JAIPUR: The scientists of India and Slovenia are working together to study how dangerous is the Hepatitis E virus (HEV) and how to diagnose it as its symptoms are quite similar to other liver ailments.
It is a three-year collaborative research which started this month in a laboratory in Kaladera near Jaipur. The scientists will collect samples from across the country. The Indian and Slovenian governments have jointly funded the Indo-Slovenian Bilateral Exchange Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology.
The hunting of songbirds for consumption as a delicacy in restaurants, principally in Italy, is an issue of serious conservation concern. This activity, which involves highly organized criminal activity in South-east and Central Europe, has received insufficient attention to date, however. Hunters are illegally shooting birds and smuggling them to northern Italy and Malta.
Six south-eastern European countries on Thursday agreed to boost cross-border conservation efforts in an area of the Balkans especially rich in wildlife. The governments of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia said they would create 13 new protected areas and extend nine others in the Dinaric Arc, an area which stretches from Trieste in Italy to Tirana in Albania.
Agriculture ministers of 10 eu countries voted against the approval of three genetically modified (gm) varieties of maize for use in the European market on September 26, but failed to block it. The move reflects divisions among eu nations over whether gm crops pose a risk to health.
The European Commission (ec) recently issued a second formal warning to Slovenia to implement European Union rules on the prevention of sea pollution. In case of further non-compliance, ec threatened to drag the East European country to the court of the European Communities in Luxembourg.
