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 …
The decommissioned French aircraft carrier Clemenceau is heading for India after being released by the Egyptian authorities. It is to be dismantled at the ship-breaking yards of Alang in Gujarat pending the Supreme Court (sc) decision on February 13, 2006, on whether the ship should be allowed to enter the …
More than 3,000 anti-nuclear activists attempted to block the delivery of atomic waste from France to the German town of Gorleben, on November 20, 2005. The activists staging a sit-down blockade on the railway track were arrested and farmers' tractors forming a barricade along the route confiscated. The controversial waste …
the global quest to generate commercial energy through nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the Sun, took a concrete shape with France being selected as the host for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Project (iter). The decision came after 18 months of wrangling with Japan
Camel experts from research institutions and non-government organisations in India, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK met at the training centre of Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan near Mammaji-ki-dhuni at Sadri, District Pali, Rajasthan, India, on 23-25 November 2004, and came up with the following recommendations: • …
Hilltop to desktop Technology advances have transformed the way maps are made When the Survey of India (SoI) was set up 237 years ago, in Dehradun, map making was akin to pure art. It required steady hands and a keen eye, and demanded months, at times years, of painstaking labour. …
function info() { var popurl="html/20041215_geo_info.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=650,height=350,scrollbars=yes") } India is not alone in restricting access to maps, but is perhaps the only country to have encouraged an irrational regime that guards even basic information. The armed forces of any nation would obviously want to restrict the ability of an adversary to …
function arbitrary() { var popurl="html/20041215_arbitrary.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=650,height=450,scrollbars=yes") } Almost half of India is inaccessible to its citizens
Behind the mass of confusion over maps lies a basic problem: India has no mapping policy. To fill this vacuum, various authorities have arrogated to themselves regulations of using, printing, publishing and developing maps. Geographical information is also not part of the more fundamental right to information. While the state …
a group of France's most renowned wine producers have issued a warning against the introduction of any genetically modified (gm) vines. The admonition comes against the backdrop of the recent decision by France's national agricultural research institute, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (inra), to resume trials of gm vines, …
Clemenceau, the decommissioned and rusty French aircraft carrier is all set to come to India to be taken apart after being refused entry by Greece and Turkey. It was taken off the hands of a Spanish contractor who unexpectedly tried to remove it from eu waters. The vessel will be …
oversized sports utility vehicles (suvs) may soon be history in Paris. A resolution passed by the city's council on June 8 proposes implementation of a ban on suvs in the French capital within the next 18 months. The plan now awaits the approval of the city's police chief. "These vehicles …
Paris was plunged into darkness as thousands of French energy workers staged a mass strike. The 24-hour stoppage was in response to the government's plans to transform state-owned power firms Electricite de France (edf) and Gaz de France (gdf) into limited companies. Unions perceive this as a prelude to a …
the French government has banned the use of the pesticide imidacloprid for treating corn seeds. In January 2004, it had extended the suspension on the chemical's use on sunflower seeds for three years. The country's beekeepers have been protesting against the pesticide, alleging that it causes high mortality among bees. …
April 23 marked the end of the 300-year-old coal mining industry in France. On that day, the last symbolic block of coal was extracted from the La Houve mine near the town of Creutzwald, abutting the German border. The closure was not abrupt; over the years, several west European coalmines …
function map() { var popurl="image/20040515/49-map.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=700,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } Letting eyes see what ears hear, a series of maps represent Paris in a fashion never seen before. The cartography is part of European Union's effort to map a long-overlooked, but oft-overheard form of pollution
The battle of the bulge doesn't stop with the consumer. Pharmaceutical giants are vying for the premium position in marketing lifestyle drugs. And mergers seem to be the best way to cut the opponents to size. Paris-based Sanofi-Synthelabo has offered to buy out its French rival Aventis for us $60.1 …
