Friday, November 13, 2009
Plastic-hardening chemical makes men soft
Regular contact with high levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a compound commonly found in plastic food and drink containers, appears to cause erectile dysfunction and other sexual performance problems in men.
The finding, reported in the Washington Post, is likely to add fuel to the controversy over whether exposure to normal lower levels is harmful to humans and encourage campaigners calling for an outright ban.
According to the new study, male workers in four Chinese factories making BPA or using it reported an average fourfold increase in erectile dysfunction, a sevenfold increase in ejaculation difficulty and a fourfold decrease in sexual drive when compared to controls.
BPA is found in thousands of everyday products, such as the plastic lining of drinks cans. It is used in hard plastic bottles including some baby bottles, although some manufacturers voluntarily removed it from baby bottles sold in the US earlier this year.
More than 93 per cent of Americans have traces of the chemical in their urine and various studies have shown BPA can cause harm to animal reproductive systems, from early sexual maturity to low sperm count. The compound behaves like the hormone oestrogen, and is thought to disrupt hormonal processes.
However animals metabolise the compound more slowly than humans and the evidence base has been interpreted differently by different public health bodies.
Last August the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft report stating it was safe at the typical exposure levels from food and drink packaging.
This was contradicted by the National Toxicology Program, which advises the FDA, and by the FDA's own Science Board. The administration is currently undertaking a new review.
The research is the first to show regular exposure to high levels of BPA in the workplace over long periods can have adverse effects on sexual function in men.
But how worried should we be? The levels of the chemical found in the urine of the Chinese workers in the study were around 50 times higher than normal.
Study leader De-Kun Li, a reproductive epidemiologist at US healthcare provider and insurer Kaiser Permanente's research institute in Oakland, California, acknowledged that his findings in BPA exposed workers could not be extrapolated to the general population.
Talk climate and money, not climate vs money, WWF tells APEC
Singapore – Leaders gathering in Singapore for the APEC summit this weekend must commit to strong and ambitious climate actions if they want to achieve sustainable growth for their region and help their countries to avoid disastrous consequences of global warming.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation – bringing together world leaders like US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama – must look beyond the group's usual areas of interest and focus on the common challenges posed by climate change.
"Solving problems of protectionism, trade zones, banks and exchange rates is very important, but what is all of this worth if the world slips into chaos because of devastating climate change?" said Kim Carstensen, Leader of the WWF Global Climate Initiative.
"APEC leaders must open their eyes and look into the real threats and challenges of this world and their region. We cannot talk about sustainable growth without solving the most intractable problem the planet is facing."
UN climate talks are floundering due to attempts by some governments to lower expectations for a new treaty and efforts to delay the deal.
The production of a legally binding framework at Copenhagen together with an amended Kyoto Protocol will help secure the survival of countries, cultures and ecosystems and clear the way towards a low carbon economy.
"If APEC countries would tackle the climate crisis with the same rigor they showed in protecting their economies from the financial meltdown, the world wouldn't have to worry about a lack of political will or insufficient levels of ambition in the UN climate talks", said Carstensen.
"We urge APEC leaders to bring economic recovery and climate recovery in sync, so that money spent on keeping growth levels high also helps bringing emission levels down."
In WWF's view, the Pacific region should become a model of technology cooperation, where developed APEC countries assist their developing country partners with adaptation and mitigation, through clean technologies, financial support and capacity building.
"Many want the APEC region to become a free trade zone, but they should also exploit its potential as a clean tech zone", said Carstensen.
"There is probably no better regional network of countries in the world for piloting smart concepts for technology cooperation like those discussed in the UN climate talks. To boost the international negotiations, we urgently need pioneers who show what's possible and how to make it happen."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Push to Build Mosques Is Met With Resistance
COPENHAGEN — Paris has its grand mosque, on the Left Bank. So does Rome, the city of the pope. Yet despite a sizable Muslim population, this Danish city has nothing but the occasional tiny storefront Muslim place of worship.
