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Study Sheds Light On Greenland Melting Rate

September 30, 2009 By

study sheds light on greenland melting rate_The Greenland ice sheet responded to global warming over the past 10 000 years more quickly than thought, according to a study released on Wednesday.

As a result, a medium-sized temperature increase this century could cause the continent-sized ice block to start melting at an alarming rate, it suggests.

“It is entirely possible that a future temperature increase of a few degrees Celsius in Greenland will result in a ice sheet mass loss and contribution to sea level rise larger than previously projected,” it warns.

Greenland contains enough water to raise sea levels by about seven metres. Even a far more modest increase would put major coastal cities under water and force hundreds of millions of people out of their homes.

Until recently, experts were confident that the planet’s two ice sheets – in Greenland and Antarctica – would remain largely stable over the coming centuries despite global warming.

But more recent studies have cast doubt on this, showing the pace at which glaciers are sliding off from both ice sheets into the oceans has picked up over recent decades.

The new paper, published in the British journal Nature, uses a new technique for measuring changes in the ice sheet over the last 10 000 years that resolves a paradox.

Earlier measurements suggested that parts of Greenland had somehow defied a trend of general warming in the northern hemisphere during a 3 000 year period that started 9 000 years ago.

The new research, led by Bo Vinther of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, demonstrates that the problem lay with how the the raw data had been interpreted.

The team examined core samples taken from four locations from the ice sheet, which reaches depths of more than three kilometres. As with earlier studies, the results were inconsistent.

But with the help of two new samples taken from two areas just beyond the ice sheet, the researchers were able to determine that the variations were due to changes in height, not because of inconsistent warming.

“The elevation itself causes different temperatures,” Vinther said in a press release. As a consequence, the ice sheet responded more uniformly – and more vigorously – to rising temperatures during this period. – AFP

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With: ,

‘Halal’ Cosmetics For Muslim Women

September 29, 2009 By

'halal' cosmetics for muslim women_For Muslim women who feel they are violating Islam’s teachings by using skin creams with alcohol and pig residues, Layla Mandi has the answer: religiously-correct “halal” cosmetics

The Canadian makeup artist who converted to Islam is marketing cosmetics called OnePure, which she says have the luxury feel of international brands minus the elements banned under Islamic law.

“There are pork derivatives and alcohol in most cosmetics products, so Muslims should really use something else,” Mandi said.

From Islamic banking to alcohol-free hotels, products tagged as halal have become popular among devout Muslims — who pray five times a day and perform other rituals. Under the concept of halal — which means “lawful” in Arabic — pork and its by-products, alcohol and animals not slaughtered according to Koranic procedures are all forbidden.

“Muslims don’t want to go around and pray five times a day having pork residues on their body,” said Mandi, in her early thirties and swathed in a slim black abaya, or cloak, with wisps of blond hair sticking from under her head scarf.

According to Mandi, fatty acids and gelatin used in moisturisers, shampoos, face masks and lipsticks as well as other items are often extracted from pigs. Determined to create a halal product, Mandi brought together a dermatologist and a chemist and told them the deal: cosmetics and skin-care products free of pork and alcohol. The Times Of India.

Filed Under: Home & Family, Society & Culture Tagged With: ,

Himalayan Conflict Centres On Tibet

September 28, 2009 By

himalayan conflict centres on tibet_A resurgent dispute over an Indian state that China claims as its own is threatening to explode into a bloodier fight. There is perhaps no country more feared and less understood in India than China. In recent weeks Delhi newspapers and television have been awash with stories about the People’s Liberation Army crossing the Himalayas to daub rocks with Chinese characters, making daredevil helicopter raids to drop (stale) tinned food on hapless farmers and trading fire with Indian soldiers.

India’s Kashmir state government, apparently, said its territory was being taken “inch by inch” through such incursions. Ominously, authorities last week in Kolkata impounded a plane carrying arms from the Middle East to China.

While the foreign ministries in both countries play down the reports, there are concerns that left unchecked, things could spiral out of control.

The spat began in June. Chinese bloggers vented their fury when India abruptly announced that it would be sending 60,000 troops to bolster tens of thousands of soldiers to Arunachal Pradesh – an Indian state that Beijing claims as its own. One online poll in China claimed that 90% of respondents thought Delhi’s actions posed a “threat”.

