The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed online shopping behaviours, according to a survey of about 3,700 consumers in nine emerging and developed economies.The survey, entitled “COVID-19 and E-commerce”, examined how the pandemic has changed the way consumers use e-commerce and digital solutions. It covered Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, the Republic …
Mamata finalises Annual Plan with Planning Commission The Annual Plan for West Bengal for 2011-12 was on Wednesday finalised at Rs.22,214 crore at a meeting here between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. At this level, the State Plan outlay for the current …
The Swiss government decided Wednesday to abandon plans to build new nuclear reactors, while European Union regulators agreed on a framework for stress-testing theirs, as repercussions from the disaster in Japan continue to ripple across Europe. A nuclear plant in Leibstadt, Switzerland. The country will phase out nuclear energy slowly. …
The Swiss government decided on Wednesday to phase out nuclear power by 2034 after the Japan disaster shook public confidence in the industry, but said it will not shut any existing power plants prematurely. The Swiss government suspended the approvals process for three new nuclear power stations in March pending …
ABOUT 500,000 people in India die from tuberculosis (TB) every year. The disease can lie dormant in an infected person for years without showing any symptoms but those with weakened immune system, like HIV/AIDS patients and the malnourished, are likely to develop active and contagious TB. Current diagnostic techniques, including …
TWO recent studies have clinched enough empirical data to repudiate any climate change sceptic. For the first time, the studies have pinned down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for frequent extreme weather events like rainfall and floods. In one study, UK and Switzerland researchers analysed one of the worst floods in …
Most readers might find it difficult to credit what follows. This is a story of how bilateral and multilateral investment treaties are being used to satisfy corporate greed, how large corporations, even those in the unsavoury business of selling cigarettes, can sue countries for passing public health laws intended to …
Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Dr Urs Herren meets Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office yesterday. Photo: PIDUnb, Dhaka Swiss Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Urs Harren met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office yesterday and discussed bilateral issues of mutual interest. On climate change, the ambassador informed …
BIOLOGISTS have identified genes in plants that control arsenic accumulation. The discovery promises to prevent the heavy metal from entering the food web and also clean contaminated sites through bioengineered plants. Scientists had been looking for the genes for 25 years. “Identifying them is a crucial step in keeping arsenic …
Animal activists last summer set fire to the alpine holiday home of Daniel Vasella, then chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Novartis of Basel, Switzerland, in one of relatively few violent attacks on scientists working with animals in German-speaking countries.
MALARIAL parasites are known to develop quick resistance to drugs. Two groups of scientists, working independently on alternative drugs for malaria, have identified a couple of compounds that could treat drug-resistant malaria. One team synthesised and evaluated a compound called spiroindolone NITD 609. It is effective against drug resistant strains …
They say you are what you eat. But do we know what we are eating? Do we know who is cooking and serving us the food we take to our kitchens and then into our bodies? The more I dig into this issue it becomes clear that our world of …
THE benign mychorrhizal fungi live in a mutually beneficial arrangement in the roots of most plants. They help the plant absorb essential nutrients like phosphorous and in return receive carbohydrates from the plant. But they do not bond with major food crops like rice. Swiss researchers recently claimed they can …
PAYERNE (Switzerland): When the Solar Impulse airplane took off on its pioneering round-the-clock flight on Wednesday, the solar panels spread over a wing similar in size to that of an Airbus generated a tiny fraction of an airliner's power. Each of the prototype's four solar-powered electric propellor motors produces barely …
Climate finance and the development of the global low-carbon economy are crucial elements for discussion at G8 and G20. An outcome form these Summits can be leveraged positively by formal UN negotiations. The United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen brought together unprecedented participation of Heads of State and Government …
The Great Aletsch Glacier is ill. Over the course of the twentieth century, the largest Alpine glacier, in Valais, Switzerland, receded by more than two kilometres, and Switzerland
Climate change is hitting coastal areas hard: rises in sea levels, ocean acidification, extreme events, bleaching and death of coral are all climate impacts which will require adjustments socially and economically. This report provides practical guidance for coastal communities and industries to adapt to climate change. Climate change is the …
In the rush to find new sources of energy and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, offshore wind farms are increasingly seen as an attractive solution, but their potential impact on marine biodiversity should not be overlooked. Greening blue energy, written in collaboration with E.ON and the Swedish International Development …
On the position of animal welfare attorney The office of animal welfare attorney exists only in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was created because no one stands up for the animal. We have animal welfare legislation but if you complain the case is unlikely to be taken seriously. …
