The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
Heat waves have a drastic impact on urban populations, which could increase with climate change. The authors evaluated new indicators of elderly people’s exposure to heat in Paris, from a public health prevention perspective, using satellite thermal images.
More than a hundred countries now support a French proposal to create a ‘World Environment Organisation’ at the upcoming 20th anniversary conference of the Rio Summit, France’s ecology minister said on Tuesday. ‘More than 100 countries have now associated themselves with the proposal,’ Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said at a conference in …
U.S. biotech firm Monsanto said on Tuesday it does not plan to sell its genetically modified maize MON810 in France this year, nor after, even though the country's highest court overturned a 3-year ban in November. "Monsanto considers that favorable conditions for the sale of the MON810 in France in …
Prospecting macroalgae (seaweeds) as feedstocks for bioconversion into biofuels and commodity chemical compounds is limited primarily by the availability of tractable microorganisms that can metabolize alginate polysaccharides. Here, we present the discovery of a 36–kilo–base pair DNA fragment from Vibrio splendidus encoding enzymes for alginate transport and metabolism. The genomic …
A refreshingly frank and forward-looking report on the safety of French nuclear power plants in the wake of Fukushima should spur other countries to take a hard look at regulation of their own reactors. (Editorial)
Nowhere did the alarm bells sounded by the Fukushima nuclear disaster ring more loudly than in France, which leads the world in nuclear energy. About three-quarters of its electricity comes from nuclear power stations, and it is one of the main exporters of reactors and related technology.
Negotiations with French company Areva on the nuclear plant at Jaitapur could restart soon, a senior official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said on Monday. The talks were stalled owing to a safety review of all the nuclear plants by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). …
French, Russian regulators say no need to change designs of projects at Jaitapur and Kundankulam. India’s nuclear capacity addition programme, which has seen opposition from local villagers and experts countrywide, has got a boost following safety assurances from French and Russian nuclear safety regulators associated with pertinent projects in Maharashtra …
French major Areva also claims safety of EPRs, but critics not convinced. The evolutionary pressurised reactors (EPRs) that Areva is interested in supplying to the Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) as part of the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power in Maharashtra will offer 15 per cent savings on uranium per mega-watt produced …
France's nuclear-safety watchdog ordered immediate upgrades to nuclear reactors to guard against natural disasters, which Électricité de France SA said could require €10 billion, or roughly $13 billion, in additional costs. In a review following last year's Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire concluded that no …
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday sought reply from a French company on a petition by state-run ONGC alleging that there was no concluded contract for commissioning of pipelines for its D-18 oil field with the former. A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir sought reply from So France …
Moving past the global economic powerhouses like the UK, Germany and France, the Indian economy would become the world's fifth largest by 2020, a major jump from its 10th rank currently, a report has said. "India, the world's 10th biggest economy in 2011, would become the fifth largest by 2020," …
The French Government has pledged Euro 22 million (Rs. 3.3 billion) of assistance to develop infrastructure of Sri Lanka. The France funded project involves widening and reconstruction of 46 bridges. Most of the bridges of the 12,000 km road network of the island is either too weak or too narrow …
More than 250 British women with silicone breast implants, manufactured by a French company, are to take legal action after eight women in France with similar implants were found to have cancer sparking a Europe-wide health scare. Up to 40,000 British women are estimated to have implants supplied by now …
A shift to renewable energy would ultimately cost around the same as business as usual and the EU needs to make progress on setting a 2030 target for greener fuel soon, the bloc's energy commissioner said. Guenther Oettinger was laying out the European Union's latest road map for mostly eliminating …
Just when the government felt it had sorted out all the wrinkles in the Nuclear Liability Act, eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee has said the crucial rule restricting the liability of supplier to just five years in case of an accident is ultra vires and invalid. Mr. Sorabjee was answering questions …
The World Health Organization on Friday warned that Europe faces an explosion of measles cases next year unless it takes urgent steps to contain the viral respiratory disease. In the first nine months of 2011, 36 Western European nations reported a total of 26,000 measles cases, including more than 14,000 …
French police Monday arrested four environmental activists who had managed earlier in the day to break into France's Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear plant, near Paris. "We can confirm there was the intrusion of elements in the power plant and four persons were arrested. Our team is still intervening there and we have …
If Europe is to achieve its renewable energy goals, its power grid will have to grow accordingly. New studies point to a need for expansion on land and at sea. The greatest challenge lies in coordination between governments.
