A total of 4,500 Swedes who were forcibly lobotomized between 1944 and 1963 plan to seek state compensation after a television documentary alleged that children as young as seven underwent brain

The new leader of the nuclear ministry in Russia has proposed building a research reactor in Iran in addition to the atomic energy plant under construction there has drawn protests from Israel and

The explosion at a Ukrainian coal mine which killed 63 people at the weekend was a sad reminder of the decrepit state of the country's energy sector. The day before the blast, the European Bank for

Switzerland was warned that its role as one of the world's leading biomedical research centres would be "totally crippled" if genetic engineering was banned. Fritz Gerber, chairman of Roche,

A consortium of United Nations and international groups launched an awareness campaign, in an attempt to reduce the number of women worldwide who die during childbirth. The groups respresentatives

Britain's dentists will endorse a new soft drink from SmithKline Beecham, which has been criticised for the damage caused to children's teeth by its Ribena fruit drinks. The British dental

Child labour assumes the proportion of a social problem, as at arrests or distorts the national growth process and prevents the child from attaining its all-round

Any woman who might become pregnant should eat specifically fortified foods or take a vitamin supplement of folic acid every day to protect against birth defects, a panel of experts said. Also

The first international survey of plant diversity has found that at least one out of every eight known plant species on Earth is now threatened with extinction or nearly extinct. The results of a

In late 1997, larger levels of ozone depletion were observed over the Arctic than in any previous year on record. Now, using climate models, a team of scientists reports why this may be related to