahluwalia. This year's plan is Rs 4,800 crore higher than the previous year, an official release said here. The Planning Commission expressed satisfaction over the performance shown by the state government in various sectors and the formation of the minority welfare department in the state. The chief minister had demanded allocation of Rs 210 crore for Youth Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in October at Pune. He had also demanded Rs 400 crore for the Mithi river beautification project. Complimenting the State on satisfactory growth rate and fiscal performance, Ahluwalia said Maharashtra was poised to exceed the projected national average growth rate of nine per cent for the 11th Plan (2007-12). He, however, stressed the need to improve urban infrastructure, irrigation and agriculture during the Plan. He further said the Centre was keen to improve connectivity with Mumbai. Also, the Western Freight Corridor Construction Work was likely to begin this year. He also drew the attention of the state towards depleting forest cover, rural poverty and child sex ratio. It was pointed out that state needed to step up efforts in the power sector for encouraging investment.