The city, Denmark's capital, is now inching toward construction of not one, but two grand mosques. In August, the city council approved the construction of a Shiite Muslim mosque, replete with two 104-foot-tall minarets, in an industrial quarter on the site of a former factory. Plans are also afoot for a Sunni mosque. But it has been a long and complicated process, tangled up in local politics and the publication four years ago of cartoons mocking Islam.
The difficulties reflect the tortuous path Denmark has taken in dealing with its immigrants, most of whom are Muslim. Copenhagen in particular has been racked by gang wars, with shootouts and killings in recent months between groups of Hells Angels and immigrant bands.
The turmoil has fed the popularity of an anti-immigrant conservative party, the Danish People's Party. In city elections scheduled for Nov. 17, the People's Party, by some estimates, could double the roughly 6 percent of the vote it took in the last municipal election.
Denmark is not alone in grappling with the question. In Italy, the rightist Northern League opposes mosques in Italian cities; in Switzerland, voters will go to the polls on Nov. 29 in a referendum to decide whether to ban the construction of minarets.
In Denmark, it was the cartoons, one of which depicted Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, that gave the initial impetus to a movement for a mosque.
"I wrote a front-page story saying we somehow had to reconnect to the Muslims, to collect money to build a mosque as a sign of solidarity," said Herbert Pundik, 82, the former editor of the Danish daily Politiken. Mr. Pundik, speaking by phone from Tel Aviv, where he now lives, said that within 24 hours there had been more than 1,000 positive responses. But then the Muslim reaction to the cartoons turned violent, with attacks on Danish embassies in several cities, including Beirut and Damascus.
"The steam went out of the project," Mr. Pundik said.
Yet it did not die. Bijan Eskandani, the architect of the Shiite mosque, said he found inspiration for his design in the "Persian element in Islamic art," which he said consisted of a "special lyric, poetic attitude." The Shiite community, he said in written answers to questions, lacked the financial means to acquire a suitable site for a mosque. "The building lot they have is situated in an ugly, unattractive, inharmonious gray factory area," he said, adding that, "a sparkling mosque there may make a difference."
The very word Persian sends chills down Martin Henriksen's spine. "We are against the mosque," said Mr. Henriksen, 29, one of the People's Party's five-member directorate, in an interview in Copenhagen's Parliament building. "It's obvious to everyone that the Iranian regime has something to do with it," he said. "The Iranian regime is based on a fascist identity that we don't want to set foot in Denmark."
Since becoming party to the national government coalition in 2001, the People's Party has helped enact legislation to stem the flow of immigrants and raise the bar for obtaining citizenship. Immigrants, Mr. Henriksen insists, "need to show an ability and a will to become Danes." He cites past Jewish immigration as an example. "Many Jews have come to Denmark since the 16th century," he said. "We don't have discussions about whether to build synagogues." There are at least four synagogues in the city.
Abdul Wahid Pedersen, whose parents are Scandinavian, converted to Islam years ago. "I was 28, a child of the 60s," he said. Now 55, he is chairman of a 15-member committee promoting construction of a grand mosque for Copenhagen's Sunni Muslims.
He concedes that of the estimated 250,000 Muslims in a Danish population of 5.5 million, only about 35,000 are Sunnis. Yet he defends the need for a grand mosque and says that while the Sunni community is not soliciting financing from Saudi Arabia, as the People's Party contends, he has no problem accepting a donation. "If someone wants to chip in, that is O.K.," he said, in the shop in a working-class neighborhood where he sells Islamic literature, prayer rugs and other religious objects. "But they will have no influence on running the place." Mr. Pedersen said his committee was even considering installing wind turbines atop the minarets and covering the mosque's dome with one large solar panel.
The city's deputy mayor, Klaus Bondam, 45, defends the right of Muslims to their mosques. The minarets, he said, would be "quite slim towers, we're not going to be Damascus or Cairo." The city had also made clear there would be no calling to prayers from the mosques' minarets. As to the charge of foreign underwriting, Mr. Bondam said it did not concern him as long as the sources were listed openly.
