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Posts tagged World News
Copenhagen climate summit
Dec 9th
As per World Meteorological Organizations (WMO), this decade has been the warmest on record and this year is likely to be the fifth warmest. The Copenhagen summit is trying to agree global action to prevent the temperature rising more than 2C above the pre-industrial average. Many low-lying small islands, including the Maldives and Cook Islands, want the temperature rise to be capped at 1.5C because any increase above that could result in sea levels rising more than a metre. As per the scientists who are working and noticing the climate changes has declared that, ” Since the 18th century, the global temperature has risen just over 0.7C – the most rapid rise since the last ice age. “
The Met Office, which is contributing on the Climate changes, said “We intend that as soon as possible we will publish the specific computer code that aggregates the individual station temperatures into the global land temperature record.” The Met Office today responded to criticisms about lack of transparency by releasing land temperature records gathered from more than 1,500 stations around the world.
Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat
Dec 9th
The top US commander in Afghanistan has said al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama Bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the US Congress, Gen Stanley McChrystal said Bin Laden had become an “iconic figure”.
He said President Barack Obama’s deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant success was possible. But he said the mission was “undeniably difficult” and the next 18 months would be crucial. “I don’t think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he’s captured or killed, I believe he is an iconic figure at this point, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organisation across the world.” said Gen McChrystal.
The general said that killing or capturing Bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but that the movement could not be eradicated while Bin Laden remained at large. The militant leader is believed to be living in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said last week that officials have had no reliable information on Bin Laden’s whereabouts for “years”. ( Courtesy: BBC.com)
FIFA World Cup 2010
Dec 6th
The 32 teams participating at next year’s FIFA World Cup™ finals discovered their fate this evening when the Final Draw for South Africa 2010 took place in Cape Town.
While South Africans learned that the host nation’s Opening Match on 11 June would be played against Mexico at Soccer City, it was the Group D line-up which caused arguably the biggest stir. Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana will battle it out for two qualifying places for the Round of 16, meaning two nations with passionate support will depart the tournament early. There could be a high-profile casualty from Group G too, after Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal were drawn together.
An estimated global television audience of 200 million joined the 2,000 invited guests in the Draw Hall in watching the colourful and entertaining ceremony unfold. With African sporting stars such as athlete Haile Gebreselassie, rugby player John Smit, cricketer Makhaya Ntini, and footballers Matthew Booth and Simphiwe Dludlu assisting with the draw, along with England’s David Beckham, it was always going to be an exhilarating occasion, but the undoubted centrepiece came when the eight groups were revealed.
An early highlight of the draw was the eye-catching encounter between England and USA, scheduled for 12 June, which evokes the Americans’ famous 1-0 win over their transatlantic cousins at Brazil 1950. Argentina, Nigeria and Greece will get the chance to revive their group rivalry from 1994, while the heavyweight collision between Portugal and Brazil on 25 June also has the feel of a derby.
Major sea level rise likely as Antarctic ice melts
Dec 1st
Sea levels are likely to rise by about 1.4m (4ft 6in) globally by 2100 as polar ice melts, according to a major review of climate change in Antarctica.
Conducted by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), it says that warming seas are accelerating melting in the west of the continent.Ozone loss has cooled the region, it says, shielding it from global warming.Rising temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula are making life suitable for invasive species on land and sea.The report – Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment – was written using contributions from 100 leading scientists in various disciplines, and reviewed by a further 200.
SCAR’s executive director Dr Colin Summerhayes said it painted a picture of “the creeping global catastrophe that we face”.”The temperature of the air is increasing, the temperature of the ocean is increasing, sea levels are rising – and the Sun appears to have very little influence on what we see,” he said. SCAR’s report comes 50 years to the day after the Antarctic Treaty, the international agreement regulating use of the territory, was opened for signing, and a week before the opening of the potentially seminal UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
Commonwealth call for climate deal
Nov 29th
The countries, representing more than a quarter of the world’s population, met in Port-of-Spain (the capital of Trinidad and Tobago) on Saturday – ahead of a UN climate summit in Denmark. Leaders at the biennial Commonwealth summit have endorsed an agreement on climate change and a fund to help poor. The summit was joined by Nicolas Sarkozy( France’s president), Lars Lokke Rasmussen( Danish prime minister) and Ban Ki-moon(the UN secretary-general) .
The UN is aiming for a political agreement at the climate talks that would cover tougher emissions targets, climate financing for poor nations and the transfer of clean-energy technology.
The meeting of the Commonwealth, made up mostly of former British colonies, attracted an unusual level of attention this year because of climate change. The gathering, held every two years, brought together some of the key countries in the global debate, including India, Canada and Australia, amid debate over cutting carbon emissions and the economic effects of those cuts.
Courtesy: CBN news