The Most Recent News Stories

Copenhagen climate summit: descends into chaos

2009-12-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

World leaders missed the best chance they are ever likely to get to stop global warming escalating out of control as the Copenhagen climate conference fizzled to a close. They agreed in principle to keep the heating of the planet beneath 2C – the point at which scientists warn the planet has a chance of avoiding “dangerous” climate change – but failed to agree measures to achieve this.

Hopes of a worthwhile deal foundered largely on the inability of the world’s two biggest polluters – China and the United States – to reach agreement after a speech by President Obama angered Chinese premier Wen Jiabow.

President Barack Obama managed to secure an agreement with China, India, Brazil and South Africa after marathon negotiations.But it's the lack of substance to the non-binding political accord which has infuriated environmentalists and emboldened critics in the US who consider the notion of man-made global warming as a "Hollywood hoax".White House officials have conceded the deal reached by the president is a modest achievement, but they insist it is an achievement nonetheless.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2010

It is Marriot now in Islamabad

2008-09-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

At least 60 people were killed and 200 wounded in the bombing of a Marriot a five-star hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

The bombing was the third attack on the American hotel chain in Pakistan in 2½ years.

Witnesses said that security staff at the front of the hotel, where the blast was strongest, had 'simply been vaporised.' Hotel staff said that all the Marriott's function rooms, including the large ballroom, had been hired for Iftar. According to the hotel owner, at least 700 people would have been in the hotel at the time of the blast at 8pm. Around 300 eating under a marquee at the back of the hotel away from the blast survived.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2010

Fallout of contaminated baby milk powder from China

2008-09-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Malaysia has joined Singapore in banning the import of all Chinese dairy products after China's contaminated-milk scare widened.

Four babies have died, nearly 160 have suffered acute kidney failure and more than 6,000 have suffered illness after drinking products containing melamine.

In the meanwhile the Chinese government has launched a nationwide testing programme of dairy products as the government seeks to contain a widening scandal over toxic baby formula that has so far killed four babies.

The country's milk scandal escalated dramatically on Thursday as it emerged the illegal chemical blamed for killing the babies had been detected in a wide range of dairy products, leading to mass recalls

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Serial Blasts in New Delhi

2008-09-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Five explosions rocked various places in Delhi on Saturday evening, killing seven persons and injuring over 40.The blasts at Ghaffar market in Karol Bagh, at Connaught Place(2) and Greater Kailash(2) took place in a quick succession, the police said.

The first blast took place at Ghaffar market in which at least 20 people were injured. They were rushed to nearby RML hospital.Immediately after that, two explosions took place in Connaught Place, in which at least 10 people were injured.

Another explosion two explosions rocked M-Block market in Greater Kailash-I.

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Traffic Resumes on the Euro Channel Tunnel after the Fire

2008-09-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

(Photo: Reuters)

Freight services resumed through the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar passenger services were due to make a gradual comeback early Saturday after a blaze shut down the busy link between Britain and mainland Europe leaving thousands stranded.

The passenger traffic, much reduced over the weekend, will use only the south tunnel which was unaffected by the 1,000 degree Celsius inferno that raged inside the parallel north tunnel.

The fire broke out on a truck on the vehicle-carrying train 11km before it reached the French end of the 50km tunnel, forcing the evacuation of 31 drivers and the members of train crew. French newspapers reported it had been caused by overheating of the truck's brake system. The fire burnt from 3pm on Thursday until around 9am yesterday, with hundreds of firefighters from both sides of the Channel tackling the incident at its height.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2010

Floods in Bihar, India

2008-09-06T23:08:00.001-07:00

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

More than three million people have been uprooted by unprecedented floods in Bihar with the UNICEF saying it would continue its relief operations in what it described as "grim humanitarian situation". Several days after floods hit the Indian state of Bihar, tens of thousands still await rescue. The flood-affected wait for rescue in Madhepura district.Those who have been rescued consider themselves lucky. In the worst-affected areas, food is running out and people are having to drink muddy waters.

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India gets NSG waiver at Vienna

2008-09-06T05:49:00.000-07:00

Delegates at 45-nation talks say they have approved a contentious U.S. plan to sell peaceful nuclear material technology to India.

The talks have overcome misgivings expressed by Austria, Ireland and New Zealand and the Saturday's session produced `a total consensus' on the deal.

The agreement would reverse more than three decades of U.S. policy toward India and India would now get access to nuclear fuel and technology.

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Large Hadron Collider won't cause world's end

2008-09-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

Scientists behind the LHC have published a report to allay their fears and convince them that the world will carry on as normal after the biggest and most powerful atom collider ever built is turned on in Geneva.

“Nature has already conducted the equivalent of about a hundred thousand LHC experimental programmes on Earth – and the planet still exists,”

The LHC, installed in a 27km tunnel on the French-Swiss border, is to start unleashing a beam of protons on Wednesday. Two parallel beams of particles, one clockwise and the other anti-clockwise, will blast around the underground ring. Superconducting magnets will bend them so groups of protons smash into each other in a giant chamber swathed with detectors to record the resulting sub-atomic debris.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2010

Hurricane Gustav:New Orleans Again!

2008-08-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

Residents were ordered to flee an only partially rebuilt New Orleans Sunday as another monster storm bore down on Louisiana nearly three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wiped out entire swaths of the city.

Ferocious Hurricane Gustav moved into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico on Saturday where it was expected to strengthen and threaten New Orleans after its 150 mile per hour (240 kph) winds cut a swath of destruction through western Cuba.

The Category 4 storm swept across Cuba in a matter of hours and now poses a threat to Gulf oil fields on a projected path that could take it ashore near New Orleans, still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2010

Obama launches his Election campaign

2008-08-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama launched his campaign to become America's first black president with an outdoor extravaganza Thursday, promising more than 84,000 cheering supporters an end to the "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush."
Obama accepted the democratic nomination for the race to the post of Pesident of United States in a nationally televised event.(photo coutesy:AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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