But he said he feared that the debate over the mosques could help the People's Party double its share of the vote in this month's local elections to as much as 12 percent. "It's the little discomfit of people of other religion or background," he said. "Why can't they be like me?"
For Toger Seidenfaden, 52, the present editor of Politiken, the People's Party is "democratic and parliamentary — they are not brownshirts." But he said they were a "very Danish, nationalist party — they'd like Denmark before globalization."
On the broad avenue called Njalsgade, where the Sunni mosque is to be built on a vacant lot, Preben Anderson, 61, a bricklayer, said he had nothing against a mosque, though he pointedly said that he could not speak for his neighbors. "We have churches," he said. "We have to have mosques." He stood across the street from where weeds and junk now cover the lot where the Sunni mosque could one day stand. One neighborhood resident, asked if he could point out the site where the mosque would be built, professed not to know.
Yet, Per Nielsen, 56, a retired history teacher, said the economic slowdown and the gang wars in nearby neighborhoods were feeding the popularity of the People's Party. As for the mosque, he said, "There's very strong pressure — people living here don't want it."
The difficulties reflect the tortuous path Denmark has taken in dealing with its immigrants, most of whom are Muslim. Copenhagen in particular has been racked by gang wars, with shootouts and killings in recent months between groups of Hells Angels and immigrant bands.
The turmoil has fed the popularity of an anti-immigrant conservative party, the Danish People's Party. In city elections scheduled for Nov. 17, the People's Party, by some estimates, could double the roughly 6 percent of the vote it took in the last municipal election.
Denmark is not alone in grappling with the question. In Italy, the rightist Northern League opposes mosques in Italian cities; in Switzerland, voters will go to the polls on Nov. 29 in a referendum to decide whether to ban the construction of minarets.
In Denmark, it was the cartoons, one of which depicted Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, that gave the initial impetus to a movement for a mosque.
"I wrote a front-page story saying we somehow had to reconnect to the Muslims, to collect money to build a mosque as a sign of solidarity," said Herbert Pundik, 82, the former editor of the Danish daily Politiken. Mr. Pundik, speaking by phone from Tel Aviv, where he now lives, said that within 24 hours there had been more than 1,000 positive responses. But then the Muslim reaction to the cartoons turned violent, with attacks on Danish embassies in several cities, including Beirut and Damascus.
"The steam went out of the project," Mr. Pundik said.
Yet it did not die. Bijan Eskandani, the architect of the Shiite mosque, said he found inspiration for his design in the "Persian element in Islamic art," which he said consisted of a "special lyric, poetic attitude." The Shiite community, he said in written answers to questions, lacked the financial means to acquire a suitable site for a mosque. "The building lot they have is situated in an ugly, unattractive, inharmonious gray factory area," he said, adding that, "a sparkling mosque there may make a difference."
The very word Persian sends chills down Martin Henriksen's spine. "We are against the mosque," said Mr. Henriksen, 29, one of the People's Party's five-member directorate, in an interview in Copenhagen's Parliament building. "It's obvious to everyone that the Iranian regime has something to do with it," he said. "The Iranian regime is based on a fascist identity that we don't want to set foot in Denmark."
Since becoming party to the national government coalition in 2001, the People's Party has helped enact legislation to stem the flow of immigrants and raise the bar for obtaining citizenship. Immigrants, Mr. Henriksen insists, "need to show an ability and a will to become Danes." He cites past Jewish immigration as an example. "Many Jews have come to Denmark since the 16th century," he said. "We don't have discussions about whether to build synagogues." There are at least four synagogues in the city.
Abdul Wahid Pedersen, whose parents are Scandinavian, converted to Islam years ago. "I was 28, a child of the 60s," he said. Now 55, he is chairman of a 15-member committee promoting construction of a grand mosque for Copenhagen's Sunni Muslims.
