INDIAA leading environmental research group has asked Coca-Cola to consider shutting down a bottling plant in the drought-stricken state of Rajasthan, saying that it is depleting scarce water supplies.
The recommendation came in
a report released last week by the Energy and Resources Institute which was commissioned by Coca-Cola in 2006 in response to reports that pesticide residues had been found in its products.
The study found no pesticides in the water used at the six bottling plants it sampled.
But the report expressed concern about the company's use of scarce water supplies – an issue raised repeatedly by villagers who live near several of the company's bottling sites.
The assessment looked at six of the company's 49 bottling plants in India, but highlighted conditions at the Kaladera plant in Rajasthan. Its presence in this area would "continue to be one of the contributors to a worsening water situation and a source of stress to the communities around," it said. The company should find alternative water supplies, relocate or shut down the plant, the report concluded.
Atul Singh, chief executive of Coke's India division, said the company was not considering shutting the plant. "The easiest thing would be to shut down, but the solution is not to run away," he said. "If we shut down, Rajasthan is still going to have a water problem. We want to work with farming communities and industries to reduce the amount of water used."
SPAINThe band will play on but the singer has been sidelined again. Proposed new lyrics for Spain's national anthem stirred national divisions rather than pride and have been scrapped, the Spanish Olympic Committee has announced.
Spain's 'Royal March' national anthem has been played without words since 1978, when lyrics approved by right-wing dictator General Francisco Franco, left, were ditched.
With the Beijing games approaching, Spain's Olympic committee held a competition to find new words for the anthem rather than see its athletes hum along or chant "la, la, la" as has long been the case.
Spanish opera star Placido Domingo was to be the first to sing it.
But the winning version was leaked and met with derision in the Spanish media and among members of parliament responsible for approving the lyrics.
The proposed lyrics started with "Viva Espana!" – the rallying cry of the late General Franco's dictatorship – and call on Spaniards to "love the fatherland". They drew criticism from many Spaniards who said the words seemed to hark back to Franco's obsession with Spain as a unitary state fending off the independence-minded zeal of regions such as Catalonia and the Basque country.
RUSSIAA rocket veered off course and hit a country house outside Moscow during a military exercise.
A defence ministry official said two rockets had gone astray during a military exercise near Moscow on Wednesday afternoon. One hit the roof of an unoccupied house 2.2 miles away.
"The damage is estimated at 60,000 rubles (£1,250). It will be compensated for in two days," said Yevgeny Konashenkov, spokesman for Russian land troops. "The owner of the house treats the incident with understanding. He has no legal claims."
Luckily, the rockets disconnected at launch from the load of explosives they normally carry to clear minefields.
UNITED STATESWine drinkers are easily swayed. The more it costs, the more people enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes, a study by California researchers has found.
Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that because people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality, they trick themselves into believing the wines provide a more pleasurable experience than less expensive ones.
Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure.
This happens even though the part of our brain that interprets taste is not affected.
GERMANYA Berlin burglar's break-in took an unexpected turn when he stumbled upon a corpse and felt compelled to call the police.
"He called to say he'd just broken into a flat and found a dead body," said a spokeswoman for Berlin police.
"He gave the address of the place and then hung up."
Officers discovered the 64-year-old resident of the flat dead in his bedroom.
The man had passed away about two weeks ago, and authorities are not treating the death as suspicious.
The burglar has not been heard of since. Local media said he fled the flat empty-handed, but police could not confirm this.
MOVERS & SHAKERSBRITNEY SPEARSDespite Spears' erratic behaviour, most people think the troubled pop star should be allowed to see her two sons a few times a week under supervision while ex-husband Kevin Federline retains custody, according to an E-Poll/Reuters survey.
Spears, 26, lost custody of her children last year after a series of strange episodes in the wake of splitting from Federline including being photographed without underwear, shaving her head, and attacking a car with an umbrella.
CARLA BRUNIWith her whirlwind romance with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the global spotlight, former model Bruni, below, is making a renewed bid to carve a name for herself as a singer in America.
New York-based label Downtown Records said that Italian-born Bruni, who was raised in France, would release her first English language album widely in the United States next month. Her debut album, released in 2002, was in French.
BJORKThere's no stopping Bjork. The Icelandic pop singer, 42, attacked a news photographer in New Zealand, ripping his shirt in half after he ignored a request not to snap any shots, the New Zealand Herald reported last week.
The incident took place at Auckland International Airport, after the musician had flown in for a concert later in the week, the paper said. It echoes an outburst at Bangkok's airport in 1996, when Bjork unleashed her fury on a journalist.
MIA FARROWCambodia has barred US actress Mia Farrow and a group campaigning for an end to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region from lighting a symbolic Olympic torch at a 'Killing Fields' memorial site.
Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said police would "take measures" to prevent Dream for Darfur holding a ceremony this weekend at Tuol Seng, the Phnom Penh school that became the Khmer Rouge's main torture and interrogation centre.
DOUGLAS BRUCECarrying a family Bible, a Colorado politician kicked a photographer who took a picture of him during a statehouse prayer – then was sworn into office. The Colorado Legislature has since launched an investigation into whether Douglas Bruce should be disciplined for the kick.
Bruce, a Republican, accused the photographer of causing a disruption by taking his photo during the traditional session-opening prayer in the House of Representatives, hours before Bruce was sworn in as a midterm replacement.
Bruce was standing during the prayer when Rocky Mountain News snapper Javier Manzano knelt down and snapped his photo. Bruce brought the sole of his shoe down hard on Manzano's bent knee and said: "Don't do that again." Bruce refused to apologise and called the kick "just a nudge". "That's the most offensive thing I've seen a photographer do in 21 years," Bruce said later. "He owes an apology to the House and the public."
Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple called Bruce's actions "outrageous".
COMING UPThe world's business and political elite will hold its annual Swiss mountain resort meeting this week in the shadow of a financial crisis resulting from the sub-prime debacle.
It is a contrast from a year ago, when participants in the World Economic Forum were basking in a steady economic expansion and a private equity and takeover boom fuelled by cheap credit.
"The discussions in Davos will certainly be very dominated by the economic challenges we have at the moment – the aftermath of the sub-prime crisis, the transfer of capital from energy-consuming to energy-producing countries, inflationary tendencies," said forum founder Klaus Schwab.
The more than 2,500 participants from 88 countries expected include 27 heads of state or government.
In the past, meetings on the sidelines have been milestones on the road to German reunification and political reconciliation in South Africa. Schwab said the 2008 meeting would provide an opportunity for Israeli and Palestinian politicians to meet informally.
REALLY?It's an Antipodean jape that went badly wrong. An Australian man who waved out of a car window at two young women is expected to lose his arm after it was almost severed by another passing vehicle.
The 20-year-old was a passenger in a Nissan pick-up truck at Bunbury, in Western Australia, when he waved at two women at a car wash.
But as he put his arm out the driver made a right hand turn and the man's limb was struck and almost torn off by an oncoming four-wheel-drive.
"His left arm was partially severed and doctors believe the limb may need to be amputated," police said.
"He put his arm out the window and waved at the girls as the Nissan made a right hand turn at the intersection, and was struck by a Toyota Hi-Lux twin-cab vehicle."
The full article contains 1566 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
