South Asia

Petrol price hiked again: Pakistan's government has raised petrol and diesel prices by 14 per cent--the highest ever increase. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority increased the kerosene price from Rs (Pak) 49.73 a litre to Rs (Pak) 57.93; that of light diesel oil from Rs (Pak) 49.05 to Rs (Pak) 58.54; and of petrol by Rs (Pak) 10.97 a litre to Rs (Pak) 86.66. This is the sixth increase in petroleum prices since the new government assumed office in the end of February. The price of petrol then was Rs (Pak) 58.70.

South Asia

Pakistan introduces daylight saving time to battle power shortage: In a bid to reduce load shedding, the Pakistani government on May 14 announced that the country will forward its clock by an hour from June 1 for the next three months. The plan will also force commercial centres to close by 9 pm. The other measures that the government announced include shutting down air conditioners in government offices, including secretariats, between 8 am and 11 am; lighting up 50 per cent of the street lights; and installing a million CFL bulbs in the country.

Maoists win, India uncomfortable

maoists won in the recent Nepal elections. With 220 seats in the 601-member constituent assembly, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) came out as the single largest party and the party leader, Prachanda, is now all set to head the next government. The outcome appears to have caught many key international players, including India, unawares. Soon after winning the election, Prachanda said he wanted "constructive" relations with India. He, however, announced that his party wanted to

Kathmandu's water supply plan gets going

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Clueless in Chambal

the mystery of gharial deaths in the Chambal waters continues to elude scientists. More than 90 of the critically endangered species have died since early December, all within a stretch of about 25 km of the river flowing along the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border. Nobody seems to know the reason. In a January 28 meeting of the Crisis

Tender notice for common sense

after 30 years of efforts in India to conserve gharials, the country does not have one veterinarian who can conduct a post-mortem to establish the cause of a gharial's death. The animal is found only in India and Nepal. India knows about as much as its neighbour about the cause of over 90 gharial deaths in two months in the Chambal river. The first death was reported in early December. The forest department conducted autopsy after mindless autopsy, followed by

Peafowl deaths in Punjab linked to pesticides

eleven peafowl found dead in Punjab were killed by food contaminated with pesticides. Nine peahens and two peacocks died in Ladhowal forest area near Ludhiana on December 26. The state forest department had earlier suggested that bird flu--spread by migratory birds coming to the region in winter--could have killed the birds. But the union government's Department of Animal Husbandry later ruled out the possibility.

Mother tongues

Plans are being made to extend medical help to an octogenarian Nepalese woman who is the last known speaker of Dura. None of the rest in Soma Devi's family speaks this language, which belongs to the Tibeto-Burmese family. She has to use other languages to communicate with them.

Zinc supplements don't help healthy children

zinc supplements are widely promoted only in the oral rehydration therapy to treat diarrhoea. Plans to use it as a general supplement, have suffered a setback with a new study proving that they wouldn't help healthy children. Observing children who were given zinc supplements, us scientists found no significant differences in mortality rates, episodes of diarrhoea, dysentery and respiratory infections in the children.

South Asia

fuel crisis in nepal: As India curtails oil supplies to Nepal, financially bankrupt Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has sought a Nepali Rs one-billion loan from its government to partially clear the mounting dues. In a letter to ministries of supplies and finance, the state-owned company requested for funds to avert a possible oil crisis in the country. NOC, in the letter, said due to huge losses, it failed to make