He concedes that of the estimated 250,000 Muslims in a Danish population of 5.5 million, only about 35,000 are Sunnis. Yet he defends the need for a grand mosque and says that while the Sunni community is not soliciting financing from Saudi Arabia, as the People's Party contends, he has no problem accepting a donation. "If someone wants to chip in, that is O.K.," he said, in the shop in a working-class neighborhood where he sells Islamic literature, prayer rugs and other religious objects. "But they will have no influence on running the place." Mr. Pedersen said his committee was even considering installing wind turbines atop the minarets and covering the mosque's dome with one large solar panel.
The city's deputy mayor, Klaus Bondam, 45, defends the right of Muslims to their mosques. The minarets, he said, would be "quite slim towers, we're not going to be Damascus or Cairo." The city had also made clear there would be no calling to prayers from the mosques' minarets. As to the charge of foreign underwriting, Mr. Bondam said it did not concern him as long as the sources were listed openly.
But he said he feared that the debate over the mosques could help the People's Party double its share of the vote in this month's local elections to as much as 12 percent. "It's the little discomfit of people of other religion or background," he said. "Why can't they be like me?"
For Toger Seidenfaden, 52, the present editor of Politiken, the People's Party is "democratic and parliamentary — they are not brownshirts." But he said they were a "very Danish, nationalist party — they'd like Denmark before globalization."
On the broad avenue called Njalsgade, where the Sunni mosque is to be built on a vacant lot, Preben Anderson, 61, a bricklayer, said he had nothing against a mosque, though he pointedly said that he could not speak for his neighbors. "We have churches," he said. "We have to have mosques." He stood across the street from where weeds and junk now cover the lot where the Sunni mosque could one day stand. One neighborhood resident, asked if he could point out the site where the mosque would be built, professed not to know.
Yet, Per Nielsen, 56, a retired history teacher, said the economic slowdown and the gang wars in nearby neighborhoods were feeding the popularity of the People's Party. As for the mosque, he said, "There's very strong pressure — people living here don't want it."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Energy agency warns of 'irreparable' damage
Take all the power stations in the United States. Together, they produce almost 5000 gigawatts of electricity - enough to boil several billion kettles simultaneously.
Now imagine building another five power stations for every one that already exists in the United States. That is about the amount of electricity generation that the world is on track to add over the next 20 years. And three-quarters of the new stations will use fossil fuels.
These startling figures were released today by the International Energy Agency. The agency predicts that between a quarter and a third of the new capacity will be built in China, which generates over 40 per cent of its electricity from coal.
This will lead to huge increases in carbon dioxide emissions. The agency has previously said that the current recession has helped rein in emissions, but that effect will not last.
The report predicts that 40 billion tonnes of CO2 will be emitted worldwide in 2030, around twice the figure for 1990. That would put us on a path towards a future in which atmospheric carbon dioxide levels top 1000 parts per million and average global temperature rise by up to 6 °C.
Many scientists think that that our goal should be a maximum rise of 2 °C and that 4 °C would cause severe flooding and drought. The agency describes our current trajectory as almost certain to cause "irreparable" damage to the planet.
We are not, of course, locked into this future. The agency's calculation come from a modelling exercise in which we continue on the path we are on now, rather than switch to low-carbon technologies like solar power.
Many governments have already committed to changes, albeit limited ones, so the most dire aspects of the agency's predictions will not come to pass. But they are a useful reminder of just how wrong things will go if we do not take action.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Winner in Contest Involving Space Elevator
A start-up company from the Seattle area won $900,000 on Friday in a NASA contest to build a miniature prototype of a machine that could one day climb from Earth to outer space.
The idea of a space elevator — passengers and cargo traveling up and down a 60,000-mile cable — has long been a fixture of science fiction, notably in Arthur C. Clarke's novel "The Fountains of Paradise."
A real space elevator is still decades in the future, but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, along with the nonprofit organization Spaceward Foundation, sponsored the contest to encourage development of some of the needed technologies.
"It's a way to get work done in an interesting area that probably wouldn't be done otherwise," said Andrew Petro, manager of NASA's Centennial Challenges program.
