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India: Groundwater levels plummet

Scanty rainfall this year could worsen the situation. The average depth to water level was 9.59 mbgl in July this year, against the 7.39 mbgl last year, calculated from 11 locations in the city. The groundwater situation in the city and surrounding areas might become alarming if copious rains do not drench down the city in the coming one month. Water levels are already plummeting in many areas, especially in the core city, if the records are anything to go by. When compared with the data in the corresponding period last year, the subterranean water levels recorded in July this year could be cause for concern. The average depth to water level has shown an increase of 2.2 meters below ground level (mbgl) when compared with the figures in July, 2013. Groundwater is always measured in meters below ground level (mbgl), the higher value of which denotes that much […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China to Build Pipeline From Iran to Pakistan

ENLARGE Iranian workers weld two pipes together in 2013, at the start of construction on a pipeline to transfer natural gas from Iran to Pakistan in Chabahar, Iran. Photo: Vahid Salemi/ASSOCIATED PRESS ISLAMABAD—China will build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan to help address Pakistan’s acute energy shortage, under a deal to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials said. The arrival of President Xi Jinping is expected to showcase China’s commitment to infrastructure development in ally Pakistan, at a time when few other countries are willing to make major investments in cash-strapped, terrorism-plagued, Pakistan. The pipeline would amount to an early benefit for both Pakistan and Iran from the framework agreement reached earlier this month between Tehran and the U.S. and other world powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. had previously threatened Pakistan with […]

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Iran Deal Roils Waters For Indian Commodity Exporters

NEW DELHI—The prospect of a phased-in lifting of Western sanctions against Iran raised by last week’s preliminary nuclear agreement with Tehran has created uncertainty over the fate of an oil-for-goods barter agreement involving rice, soymeal and other products. Iran has been India’s leading buyer of high-grade basmati rice and soymeal, which has partly been helped because of the barter deal. That deal evolved as a means for India to keep importing Iranian oil and pay for it in a way that would circumvent trade and financial restrictions on Tehran. “We will have to wait and see,” said Arun Kumar Sampath Kumar, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan. He said the situation could become clearer after June 30 once the details of the nuclear deal between Iran and six Western powers are worked out. If sanctions were lifted on Iran, it is likely to become easier for the nation to […]

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Pakistan says Saudi-led coalition in Yemen wants troops

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s defense minister says a Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen wants it to contribute ground troops. The comments Monday by Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif come as Pakistan’s parliament debates whether to contribute militarily to the campaign against the rebels, known as Houthis. Pakistan has offered its verbal support for the mission. Days of airstrikes have yet to dislodge the Houthis from territory they hold across Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country. That’s led to speculation that there could be a ground operation launched in Yemen. Asif says Saudi Arabia also asked for aircraft and naval ships for the campaign. The Saudi-led campaign entered its 12th day Monday, targeting rebels who took over the capital, Sanaa, in September and eventually forced President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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India launches air quality index to give pollution information

Delhi was ranked the most polluted city on Earth in 2014 India has launched its first air quality index, to provide real time information about pollution levels. The index, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will initially monitor air quality in 10 cities. Last year the Environmental Preference Index ranked India 174 out of 178 countries for air quality. The rising and health-endangering pollution has been mainly blamed on a huge increase in vehicles, particularly diesel-driven cars, on Indian roads. Polluting industries, open burning of refuse and leaves, massive quantities of construction waste and substantial loss of forests have also led to high pollution levels in cities. A World Health Organization (WHO) survey last year found that 13 of the most polluted 20 cities in the world were in India. The capital, Delhi, was the most polluted city in the world , the survey said. It is a leading […]

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Exclusive: India makes first crude oil purchase for strategic reserve

LONDON (Reuters) – India has bought the first oil for its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), trade sources said on Monday, marking the start of a round of purchases by the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer to build up emergency stockpiles. Oil prices have almost halved in the past year due to excess global production, leaving traders looking for any signs of new demand to help absorb the surplus. The sources said state-refiner Indian Oil Corp bought a 2 million barrel cargo of Iraqi crude from Chinese trader Unipec, which will load in May for shipping to the first stage of India’s SPR on the country’s east coast. In addition, state-refiners IOC and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd will buy another three Very Large Crude Carriers between them for the Vizag SPR storage site in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. While the first 8 million barrels for Vizag are relatively small […]

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Exclusive: India to import first oil to fill strategic reserves – source

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is set to import 8 million barrels of Iraqi oil to fill its first strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), taking advantage of cheap prices and lending some support to a market suffering from oversupply. India’s SPR purchases could temporarily help offset the impact of an expected pause in China’s strategic stocks build and the start of spring maintenance at Asian refiners. India’s oil ministry on Tuesday instructed state refiners Indian Oil Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd to each seek two very large crude carriers (VLCC) of Basra oil for arrival in May-June, totalling 8 million barrels, two sources familiar with the matter said. The tenders are to be issued this month and plans call for the federal cabinet to approve issuing tenders at its meeting next week, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified. A committee of directors suggested Basra oil […]

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Plan to Verify Delhi Pollution Data Raises Suspicions

Photo A thick blanket of smoke at a garbage dump in New Delhi. The government says it will authenticate pollution levels before releasing the information to the public, a plan that critics say will deprive residents of the opportunity to protect themselves against bad air. Credit Altaf Qadri/Associated Press NEW DELHI — This megacity’s modest effort to warn residents about unhealthy spikes in air pollution levels in real time may soon end, after a decision to first send the data to be authenticated by the central government. Some experts and activists immediately questioned the need for such checks, accusing the government of trying to hide — or worse, alter — data that shows Delhi’s air to be the world’s most toxic at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing for greater industrialization. Recent high readings, which consistently exceed Beijing’s pollution readings, have alarmed the city’s Indian elites […]

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Outcry and fears grow as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors

Outcry and fears grow as Pakistan builds new nuclear reactors thumbnail The Karachi Nuclear PowerComplex is on an earthquake-prone seafront less than 20 miles from downtown Karachi. (Max Becherer/Polaris Images for The Washington Post) KARACHI, Pakistan — World leaders have fretted for years that terrorists may try to steal one of Pakistan’s nuclear bombs and detonate it in a foreign country. But some Karachi residents say the real nuclear nightmare is unfolding here in Pakistan’s largest and most volatile city. On the edge of Karachi, on an earthquake-prone seafront vulnerable to tsunamis and not far from where al-Qaeda militants nearly hijacked a Pakistan navy vessel last fall, China is constructing two large nuclear reactors for energy-starved Pakistan. The new reactors, utilizing a cutting-edge design not yet in use anywhere in the world, will each provide 1,100 megawatts to Pakistan’s national energy grid. They are being built next to a much […]

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Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline not abandoned

Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline not abandoned thumbnail The Pakistani commerce minister says the country has not abandoned the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, which is scheduled to provide Pakistan with Iranian natural gas. Pakistan will pursue the IP project after the removal of anti-Iran sanctions, the Express Tribune quoted Khurram Dastgir Khan as saying in a Saturday report. “A gas pipeline that is going to be laid from [the Pakistani port city of] Gwadar to [the port city of] Nawabshah can be extended by 11 kilometers to Iran,” the minister said. Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of the gas pipeline in 1995. Later, Iran made a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, an accord between Iran and India was signed. But due to the US pressure, India withdrew from the project in 2009. Iran has already built its 900-kilometer share […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple