Public Buildings | SilverScorpio.Com

Commercial Building Retrofits Could Save $41B a Year, Study Says

July 30, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Owners of commercial buildings in the U.S. could save more than $41 billion a year in energy costs, if all currently existing commercial space were placed in a decade-long energy efficiency retrofit program requiring an annual investment of about $22.5 billion, according to a new report by Pike Research.

The report by the cleantech market intelligence firm acknowledges that while the figures are impressive, they reflect the market potential for energy efficiency retrofits — rather than the actual market, which under current conditions is a fraction of the potential.

“The building retrofit industry faces a number of key challenges,” Pike Managing Director Clint Wheelock said in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “The current financial crisis has had a significant dampening effect on property owners’ investments in their properties. Financing for such projects is scarce, and the limited investment in building efficiency is not keeping pace with the growing national demand for energy.”

Private commercial buildings present the largest untapped opportunity for energy efficiency retrofits and account for nearly all existing commercial space, the research firm noted. In contrast, federal non-industrial buildings comprise less than 3 percent of existing commercial space, but major retrofits in federal facilities and other institutional buildings are far more likely to receive funding than projects outside the sector.

The Pike study, “Energy Efficiency Retrofits for Commercial and Public Buildings,” examines market drivers, barriers and scenarios that could contribute to the market reaching its potential — and those that would impede it if left unaddressed.

The report said:

“If the goal of the energy retrofit industry is to spend a little money on efficiency, while total national demand for energy continues to grow, then present policy is functioning well. However, if the goal is to reduce the total demand for energy in buildings over time, by the 50 percent or more needed to address international competitiveness, global warming, and energy independence, then present energy policy needs a substantial retrofit.

If code policy, design tools, financial incentives, and regulations focus on energy efficiency at the following intervention points [as identified by nonprofit research organization Architecture 2030], the incremental cost of efficiency will be very small:

* ‘Building design – schematic design, material and building systems selection
* Existing building purchases
* Leasing/tenant improvements
* Building renovation cycles
* Rebuilding (after a natural disaster)’

Programs that do not recognize these intervention points or take advantage of them face unnecessary obstacles, costs, and potential failure. A national carbon trading system could have a major effect on the retrofit market. If national carbon-emissions legislation addressed energy use in commercial buildings with a combination of high energy prices and reinvested incentives, then the market for energy efficiency retrofits (and for educating the workers in this market) would explode with activity.”

The executive summary of report is available for free download from Pike Research. The full report is available for a fee.

Image of 300 West Sixth Street, named one of BOMA’s Outstanding Buildings for 2010, courtesy of the Thomas Property Group.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: commercial buildings, commercial space, Current Conditions, energy costs, energy efficiency, financial crisis, fraction, Industrial Buildings, Institutional Buildings, keeping pace, key challenges, managing director, market drivers, Market Intelligence Firm, Property Owners, public buildings, scenarios, Study Energy, Untapped Opportunity, Wheelock

GSA Names First Chief Greening Officer Buildings

June 9, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The U.S. General Services Administration has tapped the sustainability director for Cushman & Wakefield to become the first chief greening officer for the agency and lead efforts to make government buildings greener.

The appointment of Eleni Reed, who had been the director of sustainability strategies for Cushman and Wakefield’s Client Solutions Group, was announced today.

“Eleni Reed’s role as chief greening officer is central to building a sustainable, better performing portfolio as GSA strives to meet its commitment of achieving a zero environmental footprint in our 1,500 owned and 8,100 leased buildings,” GSA Commissioner of Public Buildings Robert A. Peck said in a statement.

“Her unparalleled work in sustainability and green buildings will help drive GSA’s efforts to be a green proving ground and a market-maker for state-of-the art and emerging technologies.”

The GSA oversees more than a quarter of the government’s total procurement spending and influences the management of $500 billion in federal assets, including the inventory of almost 10,000 owned or leased facilities, 480 of them being historic properties.

The GSA established the post of chief greening officer earlier this year to accelerate President Barack Obama’s federal sustainability agenda and drive the campaign within the government’s building portfolio. The agency was responding to the president’s executive order in October that called for federal agencies to devise plans to reduce their environmental impacts and meet various targets, such as a 30 percent reduction in fleet fuel consumption, by 2020.