The challenges program is sponsoring other contests, too. This month, Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., won $1 million for demonstrating precision flying of a rocket simulating a lunar landing. Another challenge will test designs for improved astronaut gloves.
For the space elevator challenge, three competing teams built prototypes designed to climb a one-kilometer cable held aloft by a helicopter. Each took turns, shining lasers on the ground at photovoltaic cells on the climbing machines to power the electric motors.
On Wednesday, an 11-pound pyramid-shaped contraption built by LaserMotive of Kent, Wash., successfully made the climb in 4 minutes 2 seconds, fast enough to qualify for a $900,000 second-place prize. A second attempt was one second faster.
The LaserMotive team then started hacking off pieces of their machine in hopes of making it lighter and faster. To qualify for the $1.1 million top prize, the climber needed to reach the top of the cable in less than three minutes. On Thursday, the LaserMotive team was able to shave 13 seconds off the climb time, to 3 minutes 48 seconds, with the machine averaging an upward speed of not quite 9 miles per hour.
The final attempts on Friday, however, were stymied after too much laser power was focused on their climber's photovoltaic cells, burning out some of the electronics.
Meanwhile, a team of University of Saskatchewan students was never able to get far off the ground, while a climber built by a team called the Kansas City Space Pirates got most of the way up but never quite reached the destination.
In four years of the power-beaming competition, LaserMotive is the only competitor to qualify for a cash prize.
Thomas Nugent and Jordin Kare, the company's principals, do not believe that a space elevator will be built any time soon, but they say the technology will find other commercial applications like powering small robotic aircraft. "This is a business for us," Mr. Nugent said. "We're trying to turn this into a commercial endeavor."
Mr. Nugent declined to say how much LaserMotive had spent in competing the past three years, but said, "We will win more than we have spent."
After months of preparations and three days of competition, he said, "a lot of us might celebrate by going to sleep."
Iran voices support for Turkey's EU membership
ANKARA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the European Union (EU) should ask Turkey to become one of its members, Turkish media reported Friday.
In an interview with Turkey's state-run TRT TV channel and private news channel NTV, Ahmadinejad said Turkey, with its history, culture and civilization, would increase the EU's credibility if the predominantly Muslim country joins the 27-nation bloc.
Turkey should improve its relations with the East, but it wouldn't mean Turkey's cutting its ties with the West, Ahmadinejad was quoted of saying.
Turkey started accession talks with the EU in 2005 but has only opened negotiations in 11 policy areas out of 35 that are needed before its entry.
The EU has urged Ankara to normalize relations with the EU member Cyprus and speed up reforms, while EU members France and Germany favor a more informal partnership with Turkey instead of full membership.
Ahmadinejad is expected to visit Turkey for a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to be held in the Turkish city Istanbul on Monday.
Muslim countries should support each other and could create a big market with their large population and economic weight, the president said in the interview.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Google Steps Into Another Market: GPS for Phones
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a move that is likely to be seen as an attack on yet another industry, Google on Wednesday introduced a free navigation system for mobile phones that offers turn-by-turn directions.Analysts said that Google's free service, if successful, could erode the sales of GPS navigation devices made by companies like Garmin and TomTom and of navigation services offered by cellphone carriers.
"There's no doubt that those guys are going to be disrupted," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Opus Research.
Google has sowed animosity in various business sectors by giving away products and services that others charge for, from digital voice mail to Web analytics tools.
But during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said he didn't think of the new service as disrupting an industry. Instead, he said it is a windfall for consumers that was made possible by the increasing power of smartphones and the growing ubiquity of Internet access.
"Obviously we like the price of free because consumers like that as well," he said.
After the briefing, Mr. Schmidt said he was not concerned that the new service would create new enemies for Google. "As long as you are on the side of consumers, you'll be fine," he said.
The new service will be available as part of the latest version of Google Maps for Mobile, which will be released along the new version of Google's Android operating for mobile phones, called Android 2.0. Separately on Wednesday, Motorola and Verizon Wireless were to unveil Droid, the first smartphone to be powered by Android 2.0.
