Affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam in the matter of news item titled "the last feral horses in India" appearing in Mongabay, November 5, 2024. The matter relates to the critically endangered status of feral horses in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park as well as of smuggling of these …
The Dutch canal wetland system in Sri Lanka is an important wetland area for shrimp farming and has become a promising foreign exchange earner. However, shrimp farming in the Dutch Canal is largely unplanned and un-coordinated with more than 1,300 farms working in an area of 3,750 hectares. The lack …
The South Asia Media Commission has declared 2007 a very difficult year for South Asian journalists. The year saw 25 journalists and media workers getting killed in the line of duty. Besides, the media had to face "unprecedented restrictions and forced closures' in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The report, …
>> More than 100,000 tonnes of rotting garbage are lying on the roadsides of the southern Italian city of Naples, after garbage trucks stopped operating since the last week of December 2007 because all landfills are full. Authorities fear the stinking heaps could spread disease. >> Bolivia, Chile and Brazil …
To avoid burdening consumers, the Sri Lankan government has turned down a request by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging the government to suspend its fuel subsidy. IMF suggested that the government raise fuel prices to avoid a backlash on the economy. Sri Lanka's government-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation currently incurs …
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has issued an injunction preventing the government-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation from selling liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the multinational corporation Shell. The ruling is in response to a petition filed by Laugfs Gas Pvt Ltd
cleaning Colombo: The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in the second week of October has directed the attorney general to prepare a new action plan within a month to reduce air pollution caused by vehicles in the capital city of Colombo. Acting on a petition filed by the Environmental Foundation …
Sri Lanka has raised taxes on a range of goods and services to meet its war expenses. Coming ahead the country's budget due in early November, the move is a stopgap measure to raise around Sri Lankan Rs 10 billion (US $88 million) to finance the country's renewed war against …
Second deluge: Less than a month after monsoon rains battered the country, a second wave of flooding that began on September 10, is further affecting parts of Bangladesh. According to government officials, the overall death toll from flooding since July had risen to 840, forcing over half a million from …
Until the second week of September, when both the ruling Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suddenly discovered that the affidavit filed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the Supreme Court on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project was controversial and hurt religious sentiments, the biggest political …
Science and rationality have taken a beating in the unfolding of the recent events surrounding the controversial mega marine project called the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) of the Government of India. The project envisages the dredging of the shallow ocean region in the south-eastern Bay of Bengal to create …
Judgement of the Supreme Court of India on Sethusamudram Project dated 17 July 2007 in the matter of Sethusamudram Corpn. Ltd Vs Rama Gopalan & Others.
declining fertility: Low levels of fertility among Sri Lankan women will lead to a decline in the country's population after 2040, says a study by the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka. The country's population is 20 million now. It will reach 20.1 million by 2011 and could attain its …
The Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) is a 167 km long shipping canal, and envisages the creation of a navigable canal from the Gulf of Mannar to the Bay of Bengal to facilitate the movement of ships. The proposed SSCP site is located in a globally significant marine ecosystem – …
Refugee concern: A recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Pakistan government says that about 82 per cent of registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan have no intention to return to their homeland in the near future. Security threats in Afghanistan are a major reason for …
Mobile alert Cellular companies in Pakistan have turned a deaf ear to the Sindh government's April 5 directive seeking them to shift base stations' antennas and mobile phone towers outside residential areas in Karachi in view of radiation threats. The companies say they are bound only by Pakistan Telecom-munication Authority's …
The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot, with its unique assemblages of plant and animal communities and endemic species, is globally important for conserving representative areas of the Earth
Fishermen shot Two people were shot dead and two others drowned in the Indian Ocean when the Sri Lankan Navy opened fire at Indian fishermen on March 29. According to the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department, the incident took place near Kalpatty off Sri Lankan waters. The fishermen were from Kanyakumari …
Titas gas leak Bangladesh Gas Field Company Ltd has initiated operations to stop uncontrolled gas leaks from the country's biggest gas field Titas in Brahmanbaria district. Though the gas started leaking around four years ago, it has been aggravated by rains in 2006. According to local media reports, the gas …
Refugees clash For the first time in 16 years, a violent confrontation took place in the third week of February between Bhutanese refugees and villagers in Pathari, 600 km east of Nepal's capital Kathmandu. The clash happened when the latter tried to stop the Bhutanese refugees from taking wood from …
A way out of conflict? One of Sri Lanka's biggest corporates, Ceylinco Insurance, was happy to take on Ranjith Bandara's research and develop a viable scheme for elephant depredation for rural farmers. An insurance scheme that is partly corporate social responsibility and partly profit driven, Ceylinco will charge a small …
