Geneva, Oct 15, (IANS) – At least 650 people have died and over eight million people have been affected by floods and typhoons in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines, the UN has said. So far, Thailand and Cambodia are the worst affected and the situation is expected to worsen as more rains, high […]
By Yoko Kubota and Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher24 January 2012 TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s energy minister admitted on Tuesday that no records were kept of top level discussions in the critical early days on how to respond to the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. The admission, and apology, by Trade Minister […]
By MARTIN FACKLER21 January 2012 ONAMI, Japan – In the fall, as this valley’s rice paddies ripened into a carpet of gold, inspectors came to check for radioactive contamination. Onami sits just 35 miles northwest of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which spewed radioactive cesium over much of this rural region last March. However, […]
By Mícheál O’Callaghan18 January 2012 Forty years ago, a group of Scientists investigated what the world would look like if we continued on our path of exponential economic growth, with a continued growth in population, pollution and industry. The study resulted in the publishing of the eye opening book, The Limits to Growth, which would […]
By arevamirpal::laprimavera7 January 2012 (UPDATE: Second part of the translation is posted, translation done by the reader Florian Zschage.) (H/T to the readers who did the translation and the summary of the original German article on TAZ. Thank you.) What struck me about the article interviewing Dr. Dörte Siedentopf, other than the negative health effects […]
By Jon Hilkevitch2 January 2012 The tally on Chicago’s rutted streets and alleys is in, and it’s a record: Crews filled more than 600,000 potholes in 2011, or about 25 percent more than in 2010, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. In a city notorious for aging asphalt and unpredictable winters, 2012 threatens to […]
By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY27 December 2011 Nighttime stretches of road across the USA are being left dark by the theft of copper wiring from streetlights, and police are investigating whether the darkness contributed to some crashes. Copper thieves also are hitting traffic lights. The problem is particularly acute for localities where the sour economy […]
[Desdemona can’t help thinking that the blue tarps in this first image contain radioactive soil.] By Beenish Ahmed21 December 2011 Years before the monster earthquake shook Japan and unleashed a massive tsunami in March, Google had mapped the roads of northeast Japan with its Street View project, as it had done in many parts of […]
AYUTTHAYA, December 18 (AFP) – Piles of rubbish, rusting furniture and discarded machinery litter one of Thailand’s top high-tech parks, a former symbol of economic prowess laid to waste by weeks of flooding. Many of the companies located in the country’s industrial heartland say it will be several months at least before their operations return […]
By arevamirpal::laprimavera16 December 2011 Declaring a cold shutdown, even with “state”, is a joke, but Noda went further and declared the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident to be over. Why did he do that? Asahi Shinbun (12/16/2011) reports that: 「事故の収束」という、より強い表現に置き換えることで、風評被害など国内外に根強い原発事故への不安を払拭（ふっしょく）したいという狙いがある。政権は今後、放射性物質の除染を進めていく方針。避難区域の縮小も行い、住民の帰還へとつなげたい考えだ。 By using the word “the accident is over”, the government wants to dispel […]
