The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
A curious search for blankets is currently taking place in the plains around the Great Lakes in North America. These are not ordinary blankets. They are actually bison skins that were smeared with body fluid tainted with smallpox and used, two hundred years ago, to obliterate American Indians. Post 9/11, …
a recent study proffers yet another rationale for not consuming chicken. As per its findings, the foodstuff is not only laced with antibiotics, but is also full of carcinogenic arsenic. The arsenic contamination is higher than what was previously estimated
The diagnosis of mad cow disease in an animal in rural Washington spoilt the new-year party of the us $70 billion us beef industry this year. As many as two dozen nations, including Australia, Japan and Russia, put breaks on us beef imports, which raked in about us $3.2 billion …
more than 40 per cent of bacteria found in meat on sale in Switzerland are resistant to at least one antibiotic, shows a research. The findings have grave implications
In the beginning of November 2003, the us Food and Drug Administration (fda) released the findings of its risk assessment study on whether the meat and milk from cloned animals and their progeny was as safe to eat as conventionally bred livestock. It was "likely to be as safe', the …
Fuel yourself with a glass of milk! This might well be the tagline of an advertisement for a range of packaged milk brands in Texas, us . Only, there would be an acrid tinge to it. High levels of perchlorate, a carcinogenic constituent of rocket fuel, have been found in …
Streptomycin belongs to the group of aminoglycoside antibiotics. It was utilized in apiculture to protect bees against a variety of bee diseases. It was the aim of this study to develop a highly sensitive LC/MS/MS method, which could be validated, for the quantitative determination of streptomycin in honey.
A recent report that the Union ministry of environment and forests may be "exploring the possibility of allowing private persons to breed wild animals and extract medicinal products from them' has sent a ripple of discontent amongst the country's conservationists. The debate over the ethics and economics of use (of …
india's department of biotechnology has launched a us $1.2 million project to unravel the genome of the water buffalo. Nearly 90 per cent of milk consumed in the country is provided by these water buffaloes. The three-year long project is aimed at improving the genetic pool of the animals. Farmers …
The deadly Ebola virus has claimed at least 50 lives in the Republic of Congo. The Congolese ministry of health revealed that the victims belonged to Kelle and Mbou villages, in the Cuvette West region north of Brazzaville. Ebola is a deadly viral disease that causes death due to massive …
The Jamiatul Quresh Meat Welfare Association (JQMWA) in Pakistan has threatened a countrywide strike by butchers unless the government does something soon about the acute scarcity of meat and livestock in the country. Large amounts of meat are exported to West Asia and other Islamic countries at the cost of …
jumbo fighters: Tiny bugs would no longer trouble jumbo jets. If undetected, microbes in aviation fuel harm the planes' instruments and even eat through the wings. They also produce misleading readings in fuel gauges. Now, Cardiff-based ECHA Microbiology has developed an industry-standard test for the pests, which lets non-microbiologists check …
The return of the unicorns is an account of what it takes to save endangered large mammals. The author outlines the multifaceted recovery program--structured around targeted fieldwork and scientific research, effective protective measures, habitat planning and management, public-awareness campaigns, economic incentives to promote local guardianship, and bold, uncompromising leadership--that brought …
the European Union's authority for applying precautionary principle in environmental and health decision-making has been recently reinforced by two rulings of the European Court of Justice. Both cases arose from a 1999 regulation banning use of four antibiotics in animal feed. Two pharmaceutical firms had challenged the regulation arguing that …
the Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently passed an order directing the state government to effectively enforce the ban on sale and manufacture of shahtoosh shawls. Though the court had prohibited trade in shahtoosh shawls in 2000, the sale and manufacture of the shawls continued clandestinely. Shahtoosh is obtained by …
The Bandi river in Rajasthan is dying. Flowing through various villages of Rohet tehsil in Pali district, its water has a reddish hue like red rum. It can no longer be used for irrigation or drinking. "Even animals do not drink this water,' says Gangadhan Charan, a resident of Gadhawara …
