JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia intends to depend heavily on solar energy to operate desalination plants instead of oil and gas as part of its efforts to make use of alternative and renewable energy sources.

Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen has disclosed plans to set up a new solar-powered desalination plant within 18 months.

Vision 2050:  The new agenda for business

Under the WBCSD's Vsion 2050 Project, twenty-nice WBCDSD member companies developed a vision of a world well on the way to sustainablility by 2050 and the pathways leading to that world.

This mural is a basis for visualizing the possible pathways.  The mural is meant to provide a tool for strategic planning, prioritizing, and monitoring progeress to help countires, businesses, NGOs , international organization and individuals assess the degree to which we are on track to accomplishing the vision.

Greece sneezed, and now most of Europe has a cold. The European debt crisis has already spread like a virus from Greece to Ireland and Portugal, and other countries are now at risk: Spain, and Italy are probable candidates for financial problems.

Contagion also has much to do with actual economic links among countries. Researchers have identified financial ties in particular as responsible for the “fast and furious” spread of crisis from one country to another. Trading activity between countries, however, can propagate economic sickness more slowly.

A report says a third of Africans are now middle class. Their interests coincide with the interests of the poor and should help to bring about change