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 rusting fleet of decommissioned nuclear submarines in Russia may pose serious threats to the environment, say environmentalists and military experts. "The danger of nuclear waste remains critical in Russia's north and far east,' says Vladimir Gonav, head of the parliamentary committee in Northern Russia. Lack of proper maitenance and …
social and economic upheaval in Russia, along with the influx of heroin and other illegal drugs, have led to a rapid increase in the number of drug addicts. This rise is shadowed by a steep increase in the incidence of hiv
nearly 63 miners died in a methane gas explosion which took place in the Skochinsky coalmine, Donetsk, Ukraine. This was one of the Ukraine's worst mining disasters. Some 600 persons were working when the methane blast ripped the pit. Rescue teams had to burrow through 300 metres of rubble, 1.2 …
On the state of Russia today: Russia is today facing economic degradation, environmental deterioration and human suffering. These environmental problems are due to natural resource degradation and neglect of arable land. Capital investment at present is less than one third of what it was in 1990, production has halved, investment …
tuberculosis has devastated Russia's population. Tatyana Dmitrieva, Russian health minister, says that the incidence of tuberculosis had more than doubled since 1991, reaching 68 cases per 1,00,000 people. It is 18 cases above the epidemic threshold as defined by the World Health Organisation. According to Russian health authorities, over two …
two major Russian oil firms have planned to join hands. According to Russian officials, the merger would create a new force to be reckoned with on the domestic and global energy. Yukos, Russia's second largest oil producer and its number one refiner, will take a 60 per cent stake in …
The problems with the Mir space station do not seem to get over. On January 2, its main computer broke down again taking the orientation system off-line in the process. Mir's main computer broke down seven times last year. Experts believe that the breakdown of the main computer will not …
a scientific investigation by the Russian and Norwegian governments has found that radioactive contamination from the production of plutonium for the former Soviet Union's nuclear weapons was far higher than was ever believed. Since 1948, the Mayak nuclear complex in the southern Urals has leaked 8900 petabecquerels of radioactive isotopes …
norwegian environmental engineers say that at least half a million people on the Kola peninsula in northern Russia are drinking water contaminated with raw sewage and heavy metals. They warn that these people may suffer major epidemics of diarrhoea because urine from chicken farms is leaking into the River Kola, …
an italian microbiologist who has been monitoring hygiene on the Russian space station, Mir, says that filthy conditions have caused its occupants to suffer from food poisoning and other infections. Mario Pitzurra of Perugia University says that these infections have so far been controlled by using antibiotics. "Mir's basic hygiene …
the beleaguered Russian space station Mir received a shot in the arm when two cosmonauts made a space walk of six hours and 17 minutes to install a new solar panel outside the station's scientific module Kvant on November 6. The new panel would double the power supply on the …
a new regulation that limits access to information about many nuclear sites in Russia may frustrate the efforts of environmentalists to find out about nuclear pollution in the Russian Arctic. The new regulation, which is a set of amendments to the 1993 State Secrets law, says that any nuclear installation …
RUSSIA will cut its vast stockpiles of enriched uranium and plutonium and convert three plutonium-producing military reactors to civilian use by the year 2000. The Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, in a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, promised to remove 50 tonnes of plutonium and 500 tonnes of highly …
aerospace , once perceived as the frontier of us -Russian competition, is fast emerging as one of the most fruitful areas of cooperation between the former ideological enemies. Representatives of Russian and foreign companies participating in the recently concluded air show in Moscow, shared the view that cooperation
as populations in developing countries continue to grow straining inadequate resources, another part of the world is facing a different problem. Russia's population is falling relentlessly, giving rise to fears of a demographic disaster in the making. A study conducted recently by the Population Research Service ( prs ), a …
alcoholism in Russia is rising at an unparalleled rate. The average life expectancy for Russian men fell by 6.2 years and for women by 3.4 years between 1990 and 1994. A major reason for that was a high consumption of alcohol. According to David Leon of the London School of …
the Black Sea ecosystem is threatened by a project to build a pipeline to transport oil to the sea shores from Kazakhstan through southern Russia. Some of the largest oil companies of the world are involved in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium ( cpc ), a us $2-billion project that is …
finally, there was some good news from the Russian space station Mir. The crew successfully carried out some repairs on August 23, restoring the electrical cables that had been cut off after a supply ship crashed into the station on June 25. This had caused a loss of connection with …
Cosmonauts aboard the damaged space station Mir, are cleaning up the ship and are preparing to return home after the most troubled mission in the space station's 11-year history. They are waiting for the arrival of the new crew said spokesperson Vera Medvedkova from the Russian mission control outside Moscow. …
