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, …
Even as it has increased the state's role in the economy, Vladimir Putin's authoritarian administration has presided over one of the world's biggest liberalisations
Five years ago Russia's rapidly growing oil exports were seen as the cure for the US and Europe's addiction to Middle East oil, international oil companies' most exciting potential source of revenue and the only thing that could quench China's insatiable new thirst. But today Russia is bracing itself for …
Probe on Baikal pollution: The Russian prosecutor's office has launched an inquiry into a paper and pulp mill suspected of polluting Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater reserve. The mill, built in 1966, was illegally dumping waste in the lake and was breaking environmental norms in the area; there are …
Protests were expected when authorities shut down St Petersburg's European University, one of Russia's most respected higher-learning institutions. But their scale seems to have exceeded authorities' worst expectations. With their building now off-limits, students and faculty have fallen back on Internet forums, and blogs to coordinate their efforts. "A university …
LAUREN ALLAN-VAIL When the writer Anton Chekhov described Sakhalin as a hellish place, he could have scarcely anticipated the ravages wrought by big oil companies on this 78,000 sq km island. Sakhalin was a Russian penal colony then and the writer perhaps had little idea of its environmental importance. But …
The European Union has broken through in efforts to lessen its dependence on Russian natural gas with a concrete offer of extra supplies from Turkmenistan. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU external relations commissioner, said the Turkmen president had last week guaranteed that 10bn cubic metres of gas a year would be available …
Norilsk Set To Avoid $178 Million Pollution Suit RUSSIA: April 10, 2008 MOSCOW/ST PETERSBURG - Norilsk Nickel appears likely to avoid a $178 million pollution suit after the head of Russia's environment agency on Wednesday disowned a claim filed by his outspoken deputy. Rosprirodnadzor head Vladimir Kirillov told reporters his …
Italy will achieve its greenhouse gas-cutting targets under the Kyoto protocol by buying carbon credits from Russia, under a deal announced yesterday that could cost the government billions of euros. Italy is expected to miss its Kyoto targets by a total of about 400m to 500m tonnes of carbon dioxide, …
These are the best of times; these are the worst of times. Charles Dickens' famous words describe the present state of European Union-Russia relations perfectly. There has never been as much trade and business between Europe and Russia. Yet political tension has not been this intense since the days of …
Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas group, is likely to secure energy assets in Libya alongside Eni gaining a long sought entry to north African oil and gas fields and tightening its grip on European markets. Paolo Scaroni, the Eni chief executive and Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, discussed the idea …
Scarcity usually drives up value, but not in the nuclear-bomb business. At the height of the cold war, with tens of thousands of missiles on hair-trigger alert and the world perpetually poised for Armageddon, a stint in the nuclear chain of command was a fast track to military promotion. Now …
Drug-resistant tuberculosis is spreading faster than feared. According to a new who report, Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world, about 0.5 million new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (mdr-tb) are detected every year, accounting for 5 per cent of 9 million new cases of tb. India, China and Russia carry the …
The Russian Federation is now a "superpower' of spam email. According to the multinational computer security firm Sophos, Russia is the second-most-prolific country after the us in producing junk emails. "One in 12 junk mails generated worldwide originates in Russia,' the firm's quarterly update on spam email noted. The us …
The time has come for the government to get off the oil industry's back The runaway rise in international oil prices, which recently crossed $100 a barrel, has put Indian oil companies in a spot. Even as their costs rise, they are unable to raise prices to get the resources …
In voting for the further tightening of international sanctions against Iran despite the satisfactory resolution of all concrete issues surrounding its previous nuclear activities, the United Nations Security Council has wilfully and unnecessarily escalated a crisis that was heading towards a peaceful end. When Iran's nuclear file was sent to …
The Congress on Tuesday gave a clear indication that following the "convergence of views' in the India-specific safeguards agreement talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this weekend, the UPA government was all set to go ahead with the India-U.S. nuclear agreement. Even as the Left parties reiterated their …
Entrepreneurs and big polluters can now profit from greenhouse gas emissions cuts by investing in Russia. On January 29, the Russian government set down the much-needed rules for the development of Joint Implementation (ji) projects. ji is a carbon trading mechanism set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to allow …
first up, another tribute is due to all the people that campaigned and supported the Right To Information Act, 2005. But for this vital legislation, we would have been so much the poorer for not learning what a national disgrace India's union government's ministry of chemicals and fertilizers is. Kudos …
Russia's environmental watchdog yesterday said it had filed a Rbs4.35bn ($180m) pollution suit against Norilsk Nickel, the Russian mining group, in its largest ever environmental complaint against a Russian company. Oleg Mitvol, the head of Rosprirodnadzor, who has led campaigns against resource companies in the past that have ended in …
