October 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The city of New Delhi, the Indian capital, is reporting it has reached over 1,000 new cases of dengue fever this year. Dengue is a “vector-borne” disease, meaning it is transmitted from one host to another by way of an intermediary such as a microbe or small insect. There have only been two reported cases of deaths this year from the disease, in the capital, and authorities suggest a prolonged rainy season and consequent chronic humidity are to blame for the increase in cases.
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August 29, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
China is choking under a thick covering of contaminants produced from burning carbon-based fuels for industrial production, power-generation, and transport. Environmental degradation is so rampant that much of the northwest of the country is being lost to rapidly expanding deserts. And desertification threatens the already shaky balance between China’s available arable land and its skyrocketing demand for cheap food. Policy makers and market theorists in China and abroad should be thinking about whether that desert can produce something to help China escape the mounting environmental and public health cataclysm.
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May 10, 2008 :: jr3o :: No Comment Yet
As multiple nations scramble to get aid supplies into position, and UN negotiators attempt to persuade the military junta to accept international rescue, health and food assistance, the generals ruling the country have turned away aid, seized aid packages while expelling aid-workers and sought to prevent journalists from entering the country. Some suspect the behavior, which one UN official called “unprecedented”, is tied to the junta’s aim of manipulating a referendum on its proposed constitution.
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May 8, 2008 :: jr3o :: No Comment Yet
As aid agencies warn of the threat of starvation, infection and epidemic, the junta of generals that rules Burma (which they have renamed Myanmar) is refusing access to most foreign aid being offered. The top US diplomat in the country has said the death toll could reach as high as 100,000 and some observers have said the junta has done little to collect the bodies floating in lingering flood waters.
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March 13, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
13 March :: The Environmental Protection Agency plans to tighten standards for ground-level ozone pollution, reducing the maximum allowable from 84 parts-per-billion to 75 ppb over an 8-hour period; critics say “implementation could be decades away”, depending on regulatory procedure and court review; last year, an official review suggested maximum allowable ozone levels of 60 […]
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March 10, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
10 March :: Anti-depressants, sex-hormones, painkillers and anti-biotics in significant quantities (though reporting has used term “trace amounts”, which does not necessarily speak to quantity) in 24 of 28 US metropolitan areas tested; contaminated drinking water goes to 41 million Americans; health effects unknown, but potentially concerning as “Experts say medications may pose a unique […]
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February 4, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
4 February :: US pres. George W. Bush has presented the nation’s first federal budget exceeding $3 billion in spending; while giving generous expansions to defense spending, the budget seeks to cut $196 billion from healthcare spending, and projects near record budget deficits for at least two years; Bush claims that part of the 6% […]
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January 9, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
9 January :: Pope Benedict XVI plans to implement a global network of “specialist exorcism squads”, with a team in every diocese around the world to combat Satan; a Vatican spokesman told the press “Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the Devil. You […]
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November 23, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
23 November :: Discovery of skin-cell property that allows stem-cell behavior hope for researchers, conservative candidates; the discovery means research into curing diseases through stem-cell treatments need not be held back by ban on research that destroys human embryos, conservative candidates in US need not face criticism for opposing life-saving research… Pakistan has been suspended […]
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November 22, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
22 November :: Recently retired army chief, long-time Chávez ally, Gen. Baduel under attack for break with Venezuelan president, as Chávez supporters label him ‘traitor’; Baduel, who helped restore Chávez to power after failed 2002 coup, has said he disagrees with plans to change constitution to allow indefinite presidential term; IHT reports such critique “considered […]
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November 15, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
15 November :: US House of Representatives has passed $50 billion in Iraq war spending, conditioned on starting withdrawal in coming weeks, ending combat role for US by December 2008, before Bush leaves office; president has already begun troop-level reductions, in part under pressure from Republicans seeking reelection to Congress, but opposes Congressional mandate or […]
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November 13, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
13 November :: New report by Congressional Joint Economic Committee says wars in Iraq, Afghanistan have already cost taxpayers $1.5 trillion over last 6 years, including long-term cost rises related to oil, veterans’ healthcare, borrowing… Bhutto again under house arrest, calls for Musharraf to resign office, form interim “coalition of interests” to govern in run-up […]
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November 4, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
4 November :: Pakistan pres. Gen. Pervez Musharraf declares martial law, suspends constitution, fires chief justice, raising ire of world leaders; opposition politicians, top lawyers, including Chief Jutice Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry’s personal lawyer, were detained in raids across the country… “U.S. officials are considering granting Guantánamo Bay detainees substantially greater rights as part of an […]
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October 28, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
28 October :: US southeast caught up in political conflict over scarce water resources; PhysOrg reports “Hoping to guarantee no one will go thirsty, Georgia authorities want to drastically reduce the outflow from a reservoir that supplies drinking water to three million people. But neighboring Alabama claims that would have devastating economic effects on its […]
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October 27, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
27 October :: China plans to spend $14.4 billion to clean up Lake Tai, 3rd largest fresh-water lake in country, affected by direct toxic dumping, rampant algal bloom that cut off drinking water to Wuxi, a city of 2.3 million; according to IHT “Lake Tai, known as China’s ancient “land of rice and fish,” is […]
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October 18, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
18 October :: Ex-PM Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan, is greeted by hundreds of thousands of supporters in Karachi, having traveled from across the nation, Bhutto has been in talks with Musharraf to form ‘national unity’ gov’t, stave off ascent of radical clerics; two bombs ripped through massive crowd marching with Bhutto through Karachi, reportedly […]
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October 14, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
14 October :: UN report shows rate of women dying during or just after childbirth in US on par with Belarus, Serbia, ten times worse than world’s safest, Ireland; a UN statement on the joint UN-World Bank report said “Among the ten top-ranked European and other industrialized countries, where women are guaranteed good-quality health and […]
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October 7, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
7 August :: Brain-eating amoeba found throughout Tucson, AZ, water supply, authorities say no need to worry, as chlorination kills parasite; at least 6 young men and boys have been killed by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba this year in warm lakes, according to NIH researcher for recreational water-born diseases; scientists say rising temperatures may mean […]
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October 6, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
6 October :: Guardian reports “Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth“; if achieved, breakthrough will spur heated ethical debates on […]
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October 4, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
4 October :: North and South Korean leaders to call summit to establish formal lasting peace to 1950-53 conflict; analysts say “hermit” regime in North still appears unwilling to make necessary concessions to bring about re-unification, end to dictatorship; North signed new pact to dismantle nuclear facilities one day before… Burmese military junta reported to […]
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October 1, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
1 October :: US pres. George W. Bush has promised in a speech at his climate change conference in Washington, DC, the US “will do its part” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce risk of dangers caused by human-induced climate change; critics continue to say his approach is designed to postpone any comprehensive global regime […]
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September 29, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
29 September :: 2 thousand gathered in Rangoon to call for end to military rule, bystanders applauding protesting students; US bars 3 dozen members of military gov’t, their families from travel to US, in response to mounting violence in Burma; pressure mounting as demonstrations thin, calls for general to cede power spread; CNN reports “British […]
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September 25, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
25 September :: UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon has called for concerted action to slow global warming, saying “I am convinced that climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations”… Discovery reports “Antarctica’s once fringe-thawing is moving well inland, say […]
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