This paper presents a status report of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) on two crucial development parameters—inequality and poverty—that have a significant bearing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; especially SDG-1 and SDG-10). The paper tracks the origins and movements of absolute and relative poverty, …
Bangladesh and Russia on Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement on the installation of Bangladesh Nuclear Power Plant. Under the deal, two units of the first-ever nuclear power plant (NPP) with capacity of each 1000 MW electricity will be set up at Rooppur in northwestern Pabna district. In presence of Prime …
China today successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft for its maiden docking mission, paving the way for its first space station by 2020 to rival Mir, the space lab being run by Russian and US astronauts. The launch of unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 in the early hours today from Jiuquan Satellite Launch …
China has launched an unmanned spaceship in the latest step towards creating its own manned space station by 2020. The Shenzhou VIII is scheduled to dock with another craft 343km above the earth’s surface later this week, as China practises a key technique first used by the US and Russia …
Bangladesh is set to ink a landmark deal with Russia today finalizing arrangements to install the country's first ever nuclear power plant (NPP) to produce 2,000 megawatt electricity in northwestern Rooppur. "This is a landmark event for us . . . this will greatly help us to meet our energy …
Russia launched its first unmanned space flight to supply the International Space Station Sunday since an August crash left a half-sized crew on the orbital outpost and raised concerns over Moscow's role as the sole space flight provider. The Progress freighter blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as …
Twenty-six nations are expected to lodge a formal protest on Wednesday against a European Union law to make airlines pay for carbon emissions -- adding to transatlantic tension on an issue that has triggered a tit-for-tat bill in the Congress. Under EU legislation, from January 1 all flights to or …
Foreign environmental activists have joined hands with locals opposing the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project (KAPP), alleged Dr S. K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India. He claimed that the recent protest at the KAPP was supported by environmental activists from the US, Australia, France, …
A top Russian nuclear constructor does not rule out delays in starting up the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in the face of continuing protests against the project. “I think talks are looming ahead on reviewing the start-up schedule,” said Alexander Glukhov, head of Atomstroiexport, the …
U.S. senators from Alaska and Washington state called on Thursday for more investigation of a contagious and lethal fish virus recently detected for the first time in wild Pacific salmon, alarming marine scientists. The infectious salmon anemia virus, previously limited to Atlantic salmon -- including an outbreak that ravaged Chile's …
The Centre has announced a 15-member expert group to allay apprehensions on the Kudankulam nuclear power project. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised setting up of such a group to assure villagers and activists resisting commissioning of the Russian-aided project. The expert group comprises specialists in various areas including environmental …
The Centre has announced the setting up of a 15-member group of experts to interact with stakeholders in a bid to allay widespread apprehensions about the upcoming Kudankulam nuclear power project. The Department of Atomic Energy’s decision to constitute the expert group, which is being seen as a neutral body …
To assuage the fears of the locals and the Tamil Nadu Government, the Centre today announced setting up of a 15-member group of experts over the Kudankulam nuclear plant project. “We have set up a 15-member group of experts,” officials said here. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had last …
A Russian Soyuz rocket will blast off from French Guiana on Thursday in a new East-West partnership designed to redraw commercial competition in space. The scheduled lift-off is the first time that Soyuz, which first flew in 1966 and traces its roots back even further to the earliest Cold War …
Blaming the Centre’s “inaction” for the stalemate over the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant issue, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today said her government was firm on suspension of the work on the controversial project till people’s concerns were addressed. In a strongly worded statement, she slammed the …
Russia plans to step up its international role in fighting infectious disease across eastern Europe and central Asia, in what some observers see as the latest effort by the Kremlin to reassert its political influence over its former Soviet neighbours. The move offers prospects for extra funding to tackle HIV …
Rounding the northernmost tip of Russia in his oceangoing tugboat this summer, Capt. Vladimir V. Bozanov saw plenty of walruses, some pods of beluga whales and in the distance a few icebergs. With an icebreaker leading the way, the Vladimir Tikhonov, carrying gas condensate, passed Cape Dezhnev in late August. …
The European Union must make a drastic shift from fossil fuels and derive more and more of its power from renewable sources, driving up electricity costs over the next two decades, according to a draft document seen by Reuters on Monday. The 2050 energy road map to be published by …
To measure a country's greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels, it makes sense to consider the whole carbon supply chain, from oil well or coal mine to a consumer's shelf, scientists reported on Monday. Currently, putting a price on climate-warming carbon dioxide generated by oil, coal, natural gas and other fossil …
Severe stress on food, water and jobs She's a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon. The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees. “I …
Villagers continued to protest outside Tamil Nadu's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) on Friday, preventing employees of the plant from going inside to work. The villagers’ protest against the commissioning of the 2,000-mw nuclear power plant got a boost after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram opted to be on their side …
