Disasters led by the Japan earthquake cost the world a record figure of more than $380 billion last year, a UN official said Monday.

PURI: There is no tsunami threat to the Odisha coast.

Denying charges of funding the anti-nuclear protests at Koodankulam, representatives of three of the four NGOs facing government action — Nagarcoil-based Rural Uplift Centre (RUC), Tuticorin Dioces

— In the darkest moments of last year’s nuclear accident, Japanese leaders did not know the actual extent of damage at the plant and secretly considered the possibility of evacuating Tokyo, even as

Researchers claim India is losing its forests more rapidly than Brazil and Malaysia. They question the findings of the latest State of the Forest Report 2011 which highlights that forest cover has increased by nearly five per cent between 1997 and 2007 and is presently covering nearly 24 per cent of India’s geographical area.

Researchers, including Jean-Philippe Puyravaud and Priya Davidar of Pondicherry University and William Lawrence of James Cook University assert that what the Forest Survey of India describe as forests, often consists of tree cover and poplar eucalyptus plantations.

An international information system designed to improve and expand the exchange of data on weather, climate and water will help boost food security around the world, according to the World Meteorol

TIRUNELVELI: The four-member committee set up by Tamil Nadu Government today virtually gave a clean chit to the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), saying it was well-equipped to withstand natural calamities, be it earthquake or tsunami.

Emerging from the two-hour long talks with members of People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), committee Convenor S Iniyan told reporters that they inspected the KKNPP yesterday for more than three hours and reviewed the safety measures put in place to deal with any contingency.