In January, the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service enabled other government agencies to work toward achieving their goals by setting energy service agreements that:

* Provide the agencies with resources to achieve LEED certification for their facilities;
* Ensure that renovations and any new buildings are designed to reduce fuel consumption as required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007; and
* Help agencies plan, monitor and report results with Energy Star and other energy efficiency initiatives.

In February, the GSA announced it had created the chief greening officer’s position and named an interim officeholder — Director Scott Conner of the Denver Federal Center for GSA’s Rocky Mountain region — while searching for a candidate to fill the new post.

At Cushman & Wakefield, Reed was in charge of efforts to ramp up the environmental performance of properties the firm manages in the United States. She had key role in development of the company’s memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to increase energy efficiency, decrease water use and waste, and shrink the carbon footprint of the firm’s U.S. real estate portfolio.

Her earlier work includes serving as a senior project manager with the New York Mayor’s Office of Operations, where she led the implementation of the city’s Green Building Standards Law and served on the mayor’s sustainability task force.

A certified planner and a LEED-accredited professional, Reed earned a bachelor of science degree in urban planning from the Université de Montréal and a master’s degree in urban planning from McGill University.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Barack Obama, Cushman And Wakefield, Cushman Wakefield, Eleni, Energy Service, environmental footprint, Federal Acquisition Service, Federal Assets, Fleet Fuel, Fuel Consumption, General Services Administration, government buildings, New Buildings, other government agencies, proving ground, public buildings, Service Agreements, Solutions Group, Sustainability Agenda, Sustainability Strategies

Bomb explodes in Greek courthouse

May 15, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

A bomb has exploded at a courthouse in Greece’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, but there were no injuries and only minor damage, police officials said.

The blast came after a similar explosion outside the main prison in the capital Athens late on Thursday which slightly injured two people and damaged dozens of shops and homes.

An unidentified caller warned a Greek TV station and a newspaper that a bomb would explode in the Thessaloniki courthouse, police said.

“There was an explosion in the toilets of the main courthouse in Thessaloniki. There are no reports of injuries so far,” a police official who declined to be named said.

“The explosion was very similar to the one in Athens.”

Bomb attacks by militant groups are frequent in Greece and usually target police, public buildings or businesses.

In March, a 15-year-old boy was killed and his mother and sister were wounded as a bomb exploded outside a building in central Athens, the first deadly bomb attack in years.

Urban violence has increased after the police shooting of a teenager in December 2008, which prompted weeks of riots.

Social unrest is also picking up after Greece took belt-tightening measures, including wage cuts and tax hikes in recent months, aimed at pulling Greece out of a debt crisis.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: bomb attacks, Central Athens, deadly bomb attack, Debt Crisis, explosion, Greek Tv, militant groups, mother and sister, police official, police officials, police shooting, public buildings, riots, Social Unrest, target, Thessaloniki, toilets, Tv Station, Unidentified Caller, Urban Violence

Trinidad leader hints at general election soon

March 31, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Wed, Mar 31 08:46 AM

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning has been talking about holding an early general election, as parliament prepares to debate a no-confidence motion against him next week.

“It is coming as sure as night follows day, I’m talking about general elections,” Manning told supporters on Monday night.

A geologist by profession, the 64-year-old Manning has ruled Trinidad and the smaller island of Tobago for 13 of the past 17 years.

He easily won re-election in November 2007 but has faced growing criticism for alleged corruption and spending on big ticket items including public buildings and summit meetings in the energy-rich Caribbean nation, which is a leading supplier of natural gas to the United States.

“One of the most contentious issues is whether the people have been getting value for money given the vast amount of revenues that have passed through the country over the past seven years,” Derek Ramsamooj, a leading political analyst, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Last weekend, at a special convention of the ruling People’s National Movement, Manning told party members that a pre-selection of candidates for the general election will be held on April 7.

He has set no date for the actual vote, however, and a general election is not constitutionally due until 2012.

The no-confidence motion, brought against Manning by opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is due to be debated in parliament on April 9. Barring major surprises, it is widely expected to fail since the People’s National Movement holds 26 seats in the 41-member parliament.

