Traffic chaos reigns in Bangladesh - thestar.com

Traffic chaos reigns in Bangladesh - thestar.com: "Rezwan had a meeting with a client at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday. It’s 10 kilometres from his office in the Banani neighbourhood of Dhaka to Motijheel, his client’s home in old Dhaka. Rezwan and his driver started out at 11 a.m., but by noon, they had barely covered two kilometres. Rezwan jumped out, walked a couple of kilometres, hopped into a rickshaw and made it to the meeting just in time. When the meeting concluded, his driver was still several kilometres away."

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Zardari cancels Iran gas pipeline talks - FT.com

Zardari cancels Iran gas pipeline talks - FT.com: "A planned visit to Tehran by Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president, to seal a $1.5bn gas pipeline deal to alleviate the country’s critical energy shortage was unexpectedly cancelled at the weekend amid mounting US objections to the contract.
Iran has offered Pakistan hundreds of millions of dollars to finance the long-delayed gas pipeline, according to both governments. An increasingly desperate Pakistan, however, is struggling to overcome strong opposition to the project from its US ally, which has applied economic sanctions against Tehran over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme."

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India and Bangladesh to suffer most from #climatechange

Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict in South Asia | Center for American Progress: "South Asia will be among the regions hardest hit by climate change. Higher temperatures, more extreme weather, rising sea levels, increasing cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, as well as floods in the region’s complex river systems will complicate existing development and poverty reduction initiatives. Coupled with high population density levels, these climate shifts have the potential to create complex environmental, humanitarian, and security challenges. India and Bangladesh, in particular, will feel the impacts of climate change acutely."

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Cars choke India cities, no place to walk

The Hindu : Life & Style / Homes & Gardens : Cities are for cars only: "India has nearly 60 cities that have a population of over or approaching a million. Mobility for an average citizen in these urban spaces is emerging as a key challenge. Economic liberalisation has expedited the pace of urbanisation. But given the poor infrastructure and pathetic planning, the urban sprawls tend to be totally unwieldy. "

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Pune's save bus campaign groups demand free bus travel - The Times of India

Pune's save bus campaign groups demand free bus travel - The Times of India: "PUNE: The 'PMP Bus Seva Bachao Abhiyan' - an initiative taken by city based bus commuters groups to save the city bus transport, has cited the example of how China has taken steps to encourage people to choose public transportation."

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Climate change, carbon economy killing 5 million a year - study - AlertNet

Climate change, carbon economy killing 5 million a year - study - AlertNet: "LONDON (AlertNet) - Climate change and the world's addiction to polluting fuels are costing nearly 5 million lives each year and lowering global output by some $1.2 trillion annually, demonstrating the need for swift action to stem mounting losses, a study said on Wednesday"

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Public transport cuts obesity: some more evidence

Straphangers United | The voice of the Chennai commuter: " So what we need to do is campaign for walking spaces and good, comfortable and affordable public transit systems."

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U.S. losing India in the oil wars

Iran drawing India closer with talks on train, road access to Afghanistan - The Washington Post: "India’s closer cooperation with Iran will likely offend the United States, which has been pushing the international community to punish Iran over its nuclear program.

India has come under increasing pressure from Washington over its ties with Iran, but New Delhi needs Iranian crude supplies to power its economic growth. Iran supplies about 12 percent of India’s energy needs.

India’s talks with Iran will explore ways to expand trade to improve the heavily skewed balance of trade between the two countries, Mathai said.

Two-way trade in the last year totaled about $16 billion, of which Indian oil imports from Iran accounted for $13.5 billion.

Mathai said India would accept sanctions imposed by the United Nations, but would not heed those imposed by others, referring to harsher sanctions maintained by the United States and Europe."

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Massive highway project was a huge mistake

The Demise Of The Car  |  Peak Oil News and Message Boards: "Alas, the irony is rich. India conceived of this highway project as oil prices hit deep lows at the end of the past millennium. Now that the highway network is constructed and oil prices have more than quadrupled, it is massive investment in the powergrid that hundreds of millions of Indians so desperately need instead—not road building."

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Climate Change, Fossil Fuel dependence -- India is hitting the wall

How An Unholy Alliance of Unusual Weather and Scarce Coal Nuked India’s Power Grid | Smart News: "Indeed, the New York Times points to a dearth in imported coal as one of the possible causes for triggering the massive blackout. Another potential force that is driving energy demand and limiting supply is this year’s monsoon, the annual rainy season that supplies three-quarter’s of the country’s water. Or, rather, that this year’s monsoon never happened. The lack of monsoon rains, says Reuters, has caused energy demand to climb as farmers in northwestern India’s heavily producing  agricultural regions leaned more heavily on irrigation to water their fields. Businessweek adds,

The less-than-normal rainfall has put strains on India’s hydroelectric power supply, which accounts for 19 percent of the country’s 205 gigawatt generation capacity but has dropped nearly 20 percent in the first six months of the financial year because of the delayed monsoon rains."