At the heart of this dispute lies the Tibetan question. Historically, China says Arunachal Pradesh’s 35,000 square miles was part of “outer Tibet”. In a short bloody war, Chinese troops overran Indian positions in the Himalayas in 1962 before retreating. Since then the two sides have tried to discuss their way out of a problem. More than dozen rounds of talks have yielded little.

For years the dispute has rumbled on, attracting little international attention. However, that changed this summer with the arrival of fresh troops – and an Indian airforce squadron of advanced fighters – which analysts say were needed to cope with China’s rising military might, especially in Tibet.

The Indian defence magazine Force points out that the PLA could mobilise four divisions – about 50,000 men – in 24 hours to the Sino-Indian border. “Awesome military projection capability by any standards,” says the magazine in its latest edition.

To get a taste of how difficult things might be for India, in a diplomatic first, China “internationalised” the issue of Arunachal Pradesh, highlighting its disputed status in July. Beijing formally objected to a $60m loan for India because it would fund irrigation projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Although the loan was later approved, Chinese experts say there is still “room to change” the project.

Arunachal Pradesh has been slowly integrated into the Indian state since Delhi sent troops in 1950 carrying papers signed by the Tibetan government in Lhasa, which transferred 35,000 square miles of the Himalayas to India. Beijing rejects Delhi’s claim, saying the region was subject to a crafty piece of real estate theft by British imperialists in 1914 when China was in chaos.

A solution has always been in sight: Beijing relinquishes its claim to Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi gives up its demand for 15,000 square miles of stragetically important Chinese-held mountainous land bordering Kashmir.

But Arunachal Pradesh for China is not just a territorial issue but an existential one. The state is home to the town of Tawang, birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, where Tibetan Buddhism’s biggest monastery, after the Potala palace in Lhasa, sits.

Tawang is also the repository of perhaps the last vestige of a Tibet submerged by China’s rise – sustaining the idea of religious freedom for the diaspora and keeping alive a centuries-old culture and language. In conversation, the Monpa people who dominate the local area will tell visitors that Tawang could be Tibetan Buddhism’s new Rome, a base from where to spread the faith.

China is alarmed by such talk. Beijing sees Tawang not as a place of serenity but as a spiritual spy camp – ultimately challenging the ruling Communist party’s control in Tibet. These feelings were heightened when the Indian government said this week it would allow the Dalai Lama to travel to Tawang, adding he was “free to go anywhere in India”.

The present Tibetan leader has not been a regular visitor to the town. He passed through when he fled Tibet in 1959 but he has only been allowed back twice since: once in 1982 and then again 2003. This time around he will open a hospital he funded.

The Indian backing to the Dalai Lama comes at a critical time. The Obama administration said this week that the president would not meet the Tibetan leader during his upcoming trip to Washington – a break with tradition. George Bush and Bill Clinton met the Dalai Lama when he arrived in the American capital. Afraid that the White House was now kowtowing to Beijing before the president’s visit this November to China, Tibet’s government in exile openly said even the US was now “appeasing” China. This is a breakthrough for China – which is unafraid of criticising any head of state for meeting the Dalai Lama, who they see as a man determined to “split the motherland”. So far 170 countries out of 193 in the United Nations have acceded to China’s demands.

This leaves India in a difficult, lonely position. It already sees Chinese ports and military bases strung across the Indian Ocean – the so called “string of pearls” strategy designed to check Indian influence in its backyard. Delhi has been outbid for vital oil and gas resources by its bigger, richer neighbour. On most measures of hard power – number of nuclear weapons, economic size, population – India lags behind.

China is not afraid to flex its muscles: it blocked India’s bid for a UN security council place and tried to shoot down a groundbreaking US-India nuclear deal.

Delhi says it is in the nature of development for the two large Asian nations to compete and co-operate for resources, cash and technology. China is India’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade volumes crossing $50bn in 2008. The two countries, which are both home to millions of poor people, have worked together in trade and climate change – fending off advances from the advanced nations.

For both, Tibet makes it easier to be antagonists rather than collaborators. Unless both manage to work together to resolve their differences there is a chance the two populations will get bogged down in adversarial nationalism. The media war could then explode into bloodier conflict on the roof of the world. By Randeep Ramesh, The Guardian.

Filed Under: Government, News & Media Tagged With: , ,

Pentagon Delays Afghan Troop Request

September 27, 2009 By

pentagon delays afghan request_The Pentagon has told its top commander in Afghanistan not to ask for extra troops until the Obama administration completes a strategy review.

Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan, warned in a confidential assessment leaked to the media on Monday that without additional troops the mission “will likely result in failure”.

A senior Pentagon official said the administration had asked for the reprieve so it can complete a review of the U.S.-led war effort, the Journal reported.

“We have to make sure we have the right strategy” before looking at additional troop requests, the official told the newspaper. “Things have changed on the ground fairly considerably.”

There are already more than 100,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan battling an insurgency which has taken control of parts of the south and east of the country in what has so far been the deadliest year for foreign troops since 2001.

The leaking of McChrystal’s military report piles more pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, already squeezed by ebbing public support and scepticism in his own party over troop levels.

Obama has said in interviews over the past week that he will consider deploying more troops after a proper U.S. strategy for Afghanistan has been determined.

McChrystal’s troop request, which some officials expected would include roughly 30,000 new combat troops and trainers, is expected to be submitted to Washington in the coming weeks.

Asked about the Journal report, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the hope was that the matter would be resolved soon.

“As Secretary (Robert) Gates said last week, he and others are still working through the process by which General McChrystal will submit his resource request for review,” Morrell said.

“It is important to remember that regardless of when General McChrystal sends forth his request, the president first wants to fully discuss his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and the strategy we are pursuing there before considering any additional resources for that effort,” Morrell said.

European Support

European allies under NATO command whose governments support the war in Afghanistan, often over public opposition, have begun openly wavering. Both Italy and Germany have come under mounting pressure to review their involvement.

British defence ministry sources say London could send up to 1,500 more troops to Afghanistan, if requested, but Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made clear that a focus going forward will have to training Afghan security forces.

Britain has faced a dramatic rise in military casualties this year, most in the restive province of Helmand, and any increase in troops is likely to prove unpopular with voters.

McChrystal’s assessment comes at a critical time for Afghanistan, when the war is at its deadliest since it started in 2001 and as Afghans await delayed presidential election results as thousands of complaints and accusations of fraud against incumbent Hamid Karzai are audited by a U.N.-backed watchdog.

Karzai has not yet responded to McChrystal’s assessment, but on Monday a defence ministry spokesman said it contained “many positive points and findings”.

McChrystal’s report places fresh emphasis on protecting Afghan civilians and engaging their support, and says that the military must be more focused on the population than on “seizing terrain or destroying insurgent forces”.

Some 800 Afghan civilians were killed between January and May this year alone, according to the United Nations, just over a third caused by international and Afghan forces and more than half by insurgents.

“We welcome what McChrystal has indicated, that protecting Afghan civilians forms the centre piece of military strategy,” Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the United Nations in Kabul, said. “That’s a welcome move.”  Khaleej Times.

Filed Under: News & Media Tagged With: ,

Karzai Backers Wants Troops

September 26, 2009 By

karzai allies wants more troops_Senior Afghan officials, alarmed by the Obama administration’s reappraisal of its Afghanistan strategy, said an increased U.S. military commitment is needed to roll back an emboldened insurgency.

They also cautioned about what they said would be dire consequences of any U.S. attempts to edge out President Hamid Karzai. Results from a presidential election last month gave Mr. Karzai a majority, but allegations of widespread ballot-stuffing have stalled the confirmation of his victory and undermined his credibility in the eyes of many Afghans.

These admonishments come after the top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, warned that the war here may become unwinnable unless troop levels are raised and the momentum of insurgents is reversed in the next 12 months.

The Obama administration has yet to endorse these findings, and has called for a review of the U.S.-led war effort before making a decision on troop levels. Vice President Joe Biden in particular has expressed skepticism about the proposed troop increase. Senior administration officials said the review was necessary because the war plan that President Barack Obama announced in March was based on the assumption that the election would give Mr. Karzai new legitimacy.

As the war in Afghanistan becomes increasingly unpopular in the U.S. and Europe, one policy option under review in Washington advocates reducing ground forces and relying instead on surgical airstrikes against Taliban and al Qaeda targets on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

This would be a recipe for failure, warned one of Mr. Karzai’s senior associates, Education Minister Farooq Wardak. “Airstrikes alone cannot be a strategy to defeat the insurgency and the Taliban. If the air attacks are not followed up by ground operations, they do not yield the results one expects,” he said. “We need additional troops — but not forever.” According to Mr. Wardak, it will take five years before the Afghan army and police can fight mostly on their own.

Parliament member Mohammed Mohaqeq, a powerful former warlord representing the Hazara ethnic minority who backed Mr. Karzai’s re-election bid, offered a similar assessment.