For that reason, according to Ramsamooj, Manning’s talk about an early election may amount to little more than a ruse.

It could be aimed at testing the resolve of Trinidad’s two leading opposition parties, which have pledged to form an alliance against Manning’s party, Ramsamooj said.

“On the previous occasion when he called a snap election, Mr. Manning lost and I think he would have learned his lesson from it. So I think the prime minister’s public posturing of contemplating calling general elections is part of a political strategy,” said Ramsamooj, who heads an independent political consultant company, Caribbean Development Strategies.

If the no-confidence motion fails, Manning would not be required to call a general election until 2012.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Linda Hutchinson-Jafar

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Alleged Corruption, big ticket items, caribbean nation, Confidence Motion, contentious issues, general election, general elections, geologist, Member Parliament, opposition leader, opposition parties, party members, Patrick Manning, political analyst, Pre Selection, public buildings, ruse, Summit Meetings, trinidad and tobago, Trinidad Tobago

One dead, two injured in Athens bomb blast: Police

March 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Mon, Mar 29 09:46 AM

A powerful bomb exploded in front of an institute for training public officials in the west of Athens, killing a 15-year-old boy and injuring a girl and her mother, police said.

The boy was killed on the spot while his 10-year-old sister was seriously wounded and their mother escaped with slight injuries in the blast which occurred shortly before midnight yesterday.

Police said the family, Afghan nationals, were probably walking past the building when the explosion took place.

The girl was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition after the bomb placed in a bag went off without warning in the city’s busy Patissia district at 10:50 pm (local time).

Greek anti-terrorism police cordoned off the area.

Attacks on public buildings and businesses are relatively frequent in Athens and the northern city of Salonika, but rarely injure anyone as there are usually warning calls that allow police to clear the area.

The last attack to have injured anyone was in October 2009, when six police officers were wounded in a machine gun attack on a police station.

Greece has been rocked by a string of attacks against economic interests and offices of politicians since a youth was killed by a police officer in December 2008.
Agencies

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Anti-terrorism, bomb blast, cordoned, critical condition, economic interests, explosion, Greece, Gun Attack, local time, Machine Gun, nationals, Nearby Hospital, police officer, police officers, police station, politicians, public buildings, public officials, Salonika, West Of Athens

Athens bombing kills one, injures two: police

March 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A 15-year-old boy was killed and his mother and sister injured late Sunday after a bomb exploded outside a building in central Athens, police said.

World

Bomb attacks by militant leftist groups are frequent in Greece and usually target police, public buildings or businesses. Sunday’s explosion was the first in years to kill someone. Urban violence increased in the country after the police shooting of a teen-ager in December 2008.

“A bomb exploded, we have one dead, a man who was dismembered, and two injured, a woman and her daughter,” a police official said.

Police later said the dead person was a 15-year-old teen-ager and that the injured women, were his 44-year-old mother and 11-year-old sister.

“The woman, who was slightly injured, and the girl, whose injuries were more serious, have been taken to hospital,” said the police official who declined to be named.

Police said the victims were Afghan immigrants.

The bomb, which went off outside an association for business management, also damaged cars and adjacent buildings. Police cordoned off the area and anti-terrorism police were investigating the scene.

“There was no warning, there was nothing,” a second police official said.

Several suspected members of guerrilla groups have been arrested in recent months.

Self-proclaimed guerrilla group Fire Conspiracy Cells claimed responsibility on March 22 for three small-scale bomb attacks against police and a far-right group.

Urban violence last caused the loss of human life in June 2009, when Rebel Sect, another guerrilla group, claimed responsibility for the killing of an anti-terrorism policeman.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Paul Casciato)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Athens Bombing, Athens police, bomb attacks, Casciato, Central Athens, dead person, Guerrilla Group, guerrilla groups, leftist groups, Melander, mother and sister, old mother, police official, police shooting, public buildings, Rebel Sect, reuters, target, Teen Ager, Urban Violence

General strike sparks violence in Athens

March 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Police in Greece have clashed with demonstrators protesting against government plans to solve the country’s debt crisis with tax increases and spending cuts.