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India power blackout leaves 670 million without electricity | News | National Post

AP Photo

India power blackout leaves 670 million without electricity | News | National Post: "Roads are gridlocked, coal miners are trapped underground, hospitals have been plunged into darkness and millions of  train travellers are stranded after grids supplying electricity to half of India’s 1.2 billion people collapsed on Tuesday in the second major blackout in as many days.

Stretching from Assam, near China, to the Himalayas and the northwestern deserts of Rajasthan, the outage was the worst to hit India in more than a decade and embarrassed the government, which has failed to build up enough power capacity to meet soaring demand.

“Even before we could figure out the reason for yesterday’s failure, we had more grid failures today,” said R. N. Nayak, chairman of the state-run Power Grid Corporation."

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Grid Collapse in India Leaves 360 Million People Without Power | Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Grid Collapse in India Leaves 360 Million People Without Power  |  Peak Oil News and Message Boards: "India’s worst power-grid failure in a decade cut electricity supplies to almost 360 million people in seven northern states today, shutting transport networks, triggering commuter chaos and halting water supplies."

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Assam in disarray after massive floods, hundreds of thousands homeless

Violence in Assam continues, death toll rises to 36 - Hindustan Times: "Blood on the streets
The latest violence erupted just days after floods killed more than 100 people and left at least 400,000 homeless in Assam."

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Maruti shuts factory after management attacked | Reuters

Maruti shuts factory after management attacked | Reuters: "(Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car manufacturer, stopped production at one of its factories on Wednesday after workers attacked managers at the plant and set fire to company property, the automaker said."

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The Associated Press: Floods swamp thousands of Indian villages, kill 27

The Associated Press: Floods swamp thousands of Indian villages, kill 27: "GAUHATI, India (AP) — Raging floodwaters fed by monsoon rains have inundated more than 2,000 villages in northeast India, sweeping away homes and leaving hundreds of thousands of people marooned Friday. At least 27 people were killed, but the toll was expected to rise."

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Seventy dead, 200,000 stranded in Bangladesh floods - AlertNet

Seventy dead, 200,000 stranded in Bangladesh floods - AlertNet: "DHAKA, June 27 (Reuters) - Days of rain in Bangladesh, some of the heaviest in years, have set off flash floods and landslides, killing at least 70 people and stranding about 200,000, police and officials said on Wednesday.

Low-lying and densely populated Bangladesh is battered by torrential downpours during the wet season, which began in the past few weeks."

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Energy is a crisis, while we continue wasting it on cars

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\06\07\story_7-6-2012_pg12_1

KARACHI: The enraged residents of Liaquatabad on Wednesday torched a Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) office as their protest against power suspension entered fourth day, causing financial loss amounting to millions of rupees to the company.

Angry residents of Al Karam Square, Apsara Apartment and surrounding localities of Liaquatabad Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4, including women and children, took to the Shahrah-e-Pakistan and other key roads, crippling their traffic flow.

Bhutan bans driving...on Tuesdays | Fox News

Bhutan bans driving...on Tuesdays | Fox News: "THIMPHU, Bhutan -- Tuesdays in the small Himalayan nation of Bhutan will become "Pedestrians' Day" after the country's cabinet approved a one-day-a-week ban on driving in town centers during business hours, the Kuensel newspaper reported Friday."

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Cheap energy days are over.

Indian Oil Increases Gasoline Prices for First Time in 7 Months - Bloomberg: "Gasoline was raised 11 percent to 73.18 rupees a liter in New Delhi from midnight, Indian Oil said in an e-mailed statement. Prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas were left unchanged. Indian Oil’s actions are usually followed by state- owned rivals Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp."

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Where are we to walk?

U.S. Economic "Recovery" a nightmare - more cars, more oil wars

U.S. May Sanction India Over Level of Iran-Oil Imports A decision to levy penalties under a new U.S. law restricting payments for Iranian oil could come as early as June 28, according to several U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

U.S. Auto Dealers Who Survived Debacle See Record Sales

U.S. auto sales per dealer may rise about 9.2 percent to 785 vehicles this year, surpassing the record of 784 vehicles in 2005, dealership consultant Urban Science said in its annual Automotive Franchise Activity Report released last month. The firm has compiled the report since 1990.

World war is about energy, not democracy, not nuclear weapons.

We will make Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline: Gilani - PakTribune: "LAHORE: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani asserted on Saturday that Pakistan would make the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Tehran Times reported.

Pakistan is currently facing mounting pressure from the US to shelve the pipeline project, while both countries have already signed a sovereign-guarantee agreement on the project, the paper said."

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Bangalore provides teaser to Chennai Metro Station access problems | Straphangers United

Bangalore provides teaser to Chennai Metro Station access problems | Straphangers United: "This is the situation we predict for Chennai too, when the ambitious multi-billion dollar Metro Rail begins operations. Indian cities are keen to spend a lot of money on massive facilities, without factoring-in the needs of the people who will use them."

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