Google executives said that they hoped that the new Google Maps for Mobile with navigation capabilities would eventually be available on Apple's iPhone and other devices. But they said it was up to the makers of those devices to decide whether to include the application.
Google said that its turn-by-turn navigation system may be supported by ads in the future.
To be sure, Google's new service, which has long been expected, will not change the market overnight. Currently, 21 percent of American adults own a personal navigation device, and that market is expected to continue growing at 33 percent a year for the next five years, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. However, by 2013, phone-based navigation systems, which are more popular with younger users, will dominate the market, the study said.
Google's entry into the market will accelerate the transition, said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester, who conducted the study.
"People are going to be moving to the phone-based solutions, but if it is free, they are going to be moving even quicker," he said.
Currently many personal navigation devices cost from $100 t0 $300. Navigation services on mobile phones offered by carriers like Verizon Wireless or AT&T cost about $10 a month, though they are increasingly being bundled in packages that include other features.
Anticipating the move to smartphones, device makers have been creating applications to run on them. TomTom, for instance, recently introduced an iPhone application that costs $100.
The market for Google's new system will be limited, at least initially, to the number of phones running Android 2.0. What's more, Mr. Golvin said, many consumers prefer dedicated devices to phone-based systems, because they want to be able to carry on phone conversations as they drive.
As mobile applications that exploit a user's location become increasingly important, the underlying mapping data has become a valuable strategic asset. Google recently began creating its own digital maps in the United States, ending a contract with map data provider TeleAtlas, which is owned by TomTom. A year earlier, Google had chosen TeleAtlas to replace Navteq, a map data provider that Nokia acquired for $8.1 billion in 2007. Google and Nokia are rivals in mobile phone operating systems.
Google executives said that the company's navigation service is better than some rival systems because it is always connected to the Internet. It can, for example, provide live updates on traffic conditions and conduct searches for restaurants along the route. It also recognizes voice commands. During a demonstration, a Google executive asked for directions to a "San Francisco museum with a King Tut exhibit" and the service correctly offered directions from Google to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, which is currently hosting a show called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."
"There's no doubt that those guys are going to be disrupted," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Opus Research.
Google has sowed animosity in various business sectors by giving away products and services that others charge for, from digital voice mail to Web analytics tools.
But during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said he didn't think of the new service as disrupting an industry. Instead, he said it is a windfall for consumers that was made possible by the increasing power of smartphones and the growing ubiquity of Internet access.
"Obviously we like the price of free because consumers like that as well," he said.
After the briefing, Mr. Schmidt said he was not concerned that the new service would create new enemies for Google. "As long as you are on the side of consumers, you'll be fine," he said.
The new service will be available as part of the latest version of Google Maps for Mobile, which will be released along the new version of Google's Android operating for mobile phones, called Android 2.0. Separately on Wednesday, Motorola and Verizon Wireless were to unveil Droid, the first smartphone to be powered by Android 2.0.
Google executives said that they hoped that the new Google Maps for Mobile with navigation capabilities would eventually be available on Apple's iPhone and other devices. But they said it was up to the makers of those devices to decide whether to include the application.
Google said that its turn-by-turn navigation system may be supported by ads in the future.
To be sure, Google's new service, which has long been expected, will not change the market overnight. Currently, 21 percent of American adults own a personal navigation device, and that market is expected to continue growing at 33 percent a year for the next five years, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. However, by 2013, phone-based navigation systems, which are more popular with younger users, will dominate the market, the study said.
Google's entry into the market will accelerate the transition, said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester, who conducted the study.
"People are going to be moving to the phone-based solutions, but if it is free, they are going to be moving even quicker," he said.
Currently many personal navigation devices cost from $100 t0 $300. Navigation services on mobile phones offered by carriers like Verizon Wireless or AT&T cost about $10 a month, though they are increasingly being bundled in packages that include other features.