A 24-hour general strike grounded flights, halted public transport and kept schools closed across Greece.

About 20,000 protesters marched through Athens, while groups of anarchists smashed shop windows, damaged cars and hurled petrol bombs at public buildings.

The march was called to protest against the government’s latest austerity measures, which include $7 billion of cuts that will hit public sector wages and pensions.

Speaking on a visit to Washington, Greek prime minister George Papandreou said that demonstrators had the right to protest, but added that the financial crisis was “not this government’s fault.”

Unions say ordinary Greeks are being called upon to pay a disproportionate price for past fiscal mismanagement.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: athens greece, Athens police, Austerity Measures, Debt Crisis, demonstrators, financial crisis, Fiscal Mismanagement, George Papandreou, Greek Prime Minister, greeks, petrol bombs, protesters, public buildings, public sector, public transport, Shop Windows, Tax Increases, unions, Violence, Wages And Pensions

European company develops mobile robots that are autonomous and multi-tasking

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Madrid (Spain), September 19 (ANI): An European company has developed innovative robots which are mobile, multifunctional, collaborative, autonomous and polyvalent, suitable for a wide range of work from street cleaning and rubbish collection to accompanying elderly people.

According to a report carried out in www.basqueresearch.com, this new generation of robots have been developed by TECNALIA Technological Corporation, and are a part of the European DUSTBOT research project under the remit of the VI European Framework Programme and in which TECNALIA is participating.

These latest generation robots are suitable for the monitoring of large spaces (open and closed), as guides for persons in large shopping areas (indicating to them where a particular shop or product is within a shopping centre), for accompanying elderly people or those with certain disabilities (both at home and outside), thanks to their functions of orientation, navigation, communications with others or tele-assistance centres.

They can also be used as guides in teaching spaces (museums, visitor centres), and for transport, storage and transport and goods deliveries, besides the cleaning of both open and closed surfaces, which have either difficult or easy access.

DUSTBOT has collaborative, multifunctional and autonomous robots that are capable of operating in partially destructured environments/situations based on information provided by a map.

The robots can also facilitate working in large areas, stations, airports and other types of public buildings, without being any obstacle for the activity of these places, given its reduced size, and without being a danger for members of the public, thanks to the novel system for the detection and avoidance of obstacles.

The rail station of the Euskotren company in the Bilbao neighbourhood of Atxuri in Spain was chosen for the public presentation of these devices.

The demonstration of two robot models was undertaken: the DustCart and the DustClean.

The DustCart robot, measuring 1.45 metres high and 70 Kg in weight, has a humanoid form and is designed to interact with the user and for the collection of low demand waste.

The DustClean robot, in the form of a small vehicle and measuring 96 cm high and 250 Kg in weight, cleans streets of dirt and dust. Moreover, both control the quality of air in real time.

“These robots are the solution for cleaning areas of difficult access and for the collection of rubbish at the very front door of, above all, persons who have mobility problems when moving the rubbish to the communal waste containers,” said Inaki Inzunza, Director of the Business Unit at the Tecnalia Technological Corporation. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: access, activity, air, ANI, Atxuri, Autonomous Robots, avoidance, basqueresearch, bilbao, business, centre, cleaning, collection, com, company, control, corporation, danger, demand, demonstration, detection, director, dirt, door, dust, DUSTBOT, DustCart, DustClean, European Framework, Euskotren, form, framework, generation, home, humanoid, Inaki, information, interact, Inzunza, Madrid, madrid spain, map, mobile robots, mobility, monitoring, Multi Tasking, multifunctional, navigation, neighbourhood, novel, Novel System, obstacle, orientation, part, polyvalent, presentation, product, programme, project, Public, public buildings, Public Presentation, Public Thanks, quality, rail, range, remit, report, Research, robot, robot models, rubbish, Rubbish Collection, September, shop, shopping, shopping areas, Shopping Centre, size, solution, Spain, station, storage, street, system, teaching, Teaching Spaces, technological, Technological Corporation, TECNALIA, Tele Assistance, time, transport, unit, user, vehicle, VI European, visitor, waste, weight, work, www

Weather predicting super-computer causes massive pollution

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 28 (ANI): In what seems to be a technological drawback, it has emerged that a super-computer designed to predict climate change causes massive pollution.

The Department of Communities and Local Government in Britain has exposed that the Met Office’s HQ is responsible for emitting more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

And apparently, 75 per cent of the pollution is caused by the computer, which is presumably the second most powerful system in Britain, reports The Sun.

However, Met Office spokesman Barry Grommett has said that the computer is vital to help forecast weather and environmental change and its predictions helps to reduce global carbon emissions

The Met Office was ranked 103rd among 28,259 public buildings which emits dangerous gases.

Manchester University’s Oxford Road campus ranked top in the list. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: carbon dioxide, climate change, dangerous gases, department of communities, drawback, environmental change, Forecast Weather, global carbon emissions, grommett, hq, Local Government, London, manchester university, massive pollution, Met Office, office spokesman, Oxford Road, Powerful System, public buildings, tonnes

Only four percent Israelis think Obama is pro-Israel: Poll

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Aug. 28 (ANI): Only four percent Israelis consider the policies of President Barack Obama as pro-Israel, a Smith Research poll conducted by The Jerusalem Post has revealed.

More than half (51 percent) of Jewish Israelis consider Obama’s administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, according to the survey, while 35 percent consider it neutral.

The support for Obama Administration has fallen 2 percent from an earlier poll published in the paper.

In June, 6 percent Israelis had viewed the policies of the Obama administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, while less than four in 10 said the policies were neutral.

The poll of 500 people representing a statistical model of the Jewish Israeli population had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Obama’s popularity among Israelis has been plummeting since a May 17 Post poll on the eve of a meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Obama at the White House.

The new poll was taken on Monday and Tuesday, before reports that Obama had agreed to exclude Jerusalem from a deal with Netanyahu on a construction freeze and to allow construction of essential public buildings, such as schools, to continue in Judea and Samaria.

The poll asked Jewish Israelis whether they would support freezing settlement construction for a year as part of an American-brokered deal.

Fifty percent said no, 41 percent said yes and 9 percent did not express an opinion. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: administration., American-brokered, ANI, Aug, barack, Barack Obama, Binyamin, binyamin netanyahu, Brokered Deal, construction, deal, error, eve, Fifty, freeze, freezing, half, house, Israel, Israel Jerusalem, Israeli Population, israelis, Jerusalem, jerusalem post, Jewish, judea, June, Margin, margin of error, May, meeting, minister, model, Monday, Netanyahu, new poll, Obama, opinion, Palestinian, paper, part, percent, poll, popularity, population, post, post poll, president, prime, Prime Minister, public buildings, Research, Research Poll, Samaria, settlement, settlement construction, smith, smith research, statistical model, support, survey, Tuesday, white, White House, year

Bollywood actor promotes anti-tobacco awareness

May 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 30 (ANI): Debutant Bollywood actor Jackie Bhagnani is promoting anti-tobacco awareness ahead of ‘World No Tobacco Day’ in New Delhi.

Jackie who makes his acting debut with the film ‘Kal Kisne Dekha’ said that the celebrities should promote this cause.

“Realistically speaking to eradicate it (smoking) we need one hundred years but we can reduce it and it can happen if the people from the film industry or the sports field who are known if they appeal to the people. The affect will be much more than any other normal person saying it. So you can always try nothing is impossible slowly and slowly it can get less. We know in the cities people are not allowed to smoke in public places and I’m seeing lot of people following it,” said Bhagnani.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has chosen ‘Tobacco Health Warnings’ as this year’s theme for World No Tobacco Day to be observed on May 31 with an emphasis on the picture warnings at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit.

More than 20 countries, including Britain, Iran, Peru and Malaysia, already use visual warnings on their tobacco products.

The WHO, which requires its entire staff to be non-smokers or to agree to try to quit, has been campaigning for more than two decades to discourage smoking and fight efforts by big companies such as Philip Morris International, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco to attract new customers.

Tobacco is the world’s leading preventable cause of death. According to WHO, tobacco has been claiming killing more than five million lives every year.

