The Coalition Government has confirmed if it wins the election it will press ahead to pass legislation to allow the construction of electricity-generating nuclear power plants in Australia.
Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says the Government will put in place the regulations to enable further development of a nuclear industry in Australia.
“It would be irresponsible to do anything else, bearing in mind our commitment… our complete commitment to ensuring that we have all the options to consider in lowering Australia’s greenhouse gas in the future,” he said.
“The legislation includes the establishment of a regulatory body and also establishes the key guidelines in which any expansion of the nuclear industry would occur, including the potential establishment of nuclear power stations.” Read more
Sanofi-Aventis SA shares had their biggest drop in almost five years, wiping out over $9 billion in market value, after a U.S. panel blocked the drugmaker’s new weight-loss pill because it was linked to suicides.
The stock fell 5.6 euros to 61.68 at 10:28 a.m. in Paris after declining as much as 8.4 percent, the steepest drop since Sept. 2, 2002. The world’s third-largest drugmaker didn’t get a single vote yesterday in favor of the medicine, Zimulti, from a committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration. The panel found that the weight lost in trials didn’t justify the danger of psychiatric or neurological side effects.
The Paris-based company was counting on U.S. approval to reach its sales goal of $3 billion Read more
The mountainous northeastern state of Meghalaya is in turmoil over a government plan to allow uranium mining with several groups, including student unions, rights bodies, and environmental organisations, opposed to the move.
Protests have become strident with the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board planning a public hearing Tuesday at Nongbah Jynrin village, about 135 km west of capital Shillong, to elicit local opinion on uranium mining.
The influential Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has called a 36-hour statewide general strike beginning 5 a.m. Monday to prevent the public hearing from taking place saying emission of radioactive uranium would pose serious health hazards. Read more
The Khasi Students Union (KSU) has intensified its agitation against the proposed public hearing on uranium mining by calling a 36-hour bandh from Monday. On the other hand, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), which will hold the hearing, seems to have landed itself in trouble for overlooking a legal requirement needed to hold a hearing.
A notice has been served to the SPCB by Supreme Court lawyer Rahul Choudhary on behalf of his clients to postpone the June 12 hearing as it would not fulfil a legal requirement of informing public about the actual impact of mining uranium ore under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2006.
Choudhary said, “Without the public being informed about the contents of the EIA report Read more