Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
• WITH WESTERN governments trying to cut health-care costs and consequently, the pharmaceuticals market becoming more competitive, many companies including Glaxo are keen to move into untapped markets. Glaxo chief executive Richard Sykes insists that to be successful, the company must develop "innovative medicines". "Every week, 3,000 genes are being …
ROBIN Raphael, the US state department official who was the cause of a major diplomatic row with India, visited Pakistan in early November for talks with the Benazir Bhutto government. Her visit is being interpreted as an attempt by the US government to smooth Pakistani feathers ruffled by the controversy …
After reports of the success of cloud seeding in the US, Australia and the Philippines, Union agriculture minister Balram Jakhar has become a strong votary of the practice. "There is no reason why cloud seeding cannot become a major component of our dry-land farming programmes," he says. The Indian Council …
THE EXECUTIVE committee of the Ozone Fund -- an international fund instituted to replace ozone-depleting substances (ODS) -- has rejected India's request for a $2 billion grant to replace these substances by 2010. Northern donor countries felt India's plan lacked detailed information and also projected a ten-fold increase in ODS …
DON'T KEEP guns at home for the temptation to use them may be too strong to control. According to a recent US study, firearms kept at home increase by three times the risk of murder by a family member or intimate acquaintance (The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 329, …
A SATELLITE that plunged into the sea is lying unclaimed and has become a point of debate between USA and China. The US Space Command says the satellite, launched by the Chinese on October 8, fell into the Pacific Ocean 1,600 km west of Peru. However, China disowns any connection …
Travellers entering USA may soon be identified by their hands. The identification system, known as Inspass, provides each traveller with a card that has a nine-byte code describing the shape of their hands. Inspass uses a solid-state television camera that photographs the hand from overhead and from the side and …
Person 1: These international meetings get tiring, don't they? Person 2: Well, more tiresome than tiring. Person 1: Anyway, I think it's good that we are finally beginning to recognise environmental problems at the international level. My name is Donna Dogood. I used to work with the US Environmental Protection …
LOANS FROM the US have helped Pakistan use other funds to finance its nuclear programme, according to the Central Intelligence Agency of USA, reports indicate. The agency is, however, uncertain about whether China continues to provide Pakistan with nuclear weapon technology.
THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system. The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according …
THE US has let Norway off the hook. US President Bill Clinton informed Congress, in the first week of October, that he does not intend to impose trade sanctions against Norway for violating an international ban on commercial whaling, but would instead persuade it to halt killing of minke whales. …
A POTENTIAL threat to barley and other crops is the proposal that countries pay royalties for plant genetic materials used to create commercial varieties. Even as debate continues on the issue, developing countries have stepped up their demands for such royalties, says Henry Shands, genetic resources director at the US …
A US APPEALS court has ruled that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) can be forwarded to Congress without an environmental impact statement, even as a power plant near the border fuelled a row about environmental damage. The US court agreed with the Clinton administration that private groups could …
Enter the "smart" window: an insulated, multi-pane, electrically-controlled glazing that can be used to control the amount of light coming through and rejecting excess heat, thereby obviating the need for air-conditioning. Though most components of such a window are still laboratory prototypes, a few semi-intelligent glazings have already hit the …
ASHOK Gadgil, Arthur Rosenfeld and others at the University of California at Berkeley have proposed "low-E (emissivity)" windows with coatings to reduce heat transfers, can be a viable option for developing countries because they will save energy and reduce peak-hour demands. But the windows proposed by Gadgil and company are …
A TEAM of US researchers have said carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon pollution levels in Kathmandu were the highest among Asian cities, writes Jan Sharma in a Panos report. The average carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon content of emissions of 8,000 vehicles monitored by the team were 3.95 per cent and 0.76 …
TOBACCO-exporting nations flayed a new US legislation on prohibiting the use of more than 25 per cent imported tobacco by US cigarette manufacturers, even as three leading aerospace companies accused the US of using the current trade negotiations to undermine the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) subsidies agreement …
THE LEGISLATION to prohibit state curbs on abortion -- the Freedom of Choice Act -- that was once the primary legislative goal of abortion rights supporters, has lost momentum. Besides being relentlessly attacked by opponents, the pro-abortion lobby is now divided on how comprehensive a bill is needed. They have …
THE US Congress approval of less than the requested funding for the world's poorest countries has put the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank in trouble. Though the Clinton administration had requested an annual contribution of $1.25 billion to meet its three-year commitment of $3.75 billion, the Congress …
THE WITHDRAWAL of USA -- the largest consumer of coffee -- is unlikely to invalidate the International Coffee Agreement, which aims at stabilising coffee prices for the benefit of both consumers and producers. Sufficient importing members have already agreed to the pact. Though the loss has been acknowledged to be …