“The current number of soldiers is not enough to defeat the Taliban,” Mr. Mohaqeq said. Should the U.S. start reducing its forces in Afghanistan — currently over 60,000 — “the country will go back to civil war,” he added. “The Taliban are capable of recapturing the capital and the government.”

Mr. Karzai’s spokesman welcomed Gen. McChrystal’s report and said he had no comment on the Obama administration’s review of policy options.

The Taliban’s recent advances to previously secure areas of northern and western Afghanistan were made possible, in part, by growing public anger over the incompetence and graft in Mr. Karzai’s administration, many analysts say.

This anger was reinforced by reports of large-scale fraud in favor of Mr. Karzai in the election on Aug. 20. According to a preliminary count, he won with 54.6% of the vote. That tally can change depending on a review of results from 12% of Afghanistan’s polling stations that was ordered by the Electoral Complaints Commission, a United Nations-sponsored watchdog.

On Thursday, representatives from the ECC, the Afghan government’s electoral commission, and the presidential candidates met in Kabul to choose a random 10% sample from the disputed polling stations. Recounting this sample is expected to take a couple of weeks, compared with months needed for a full recount.

If Mr. Karzai’s final vote tally falls below 50% he will face a runoff against the leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

Time is of the essence: Such a runoff election will be virtually impossible after snowfall makes many rural roads impassable in early November.

Some Western officials called for flanking Mr. Karzai with a powerful chief executive who will run the government, while others have pushed for a unity government that would include Dr. Abdullah.

But the president’s allies cautioned that any foreign effort to disempower Mr. Karzai could plunge the country into more bloodshed. “Let’s be practical — what is the alternative to Karzai?” said Mr. Wardak. Any U.S. move against Mr. Karzai, he said, “will be seen by the Afghan population as no different from the U.S.S.R. occupation” — and trigger a similar response. By Yaroslav Trofimov, Wall Street Journal.

Filed Under: Government, News & Media Tagged With: ,

Wrinkles Around Your Eyes

September 26, 2009 By

eye treatment_Today, it’s really hard to decipher which products really work, especially that different eye treatments are now available in the market. Many skin care companies have gone the cosmeceutical route, which means they are using pharmaceutical-grade ingredients made in laboratories in their formulas. Gone are the days when aloe vera is the prime ingredient in these products, and here are the days where hard-to-pronounce ingredients are becoming the mainstream.

After all, anti aging skin care and eye creams don’t have to be expensive. Remember there are few products that are strong enough to get rid of wrinkles around your eyes, eliminate dark circles and even reduce puffiness underneath your eyes. The main thing to keep in mind as you shop for an under-eye treatment is that you should read plenty of consumer reviews. So, for you to choose from eye cream products you consider best for your eyes then better visits the above mentioned now.

Filed Under: Health & Fitness, Home & Family Tagged With:

The Healing Power Of Lemon

September 26, 2009 By

the healing power of lemon_Lemon is known, first and foremost, for its tart and tangy taste.  It is bold and, for this reason, we often find it in the culinary arena.  It pleases our palate as a marinade for our meats, as a garnish for our drinks, and as the well known drink – lemonade.  But, what is not often said about lemon is that there is tenderness to it, a beautiful, healing tenderness.

When used in aromatherapy, lemon enhances mood.  In animals, the aroma of lemon alone is known to alter anxiety and decrease pain perception. As essential oil, lemon has a calming effect.  For an insomniac, lemon oil can help induce sleep.

Lemon oil is an anti-fungal, anti-microbial, anti-infection, detoxifying genius.  It has been used to treat stress disorders, skin disorders, and hair disorders.  It is often used in anti-septic soaps and in astringents.  It has been used in deodorizers, in flea tonics, for insect bites, and on greasy skin.

Lemon juice itself is an extremely powerful healing agent.  It aids in digestion, relieves heartburn, relieves bloating, relieves gas, and stimulates the liver.  Lemon juice is known to nourish the brain and nerve cells and aids in the body’s ability to rid itself of toxins.  It helps aid in the treatments used for malaria and it is useful when it comes to asthma, colds, coughs, sore throats, fevers and rheumatism.

The greatest thing about lemon is that it is so east to obtain.  Whether you are looking for candles, soaps, astringents, or the fruit itself, it is not hard to come by. Source: healthrepublic.com

Filed Under: Health & Fitness Tagged With: