Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
Rice producing areas across Asia have been hit by huge floods in early October. Thailand, one of the world's top growers and rice exporters has been hard hit with as much as 10 per cent of the rice area facing a threat. According to a senior Thai agriculture ministry official, …
"IF EVER there were to be a paradise in this land of Indians, this" Frary Pedro Simon, a 16th century chronicler, had 1i At a dizzying 5,775 metres (in) above sea level, the fd stiountains in Sierra Nevada, Colombia, make up the rs highest coastline range. just 300 years ago, …
Bangladesh premier Begum Khaleda Zia has launched a nation-wide "kill rodents" campaign. She is offering attractive prizes to the killers, provided they produce the tails of their victims before the federal agriculture ministry. At least half a million tonne of foodgrains, enough to feed 3 million people annually, are either …
IT is not so long since scientists claimed to have deciphered the code of life: the deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA, as it is commonly known, had foxed scientists ever since it was discovered as the key player in genetic transfer of characters in all forms of life. Interestingly, close on the …
An imminent food crisis threatens to envelop thousands of Sri Lankans in the island's war-torn Jaffna peninsula in the north, as food supplies to the region have been suspeIJded. The suspension is the result of the refusal of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to escort government vessels …
IMAGINE a tea garden which resembles a dense forest. Animals abound, sacred fig trees bloom, and water is aplenty. This is Jinuoshan, a hilly region in China"s South Yunan district. The Jinuo, China"s smallest ethnic group, with a population of 18,000, cultivate the broadleaf Pu"er tea, Carnellis sininsis var assamica …
A sleeping giant is about to come to life at the British colony of Montserrat in Eastern Caribbean. Eruptions and emissions of ash from a volcano dormant for centuries have sent almost 1,000 people scurrying from their homes. Half of the 11,000 population at Montserrat only a section is likely …
TIME was when people looked heavenward and prayed, "Ye gods, give us rain, keep drought away." Today, there are those who pray, "Give us rain, keep El Nifto away." El Nifio and its atmospheric equivalent, (a sea-level pressure 'seesaw') called the Southern Oscillation, are together referred to as ENso, and …
ONE of the most challenging tasks in the wake of devastating earthquakes, floods and other such natural calamities is the repair of roads and railway supply lines. In particular, mending bridges poses the greatest problem because conventional methods to construct bridges require a lot of time and expenditure. But now, …
BIOTECH: Yet another drug company in the US has linked its lot with a biotech firm in a bid to expand its product line. Schering Plough Corp has forged a deal with COR Therapeutics Inc, agreeing to pay a whopping US $120 million to gain access to COR's experimental heart …
THE US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally come up with a full-fledged plan to combat pollution at the Great Lakes on the US-Canadian border. The basin-of the 5 lakes, which Iretches across over 1,200 kilometres covering 8 states of the US and a Canadian province, provides drinking water to …
FINANCIAL planners in insurance companies across the world hold their breath as the world leaders squabble over new cuts in greenhouse gas emissions at the Berlin Climate Convention Summit. The phenomenon of global warming might seriously affect their future, says Richard Keeling of the Harvey Bowring Lloyd's Syndicate, London. The …
JAPAN has yet again managed to, controversially speaking, outstrip the sun. It kicked off a worldwide furore in December 1992 when it received its first radioactive nuclear waste shipment in the form of reclaimed plutonium from the French company, Cogema. Now, another shipload of the stuff of nightmares is ready …
THE January 17 earthquake near Kobe in western Japan exacted a grim toll: over 5,000 dead -- and climbing -- and more than 23,600 injured, about 280,000 homeless; heavy infrastructural damage like collapsed highways, railroads and buildings. Epicentred 20 km below the tiny island of Awajishima in the Seto inland …
GERMAN scientists have devised a method to repair blood vessels damaged during delicate surgery by coupling them using a novel biodegradable device. Anastomosis, or coupling of thin blood vessels with sutures, is usually an intricate task which requires a great deal of surgical time and skill. Although several mechanical devices …
ALFRED Russel Wallace, co-originator of the modern theory of evolution of life; Paul Gauguin's famous paintings of Tahitian life; the Guam island massacre of POWs by the Japanese during World War II -- these are a few images that flash upon the mind when one thinks of the tropical Pacific …
THE earthquake at Latur in 1993, which killed an estimated 9,000 people and rendered many more homeless, drove bipme the point that disaster can strike anvtime, anywhere. Fortunately, there are many organisations working to conuin damage caused by such calamities. Relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken immediately after a calamitv are …
All disasters, natural or human-made, have one thing in common; their capacity to maim, cause unmentionable misery, and loss of property and lives. But there is a twist in the tale. The World Disaster Report, 1994, published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socities, suggests that …
There was something about the sea that sent a shiver through Kamal Hossain. The colour of the water was not the usual emerald green but had a muddier hue -- something unusual for the Bay of Bengal in April. There was also a lot of foam in the water. The …
INUNDATION is nothing new for the Dutch. A good part of the Netherlands -- 25 per cent of it actually -- lies below sea level and would have been inundated regularly had the Dutch not taken steps to keep out the sea. Right from medieval times, dykes, dams and canals …
