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, …
India should bring out a law to protect its wildlife from the ill-effects of electromagnetic-field radiation from mobile phone towers, which may be endangering birds, bees and disturbing wildlife across the country, a government panel has recommended. A 10-member expert panel of the Ministry of Environment and Forests formed earlier …
Grain output is growing as farmers chase high prices, according to US government figures, suggesting food inflation pressures may abate in the months to come. Farmers would harvest 681.2m tonnes of wheat and record crops of 860.1m tonnes of corn and 461.4m tonnes of rice in the current year, the …
The European Union is seeking new powers to speed through major energy projects aimed at curbing dependence on imported oil and gas and ensuring sustainable, green supplies, according to draft legislation seen by Reuters. As part of preparations for the first EU budget to include energy spending, the draft indicates …
World rice production is expected to touch a record 480.5 million tonnes this year on the back of higher output in Asia, Egypt, Argentina, Mozambique, the US and Russian Federation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. “The outlook for global rice production in 2011 …
Governments are looking at a new plan to make sure the Kyoto treaty does not completely collapse at next month’s climate talks, the UN’s top climate diplomat has revealed. A negotiators’ meeting in Panama last week ahead of the Durban summit showed a willingness to consider a “letter of intent” …
Food commodity prices are likely to stay high and volatile during the next few years because of rising demand, more frequent extreme weather and the biofuel industry, according to a report from the UN’s agriculture agencies. Rising food prices and increasing volatility have become a big political and economic problem, …
Global subsidies for fossil fuel consumption are set to reach $660 billion in 2020 unless reforms are passed to effectively eliminate this form of state aid, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. "Governments and taxpayers spent about half a trillion dollars last year supporting the production and consumption …
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Energy Agency Tuesday urged governments world-wide to cut billions of dollars in fossil-fuel subsidies, arguing the rollbacks would bolster sagging government budgets while cutting wasteful energy use and carbon emissions. A group of 24 industrialized countries now spends $45 billion …
The Amur tiger has an extremely small population in the Russian Far East. However due to conservation efforts, that population has remained stable at around 350 individuals living in the wild. Recent reports have shown the population declining further, and one of the causes taken into consideration is a virus …
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday officially announced the finding of a natural gas field in the northwestern seas off Mannar for the first time. Addressing a function at the President's official residence in Kandy, the President has announced that Cairn Lanka, the company conducting the exploration has discovered …
An ozone hole five times the size of California opened over the Arctic this spring, matching ozone loss over Antarctica for the first time on record, scientists said on Sunday. Formed by a deep chill over the North Pole, the unprecedented hole at one point shifted over eastern Europe, Russia …
Testifies to the nation's growing prowess in space China on Thursday evening successfully launched its first space laboratory module, a key first step in its objective of becoming only the third country, after Russia and the United States, to assemble its own space station by 2020. The unmanned module, launched …
New Delhi Government-owned iron ore producer National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) on Wednesday said that it is looking to e-auction about 2 lakh tonne of iron ore from Karnataka mines starting this week to provide some relief to the steel companies. “I believe this (the auction) will take place this …
In Japan's most aggressive move to promote exports of nuclear technology since the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March, a Tokyo-based utility consortium signed a deal with Vietnam on Wednesday to conduct a feasibility study for two new reactors. The agreement comes as a lifeline to Japan's nuclear industry, which harbors …
China is due to take its first step towards building a space station on Thursday (today) when it launches an experimental module ahead of the country’s National Day celebrations. The Asian nation sees its ambitious space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist …
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased by 45 % between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tons in 2010. Increased energy efficiency, nuclear energy and the growing contribution of renewable energy are not compensating for the globally increasing demand for power and transport, which …
Meetings between the chief nuclear envoys of North and South Korea were “constructive,” negotiators said, even though the talks did not produce any breakthroughs on the longstanding impasse over the North’s refusal to give up its nuclear program. The talks on Wednesday, held at a private club in Beijing, were …
Even as diplomats and officials were taken aback by the protests against the smooth-sailing India-Russia nuclear plant venture at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, Russia on Tuesday described the protests as unfortunate. Russia said the imminent threat of the project being stalled would not impact future cooperation in the civil nuclear …
Siemens is exiting nuclear power in response to the German government's decision to quit the energy source, leading it to scrap a venture with Russia's Rosatom, its chief executive said. "The (nuclear) chapter is closed for us," Peter Loescher told German weekly magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published on …
PANJIM: General Secretary of the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication, (NOTE) has written to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to take part in a high level committee United Nations meeting on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. “We write to request your esteemed participation and contribution to the …