Around 80 percent of smokers live in developing countries, where smoking rates have risen sharply in recent years alongside a ramping-up of tobacco marketing and production in poorer states.

The WHO supports bans on tobacco marketing and sponsorship, prohibitions of smoking in public buildings, and high taxes on tobacco products. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: ''cause, (Iran, Actor, affect, American, ANI, awareness, bollywood, Britain, British, British American Tobacco, Cause Of Death, day, death, debut, debutant, Dekha, emphasis, field, fight, Fight Efforts, film, film industry, Health, health risks of tobacco, health warnings, imperial, Imperial Tobacco, industry, international, jackie, Jackie Bhagnani, Japan, Japan Tobacco, Kal, Kisne, lot, Malaysia, marketing, Marketing Sponsorship, May, morris, New Delhi, nothing, One Hundred Years, organisation, percent, person, peru, philip, Philip Morris International, picture, production, prohibitions, public buildings, Realistically, smokers, smoking, sponsorship, staff, theme, tobacco, Tobacco Awareness, Tobacco Marketing, tobacco products, tobacco use, use, warnings, world, world health organisation, year

Italy quake exposes poor building standards

April 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

L’Aquila’s new public hospital was hailed as a state-of-the-art, earthquake-proof building when it opened in 2000. But it collapsed along with many centuries-old monuments in the earthquake that struck the city on Monday.

The San Salvatore hospital, evacuated after its walls gave way, forcing doctors to treat quake victims and ordinary patients in a courtyard, has exposed inadequate infrastructure in the area.

As the death toll from Italy’s worst earthquake since 1980 topped 200, shocked Italians asked how modern buildings — not just historic churches and stone houses — could crumble into pieces in a region known for its high seismic risk.

“Once again we are faced with the lack of control on the quality of construction,” Franco Barberi, who heads a committee assessing earthquake risks at Italy’s Civil Protection agency, told reporters in L’Aquila.

“In California, an earthquake like this one would not have killed a single person,” he said.

Many raised the suspicion that the hospital, like other structures in Italy, was built with a less than scrupulous respect for anti-seismic building codes.

“I am really startled that a reinforced concrete hospital in a highly seismic zone can be so devastated to be declared off-limits. It’s absurd,” said architect Paolo Rocchi, a university professor on the conservation of historic buildings.

“If a structure is built following proper anti-seismic procedures, it can suffer damage, but it should still manage to withstand even a very destructive quake,” he told La Stampa newspaper on Tuesday.

In a country littered with illegal buildings and construction eyesores, experts blamed the use of low-quality cement and inadequate supporting iron rods, saying tens of thousands of palaces, schools and hospitals were at risk.

Gian Michele Calvi, chairman of the European centre for research in earthquake engineering, said that 80,000 public buildings in Italy were still unsafe despite the enforcement of construction regulations after previous natural disasters,

Of these 22,000 were schools in seismic areas. Of another 16,000 buildings in zones considered at risk, 9,000 were not built with modern anti-seismic criteria, he said.

That will come as no surprise to the parents of 26 children killed in San Giuliano di Puglia in 2002 when a quake flattened their village school.

After surveying the rubble-strewn streets of L’Aquila, where two-thirds of the buildings lie in ruins, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the government would rebuild a new, quake-proof town within 24 to 28 months.

“We could not have had a magic wand (before the quake) to turn all the old buildings into anti-seismic ones,” he said, pledging that all new structures would be built to the highest of modern standards.

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: architect paolo, barberi, Calvi, conservation of historic buildings, construction regulations, earthquake engineering, earthquake proof, earthquake risks, eyesores, inadequate infrastructure, iron rods, La Stampa, modern buildings, Natural Disaster, public buildings, Quake Victims, rocchi, San Salvatore, seismic risk, seismic zone, stone houses, worst earthquake

Nepal observes Democracy day

February 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, Feb 18 (ANI) The 58th Nepal National Democracy Day is being observed today.

According to Nepalnews, worships and prayers were also performed at various shrines for the eternal peace of the known and unknown martyrs who sacrificed their lives for democracy.

The National Democracy Day is being celebrated to commemorate the day when Nepalis were released from the command of 104-years-long Rana autocracy on February 18, 1951.

