Archive for November, 2008
Is Rahul Mahajan out of ‘Bigg Boss’ house?
Nov 18th
New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Rumours are rife that Rahul Mahajan, one of the strongest contenders on reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, has been asked to leave after he refused to apologise for fleeing the house with three other inmates.
The rumour came to surface Tuesday morning, after Rahul jumped out of the “Bigg Boss” house along with the other existing participants – Raja Chaudhary, Zulfi Syed and Ashutosh Kaushik. It was shown on Monday’s episode.
The four men requested “Bigg Boss” organisers to send them a pre-cooked or ready-to-eat meal. When their request wasn’t met, they protested by escaping from the “Bigg More >
‘Youth can change image of ugly Indian politician’
Nov 18th
Underlining the need for changing the image of the “ugly Indian politician”, senior BJP leader L K Advani on Tuesday said one way of making this possible was by encouraging more young people to join politics.
“I tell my fellow politicians, particularly those belonging to my own party, that it is our duty to erase this image of the ‘ugly Indian politician’….it is necessary for the best and the brightest among the youth to join politics and serve the nation,” Advani said.
He was speaking at a seminar on “National Values Crisis and its Redressal” organised by the Foundation for Restoration of More >
Citigroup to slash 52,000 jobs, sees hard 2009
Nov 18th
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc revealed plans to cut 52,000 jobs by early next year in a dramatic move to restore the No. 2 U.S. bank to health as it combats mounting debt losses and sagging economies worldwide.
The cuts announced by Chief Executive Vikram Pandit on Monday affect 15 percent of Citigroup’s workforce, and are in addition to 23,000 jobs eliminated between January and September.
Citigroup plans to slash expenses by as much as 20 percent, and spend a total of $50 billion to $52 billion in 2009. That compares with $61.9 billion over the last four quarters.
The cuts will More >
Wildfires Cause Ozone Pollution To Violate Health Standards, New Study Shows
Nov 2nd
Wildfires can boost ozone pollution to levels that violate U.S. health standards, a new study concludes. The research, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), focused on California wildfires in 2007, finding that they repeatedly caused ground-level ozone to spike to unhealthy levels across a broad area, including much of rural California as well as neighboring Nevada.
The study was published today in Geophysical Research Letters. It was funded by NASA and by the National Science Foundation, which sponsors NCAR.
“It’s important to understand the health impacts of wildfires,” says NCAR scientist Gabriele Pfister, the lead author. “Ozone can More >
Probing Antarctic Glaciers For Clues To Past And Future Sea Level
Nov 2nd
Scientists from the U.S., U.K. and Australia have teamed up to explore two of the last uncharted regions of Earth, the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, immense ice-buried lowlands in Antarctica with a combined area the size of Mexico. The research could show how Earth’s climate changed in the past and how future climate change will affect global sea level.
Scientists believe the barely observed Aurora Subglacial Basin, which lies in East Antarctica, could represent the weak underbelly of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, the largest remaining body of ice on Earth. Until recently the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which covers More >
Recent Hurricane History Provides Diverging Interpretations On Future Of Hurricane Activity
Nov 2nd
In a paper published in the journal Science, scientists Gabriel A. Vecchi of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Kyle L. Swanson of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Atmospheric Sciences Group and Brian J. Soden from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science teamed up to study hurricane data observed over more than 50 years. The study explores the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and seasonal hurricane activity, and show how differing interpretations of the observational record can imply vastly different futures for Atlantic hurricane activity due to global warming. The two interpretations arise from More >
Critically Endangered Fruit Bat Make Dramatic Return From Brink Of Extinction
Nov 2nd
A once critically endangered bat species, the ‘Pemba flying fox’, has made a dramatic return from the brink of extinction, according to new research. As recently as 1989, only a scant few individual fruit bats could be observed on the tropical island of Pemba, off Tanzania. Its numbers have since soared to an astounding 22,000 bats in less than 20 years, the new research finds.
The species was facing imminent extinction in the 1990’s when Fauna & Flora International (FFI) first took action to save it. Once considered a delicacy, these charismatic bats were hunted and eaten widely throughout the island. More >
Wildflower Declines In Thoreau’s Concord Woods Are Due To Climate Changes
Nov 2nd
ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2008) — Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond have borne the effects of climate change in strikingly different ways. Some of the plant families hit hardest by global warming have included beloved species like lilies, orchids, violets, roses, and dogwoods.
Over the past 150 years, some of the plants in Thoreau’s woods have shifted their flowering time by as much as three weeks as spring temperatures have risen, the researchers say, while others have been less flexible. Many plant More >