Canadian PM didn’t support the Earth Hour

HarperAs Canadian Capital Ottawa went dark last night for Earth Hour, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s lights stayed on. The third-floor offices on Parliament Hill that house the Prime Minister’s Office were also among the few lights that stayed on. More than 380 communities, including at least 150 across Canada, joined Earth Hour. About 300,000 individuals signed up on a WWF website that was overwhelmed during the past couple of days. That included 100,000 Canadians. “Earth Hour shows that everyday people are prepared to pull together to find a solution to climate change. It can be done,” said James Leape of WWF International.

Olympic torch arrived in China

OlympicsTHE Beijing Olympic flame arrived in the Chinese capital amid tight security. The flame, encased in a lantern, was to be officially welcomed at a ceremony at Tiananmen Square. Games of the XXIX Olympiad starts on 8th August.

Obama leads Clinton by 10 point

Barack ObamaObama reaches the largest lead of this year over Clinton. He has extended his lead over Hillary Clinton among Democrats nationally to 52% to 42%. The latest results are based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted March 27-29.

UN faces new sex scandal in Haiti

Sri Lanka114 Sri Lankan soldiers who were on peace-keeping missions on Haiti are to be charged with sexual exploitation and abuse against children. After an investigation into pending charges against Sri Lankan troops in Haiti, the OIOS, the UN’s investigative arm has concluded that “acts of sexual exploitation and abuse (against children) were frequent and occurred usually at night, and at virtually every location where the contingent personnel were deployed” Virtually all of the 114 troops were repatriated last November on ‘disciplinary grounds’. Virtually all of the 114 troops were repatriated last November on ‘disciplinary grounds’. The repatriation, described as one of the biggest single withdrawals of soldiers from a UN peacekeeping mission,

Meditation increases empathy & compassion

MeditationAccording to a recent study, meditation may increase a person’s ability to feel empathy and benevolence for others. Study was done by analyzing the brain activity of subjects while they are practicing Compassion meditation. Compassion meditation involves first focusing on loved ones and directing loving-kindness toward them, and then extending that goodwill to all beings indiscriminately. The researchers believe that their findings suggest compassion can be learned and increased with practice.

Brain’s power to sense the calories

brain-languagemap.png Ivan de Araujo and colleagues have found that the brain can sense the calories in food, independent of the taste mechanism. The finding that the brain’s reward system is switched on by this “sixth sense” machinery could have implications for understanding the causes of obesity.

Fastest Evolving animal

Tuatara The tuatara which is found only in New Zealand is the fastest evolving animals in the planet. It is the only surviving member of a reptilian order Sphehodontia that lived alongside early dinosaurs. Tuatara means peak on the back in Maori language. Maori is one of the official languags of New Zealand.
Photo Source:www.wpclipart.com

Motorola to split

MotorolaMotorola will split into two companies, one making mobile devices and the other making network infrastructure. Analysts agree the split will bring improved focus, especially for the mobile phone company. The split is expected to be take place in 2009.

US mistakenly shipped Ballistic missile parts to Taiwan

MissileUnited States shipped four electrical fuses for Minuteman nuclear missile warheads to Taiwan, instead of sending helicopter batteries. The mistake was discovered only last week a year and a half after the shipment. Officials said the nose-cone fuses contained no nuclear material and were similar in function to the ones used for conventional munitions, though these were designed specifically to send an electrical signal to the trigger of the MK-12 nuclear warhead as it was approaching the ground.

(Photo Source:siloworld.com)

NASA shuttle crew returns

shuttle_endeavour.pngAfter completing a 16-day journey of nearly 6.6 million miles in space, space shuttle Endeavour and its crew landed at 8:39 p.m. EDT Wednesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour’s flight was the longest shuttle mission to the International Space Station and included a record five spacewalks.

Earth Hour Tomorrow

Sun SetCreated to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. Millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will turn off the lights at 8pm March 29, 2008 for Earth Hour.

Young American Jews still attached to Israel,Study

IsraelA study by the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University points that Jewish attachment to Israel has largely held steady for the period 1994-2007. The study showed that differences in attachment to Israel are likely related to life-cycle rather than the diverse experiences of successive generations. The number of American Jews visiting Israel also on the rise, according to this study.

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