In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
>> Arab countries have agreed to allow punishment of satellite channels deemed to have offended Arab leaders or national or religious symbols. At a meeting in Cairo called by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a charter was adopted allowing authorities to withdraw permits from offending channels. The charter calls on broadcasters …
Saudi Arabia plans to halt wheat production by 2016 because of concerns about the desert kingdom's scarce water resources, according to a US government agency. The Saudi Arabian government has not publicly given details of the move, which comes as global cereal prices surge, driven by strong demand and lagging …
>> In the latest plan to stem the flow of the mud volcano that erupted last year in East Java, Indonesia, a US $69 million-proposal has been chalked out. A concrete dam will be built to check the mud flow, which has already displaced around 15,000 people (see
The reality of global warming was reaffirmed in two major incidents in West Asia recently. While Saudi Arabia (sa) decided to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the global treaty to fight climate change, the United Arab Emirates (uae) witnessed drastic weather changes: first ever snowfall, heavy rains and unusual chill. sa …
Philippines joins CNG bandwagon: Yet another country attempting to switch its public transport to compressed natural gas (CNG) mode is Philippines. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has announced that a bus company, will undertake a pilot project by 2003, which will include 100 buses to be fully fuelled by CNG. Devious strategy …
Labelling of genetically modified (gm) food will be made compulsory in Thailand by the end of year 2001. This decision follows a ban on gm field trails in the country. Thailand is one of the world's leading food exporting countries. It exports to countries such as the uk and Saudi …
following an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth (fmd) disease and the authorities' incapability to handle the situation, the Indian meat exports have declined dramatically
saudi arabia has banned the import of beef from South Africa because of concerns over "mad cow' disease, despite assurances from South Africa that its beef is safe, reported the daily Asharq al-Awsat . The South African government says the country has never been affected by the disease, which came …
LEADING Islamic scholars have ruled that Muslims should be allowed to take advantage of the medical benefits of genetic engineering. But they urged companies to take steps to ensure the technology does not become dangerous or violate Islamic laws. According to the Saudi newspaper Arab News, scholars from the Islamic …
The oil boom in the Gulf has taken a toll of the wheat farms of Saudi Arabia. Large tracts of rich, arable land are slowly drying up in the Saudi Arabian desert as the once lucrative wheat farming has lost its appeal. The oil boom of'70s- '80s saw the country …
GEOLOGISTS have found traces of a river that flowed between 5,000 and 11,000 years ago in the desert expanse of the Arabian peninsula. Some stretches of the river may have been as wide as 5 km wide, says Farouk El-Baz, director of Boston University's remote sensing centre (New Scientist, April …
IT WAS no mean task to iron out differences to get an agreement on the atmosphere chapter in Agenda 21, the whole of which was bracketed at the last prepcom by Yemen on behalf of the Arab group. As the use of oil was singled out as one of the …
Faced with European proposals for higher taxes on oil, Saudi Arabia is signalling desperately that it wants higher prices. This makes a change from its earlier policy of restrained oil pricing. This fortnight's crucial mid-year meeting of OPEC saw the conspicuous absence of the Saudi oil minister. This shift in …