Anticipating the move to smartphones, device makers have been creating applications to run on them. TomTom, for instance, recently introduced an iPhone application that costs $100.
The market for Google's new system will be limited, at least initially, to the number of phones running Android 2.0. What's more, Mr. Golvin said, many consumers prefer dedicated devices to phone-based systems, because they want to be able to carry on phone conversations as they drive.
As mobile applications that exploit a user's location become increasingly important, the underlying mapping data has become a valuable strategic asset. Google recently began creating its own digital maps in the United States, ending a contract with map data provider TeleAtlas, which is owned by TomTom. A year earlier, Google had chosen TeleAtlas to replace Navteq, a map data provider that Nokia acquired for $8.1 billion in 2007. Google and Nokia are rivals in mobile phone operating systems.
Google executives said that the company's navigation service is better than some rival systems because it is always connected to the Internet. It can, for example, provide live updates on traffic conditions and conduct searches for restaurants along the route. It also recognizes voice commands. During a demonstration, a Google executive asked for directions to a "San Francisco museum with a King Tut exhibit" and the service correctly offered directions from Google to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, which is currently hosting a show called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Time For Tigers
The bad news is that we're losing them—fast. The good news is if the world recognizes the inherent worth of wild tigers to nature, people and culture, we can save this irreplaceable icon of our living planet
Tiger experts, government officials, scientists and conservationists are gathering in Kathmandu, Nepal this week to start a new global dialogue on how to save wild tigers as the world prepares to celebrate the Year of the Tiger in 2010. The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of high profile political negotiations culminating in a Tiger Summit in 2010.
"What tigers need is the highest level of political commitment from government leaders in tiger range countries ever seen," said Dr. Eric Dinerstein, Chief Scientist at WWF-US. "WWF is here to be part of the game changing solutions, which will be achieved at meetings such as this one."
WWF is participating in the workshop not only as an important partner of the Government of Nepal but also as a member of the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) and the International Tiger Coalition. Our goal is to do what it takes to double the current number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.
Wild tiger populations are estimated to be as low as 3,200, and while many important successes have been gained by the global conservation community, tiger populations are still in decline.
Starting this week, almost all of the governments of 13 tiger range countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam) along with the GTI—a coalition of NGOs and institutions supported by a dedicated secretariat in the World Bank—and the tiger conservation community will pinpoint specific actions needed to shift the present trajectory from extinction towards recovery.
"The situation is urgent for wild tigers but there is hope," said Dr. Barney Long, WWF's Asian Species expert. "Given the chance–enough space, enough prey and enough protection—tigers can recover. "
WWF, the global conservation organization, has worked on tiger conservation for over 40 years and has projects in almost all the tiger range countries.
Starting this week, almost all of the governments of 13 tiger range countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam) along with the GTI—a coalition of NGOs and institutions supported by a dedicated secretariat in the World Bank—and the tiger conservation community will pinpoint specific actions needed to shift the present trajectory from extinction towards recovery.
"The situation is urgent for wild tigers but there is hope," said Dr. Barney Long, WWF's Asian Species expert. "Given the chance–enough space, enough prey and enough protection—tigers can recover. "
WWF, the global conservation organization, has worked on tiger conservation for over 40 years and has projects in almost all the tiger range countries.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Armenia Turkey Challenge
At the end, Armenia and Turkey signed the protocol. According to it, Turkey and Armenia will open the border gates after 2 months of effective date.Also there will be a committee in order to check this process; in the meantime, they will compose a committee in order to solve the 'supposed' Armenian genocide. First of all, this is a very good step to prove all the truths, because both the parts will use their historical sources.
I hope everything will be clear as soon as possible. Maybe that problem had to be solved years ago: it is not a good situation to live problems with border neighbor.
Some parts of Turkey say that Turkey has changed its point of view against Armenia. According to me no! At least some parts changed but this part is Armenia, especially because of Armenian President.Both the parts want peace but after president had changed, Armenian part became more equable. But this is not a bad improvement, on the contrary that shows they are closer to peace.