Schools, colleges and non-governmental organisations are commemorating the National Democracy Day with various programmes. Public buildings will be illuminated in the evening.

Meanwhile, President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Prachanda, Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala, and other leaders issued separate messages to the countrymen calling for combined effort from all sectors to strengthen democracy.

In his message, Prachanda said that the present government is committed to take the peace process to a logical conclusion by drafting a new Constitution with consensus from all parties.

Claiming multi-party system, human rights, press freedom to be the basic values of democracy, he highlighted the need for implementing it in daily life.

He also mentioned that the world is taking interests in the country’s peace process. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: autocracy, baran, combined effort, congress president, countrymen, eternal peace, Girija Prasad Koirala, logical conclusion, national democracy, nepali congress, non governmental organisations, peace process, prachanda, present government, president dr, press freedom, public buildings, shrines, values of democracy, yadav

British hotels on high terror alert fearing Mumbai-type attacks

January 21, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

London, Jan 21 (ANI): British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has revealed that the country is on high alert fearing a Mumbai-style terrorist attacks on a top hotel.

She told MPs that security chiefs have been training staff at major hotels on how to cope with a terror hit, The Sun reported.

Ministers, police and security services are urgently reviewing the UK’s counter-terrorism plans to beef up protection around hotels and other public buildings.

Appearing before the Commons Home Affairs committee, Smith said the atrocities in Mumbai in November, which claimed nearly 180 lives, had triggered an overhaul of Britain’s “protective security arrangements”.

“We have taken the opportunity of the review that we have done to accelerate the publication of protective security guidance to both hotels and hotel security professionals and giving them the best advice,” she said.

“We have a network of counter-terrorism security advisers who are able to supplement that advice by actually visiting specific venues and delivering training,” Smith added.

However, Smith said that she did not want checks to make peoples’ lives a misery.

Meanwhile, she also faced questions about the arrest of Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green on suspicion of handling leaked Home Office documents.

She told the committee that she would hold a review into the way the arrest in November was handled. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: british home secretary, commons home affairs committee, counter-terrorism, delivering training, home affairs committee, hotel security, immigration minister, Jacqui Smith, london jan, office documents, protective security, public buildings, security advisers, security arrangements, security chiefs, security guidance, security professionals, terror alert, terrorism security, top hotel

Israel hopes warning leaflets over Gaza may help counter ‘war crime’ claims

January 15, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, Jan 13 (ANI): The leaflets that the Israeli Air Force has dropped over Gaza during Operation Cast Iron warning civilians of impending air strikes and ground movements could help its army to argue that it has not committed war crimes in Gaza.

Amos Guiora, an expert on international law, operational counter-terrorism and the Middle East, said by dropping warning brochures, the IDF was “perceived as making an effort to reduce collateral damage,” a condition required by international law.

The former commander of the IDF’s school of military law and 19-year veteran of the Judge Advocate General Corps told The Jerusalem Post that after doing so, the IDF still must prove that the sites targeted were in fact combatant targets, such as public buildings used as arms depots.

The comments came a day after Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz warned that Israel was preparing for a wave of international lawsuits related to Operation Cast Iron.

“I would imagine that due to the events in Gaza, our office’s efforts will need to be focused and intensive,” Mazuz said, adding that representatives of the IDF’s Judge Advocate General were present in the operation’s planning center and approved each target.

Mazuz emphasized regarding last Tuesday’s strike at the UNRWA school that the IDF “doesn’t shoot in order to hit a school with 150 pupils. The IDF has its version of events, and it will carry out probes to see what happened there. It is clear to all that the IDF doesn’t shoot with the goal of hitting civilians.”

Israel has faced heavy international criticism for the strike on the UNRWA-sponsored school, as well as for reported use of artillery shells containing white phosphorus.

Guiora emphasized that in his final position in the IDF, he worked on developing a moral code that called on commanders to be convinced that their actions were moral as well as legal. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: air strikes, artillery shells, cast iron, collateral damage, counter-terrorism, international criticism, israeli air force, jerusalem post, judge advocate general, judge advocate general corps, last tuesday, leaflets, menahem, military law, moral code, planning center, public buildings, target, war crime, war crimes