‘Games organisers toeing company line'

There were fresh calls on Thursday for an independent inquiry into Dow Chemical's controversial sponsorship of the London Olympics after Meredith Alexander, a leading environmentalist, resigned from the Games' ethics committee — the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 — protesting against Dow's links with the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster and accusing the organisers of “toeing” the company's line.

British government plans to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes were ruled legally flawed by the High Court on Wednesday.

The decision was a victory for environmental campaigner Friends of the Earth and two solar companies, Solar Century and HomeSun, who said the plans were creating economic uncertainty.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne wants to cut feed-in tariff subsidies (FITs) -- payments made to households and communities that generate green electricity through solar panels -- on any installations completed after December 12 this year.

Londoners will next year be drinking water from a desalination plant – a type of facility more commonly associated with the arid Gulf region – if the current dry spell continues, Thames Water has warned.

The company, which supplies water and sewerage services to 8.8m customers in the capital and along the Thames Valley, said it would activate its emergency plant based in Beckton to the east of the capital from the turn of the year if the current conditions persist.

Phase IV will cover about 440 km by 2021

With work beginning on Phase III of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the Central Government has decided to expand the metro network further, and DMRC has already been directed to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for Phase IV, which is likely to add another 104 km to the metro network, Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath said here on Thursday.

A new report presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Amsterdam over the weekend claims that individuals who regularly bicycle in major cities like London and Amsterdam have increased levels of black carbon in their respiratory systems. A condition commonly associated with turn-of-the-century industrial revolution processes, black lung is still persistent in the right environments. City cyclists are at a higher risk simply because they are breathing heavier in a relatively polluted environment.

London: Beware! Traffic fumes can take a toll on your life, for a new study, led by an Indian-origin researcher, has found that air pollution raises one’s risk of heart attack for up to six hours after exposure.

Use Of Electricity Ups Treatment’s Potency 100-Fold
London: Scientists have developed a hand-held device which delivers a ‘turbo-charged’ vaccine into muscles to treat malignant melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer that kills thousands every year.

Developed by researchers in the UK, the device contains a syringe needle and four electrodes. It’s held against the patient’s upper arm or leg, while the needle contains the vaccine itself, a brief electrical pulse from electrodes creates an opening which allows the DNA to enter cells.

Prevailing parking rates in the city are among the lowest anywhere in the world. Car users are pampered so much that even hawkers pay double the amount to use street space. While hawkers pay Rs.100 a month as rent to the Corporation for using 20 sq. feet of public space, car owners using a parking slot every day shell out only around Rs.45 a month for the same space.