Antarctic tourism to be limited

US proposals have been adopted by parties to the Antartic Treaty in order to limit tourism in the region, in an attempt to protect the fragile ecosystem of the continent.(photo, from bbc.co.uk)

Read Full Post »

Flooding hit the historic centre of Venice

Venice residents and tourists have been forced by the worst flooding the city has seen in more than 20 years, to wade through knee-high water (photo, from iht.com).

Read Full Post »

US worldwide dominance to decline

US influence will be increasingly challenged by China, India and Russia, according to a new US intelligence report on global trends.

Read Full Post »

100 killed in Vietnam floods

At least 100 people have been killed and 50 left missing in northwest Vietnam, by flooding and landslides, officials said.
Over the weekend, power lines have been downed and transportation links cut by tropical storm Kammuri, which battered mountain villages in Lao Cai province. (photo, from bbc.co.uk)

Read Full Post »

The Games are open

Fireworks, music and dancing marked the opening of the Beijing Olympics (photo, from parismatch.com), with some 10,000 performers taking part in the ceremony, that an estimated one billion people watched on TV, before athletes paraded around the national stadium.

Read Full Post »

Half of world’s primates in danger of extinction

The world counts 634 types of primates, and according to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), nearly half of them are in danger of extinction because of human activity. (photo, from nationalgeographic.com)

Read Full Post »

Obama attacks over US oil

In a new TV advert that has been unveiled, Barack Obama (photo), the US Democratic candidate to the White House, accuses John McCain, his Republican rival, of being under the sway of big oil firms. When the ad came, Mr Obama called for US emergency oil reserves to be used to help drive down fuel [...]

Read Full Post »

Not enough sun makes bones lack vitamin D

Some people are shunning the sun altogether because of worries over skin cancer, which could endanger their health, a poll has found. The National Osteoporosis Society (NOS) says that the chances of brittle bone disease could raise, because of the lack of vitamin D, part-made by being in the sun.

Read Full Post »

New rules to clean the air take effect in Beijing

Trying to improve the Chinese capital’s air quality in time for the Olympic Games, restrictions on driving have been introduced in Beijing (photo, from abc.net.au). Coming into effect on Sunday, 19 days before the sporting event begins, the directive bans private vehicles with odd, and even, numbered licence plates from Beijing’s roads on alternate [...]

Read Full Post »

Australia : pope attacks consumerism

In a formal address in Sydney, Australia, to tens of thousands of young Roman Catholics, pope Benedict XVI (photo, from news.sky.com) attacked popular culture and consumerism. He also warned that natural resources were being squandered.

Read Full Post »