Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Rivers nationwide have been cleansed of their industrial past as pollutioncontrols have been tightened and enforced, and water quality gradually improved. Ian Barker, head of land and water at the Environment Agency, said: “Work that we have done with farmers, businesses and water companies to reduce the amount of water taken from rivers, minimise pollution and improve water quality
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) on Monday signed a contract with Chinese developers Vanke to design affordable housing for Beijing. Read More
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Scientists in Brazil claim to have discovered a massive 6000km river running deep below the Amazon basin, but other researchers think it might just be water trickling through underground rocks. Known for its rich biodiversity and misty beauty, researchers are now wondering if they have only seen part of the Amazon, since the “discovery” of the
Monday, August 29th, 2011
The State Department in its report said the project – which would pipe more than 700,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude to Texas refineries – would not increase greenhouse gas emissions. It also downplayed the risks of an accident from piping highly corrosive tar sands crude across prime American farmland. Campaigners accused the State
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Climate shift has at times been fingered as a culprit in triggering conflict, fuelling for instance the 1789 French Revolution by wrecking harvests and driving hungry peasants to the city. Evidence to back the theory has often been contested as sketchy or anecdotal – but the case has been boosted by the first scientific study to
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Bulgaria’s Cabinet could complete the privatization of the “Freight Services” unit of state railways operator BDZ Holding within six months, according to Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski. Moskovski told BNR Sunday that the plan for reforms of the vastly troubled state railway company coordinated with the World Bank called for the splitting of BDZ”Passenger Services” from BDZ “Freight Services.” Read More
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Sweden’s housing minister Stefan Attefall told potential students that they should avoid studying in Stockholm to ease pressure on housing in the Swedish capital. He even went as far as to propose cutting the number of student places in the city. These comments are absurd and threaten the region’s future growth – and with it jobs and public
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Archeologists in the Arctic hoping to find Sir John Franklin’s long-lost ships neared the end of their latest search Friday with no shipwreck in sight. It appears HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, two of the most sought-after wrecks in Canada, will remain undiscovered for now. Parks Canada archeologists spent the last six days combing an area west
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
The Chinese military’s naval wing published its first digital international standard nautical chart covering the country’s maritime territory, including the Yellow, East China, South China and Bohai seas. The official nautical chart published by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy conforms with the International Hydrographic Organisation’s (IHO’s) S-57 standard. Read More
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Heads are expected to roll in Russia’s space industry in the wake of the recent failures, above all the August 24 incident when the cargo spaceship Progress M-12M crashed in the Altai Region in southern Siberia, reportedly braking into three parts. The Roscosmos space agency is now busy rescheduling future launches and setting up a commission
