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, …
The World Bank issued a global hunger warning last night after severe droughts in the US and eastern Europe sent food prices to a record high. Damage to crop harvests from exceptionally dry weather this year raised sharply the Bank's food price index taking it above its peak in early …
International water conservation and environmental protection specialists have called on the global community to step up the fight against water shortages that have been worsened by human activity and climate change. "It's an urgent time for the international community to take action to prevent freshwater lakes from being contaminated, as …
The world's top farm producers in the Group of 20 countries must agree coordinated action to ease worries about food prices, the head of the United Nations food agency said on Monday, as he and other experts bemoaned a huge global waste of food and water. The third price surge …
Floods killed four people and prompted the evacuation of 1,500 others on Wednesday in the southern Russian province of Krasnodar, where a flash flood last month killed 171 people, police said. Heavy rain overnight caused a river to burst its banks, flooding 600 homes in the town of Novomikhailovsky and …
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is eyeing stake in Russia’s ambitious Arctic Ocean oil and gas projects with US major ExxonMobil and Italian energy giant ENI. OVL on May 4 wrote to Russian state oil company Rosneft expressing interest in …
Despite the high global burden of diseases caused by tobacco, valid and comparable prevalence data for patterns of adult tobacco use and factors influencing use are absent for many low-income and middle-income countries. We assess these patterns through analysis of data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).
Tobacco use is massively entrenched in developing countries, where one of the biggest worries is the rise of smoking among women, according to a study published on Friday in The Lancet. A survey of 16 countries that are home to three billion people found that 48.6 percent of all men …
Having nearly 275 million tobacco users, India ranks second globally and very close to China (approximately 301 million users). But unlike China, where nearly all are smokers and nearly 95 per cent smoke manufactured cigarettes, India accounts for more of smokeless tobacco users — 206 million, says a study published …
Australia's opposition Liberal party climate spokesman Greg Hunt on Thursday gave his "in principle" backing to signing up for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, making it easier for the under-fire government to sign the U.N. climate treaty. Hunt told The Age newspaper that the opposition coalition's intention …
Hemi-boreal forests, which make up the transition from temperate deciduous forests to boreal forests in southern Siberia, have experienced significant warming without any accompanying increase in precipitation during the last 80 years. This climatic change could have a profound impact on tree growth and on the stability of forest ecosystems …
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck in the Sea of Okhotsk off the east Russian coast early today, US and Japanese monitors said, with the tremor felt as far away as Tokyo. The quake occurred at 0259 GMT some 158 kilometres east of Poronaysk, Russia, with the epicentre a comparatively …
If the government decides to bring Kudankulam’s third and fourth units under the purview of the nuclear liability law, which makes suppliers liable for compensation in case of accidents, Russia will mount double pressure on India. Russia will not only increase the cost of the reactors, but also seek a …
Up from global 7th in 2008 among 40 large generation firms, says Washington think tank NTPC contests charge of prime polluter India’s state-owned NTPC Ltd is the world’s sixth-largest polluter among a total of 40 large power generating companies, according to the Centre for Global Development (CGD), a Washington-based think …
In what will set the bar for India’s nuclear contracts, Russia’s plea that two reactors planned at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu — apart from units 1 and 2 — be exempted from provisions of the tough nuclear liability law may not be accepted. Reactors 1 and 2 that are to …
GAIL, IOC keen to source LNG from Russia GAIL (India), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) have expressed their willingness to source LNG on long- and medium-term basis from existing and upcoming LNG liquefaction terminals, including for the Ennore LNG terminal, in Russia. Senior officials in the …
If Martians exist, those in the vicinity of the Gale Crater were in for a treat this Monday: Curiosity reached their planet. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory erupted in cheers when the unmanned rover aced its landing, having braved the much-discussed seven minutes of terror in a feat of creative engineering …
Russia on Monday night launched two telecommunications satellites aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said. Live webcast from Roscosmos showed that the Proton carrier rocket blasted off from the Cosmodrome at 11:31 pm Moscow time ( 1931 GMT) as …
India Risks Upsetting Either Russia Or US And France New Delhi: As India prepares to sign a key agreement with Russia on two new Kudankulam reactors (KK-3 and 4), the Prime Minister’s Office has highlighted a fundamental problem with the thorny issue of nuclear liability which not only threatens the …
Things are going on smoothly and the loading of enriched uranium fuel into the first reactor at Kudankulam is expected to begin by the middle of this month. This was stated by Chairman and Managing Director of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) K.C. Purohit. “Our inspection [of the …
Activists citing concerns about the fate of local residents in the event of an accident at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant received a boost from an unexpected source with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh questioning the Department of Atomic Energy’s decision to waive its legal right to claim damages against the …