There are so many problems about Armenia: One of them is unemployment. So many people are afraid of it, because after Turkey open its border gates, Armenians will start to come to Turkey just for working. Also there is same problem in Turkey too. That could be but I think this is not a reason to live without peace.
After that, we just have to pray and hope in order to live better days with Armenians; for us and for them too, of course!
WWF: Climate deal must include strong deforestation target
Buenos Aires, Argentina – Global leaders must support a clear and effective deforestation target at climate talks in Copenhagen in December, or they risk crippling the world's ability to control climate change.
As the XIIIth World Forestry Congress came to an end on Friday, WWF called for an ambitious and bold climate deal at COP 15 to give clear guidance and incentives for the forestry sector to do its part in stopping catastrophic climate change and adapt to predicted changes.
To this end, WWF during the Congress proposed a global target of zero net deforestation by 2020 to avoid runaway climate change and stop the current catastrophic trend of species loss.
In particular, negotiators must agree to strong financial and emissions reduction commitments to craft a climate deal that enables developing countries to halt forest loss.
"Setting immediate deforestation targets is a key component of any climate change agreement," said Rodney Taylor, Director of WWF International's Forest program. "If the global deal on climate change ignores the dangers of unchecked deforestation, it will set the world on an accelerated path to savage climate change."
Despite conservation efforts, global deforestation continues at an alarming rate – 13 million hectares per year, or 36 football fields a minute. It generates almost 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and halting forest loss has been identified as one of the most cost-effective ways to keep the world out of the danger zone of runaway climate change.
"A zero net deforestation by 2020 target will set the scale and urgency needed to gather the political will to stop forest loss," Taylor said.
WWF will continue to advocate for a strong deforestation target to be included in relevant international treaties and agreements, including in the Convention on Biological Diversity and COP 15.
"WWF received strong feedback at the Congress from various sectors, including governments, other NGOs, and the private sector to support our target on deforestation," said Gerald Steindlegger, WWF International's Forest Manager on Global Policy.
"A zero net deforestation by 2020 target will set the scale and urgency needed to gather the political will to stop forest loss," Taylor said.
WWF will continue to advocate for a strong deforestation target to be included in relevant international treaties and agreements, including in the Convention on Biological Diversity and COP 15.
"WWF received strong feedback at the Congress from various sectors, including governments, other NGOs, and the private sector to support our target on deforestation," said Gerald Steindlegger, WWF International's Forest Manager on Global Policy.
Many developing countries already are adopting major deforestation policies that mirror WWF's call for zero net deforestation by 2020.
On Wednesday, government representatives from Argentina and Paraguay pledged during a special ceremony co-hosted by WWF and its partner organization Fundacion Vida Silvestre at the Congress to work towards zero net deforestation in the Atlantic Forest, and to implement a package of measures that include national legislation to enforce those commitments.
The Atlantic Forest initially spanned 500,000 square kms, shared between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. However, only 7.4 percent of the forest is left today – or about 35,000 square kilometers, making it one of the most threatened and fragmented subtropical forests in the world.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government already has established a zero deforestation target by 2010 for the Atlantic Forest. Brazil also has pledged to establish protected areas covering at least 10 percent of the forest.
This year, the World Forestry Congress brought together more than 4,000 participants in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
On Wednesday, government representatives from Argentina and Paraguay pledged during a special ceremony co-hosted by WWF and its partner organization Fundacion Vida Silvestre at the Congress to work towards zero net deforestation in the Atlantic Forest, and to implement a package of measures that include national legislation to enforce those commitments.
The Atlantic Forest initially spanned 500,000 square kms, shared between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. However, only 7.4 percent of the forest is left today – or about 35,000 square kilometers, making it one of the most threatened and fragmented subtropical forests in the world.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government already has established a zero deforestation target by 2010 for the Atlantic Forest. Brazil also has pledged to establish protected areas covering at least 10 percent of the forest.
This year, the World Forestry Congress brought together more than 4,000 participants in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
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