Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Global Destabilization on the cards - Navtej Kohli

Climate change likely to trigger global destabilization, report says!


Navtej Kohli brings his own analysis...

U.S. intelligence agencies presage illegal immigration, ethnic violence, humanitarian crises and national security issues during the next two decades, all thanks to Global Warming.

According to the recent report Global warming may instill a series of destabilizing effects all over world, causing aforesaid crisis.

Climatic fluctuations and rising global temperature could further rock the already fragile regimes around the world putting more national security challenges before United States.

Existing problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions are also speculated to worsen in the next 20 years.

The effects could be most harsh in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle Eastern and Central and Southeast Asian belt. Less rainfall and hot weather could halve the agricultural output in some regions of Africa, warns the report.

"We judge that economic refugees will perceive additional reasons to flee their homes because of harsher climates," Fingar said. "Many likely receiving nations will have neither the resources nor interest to host these climate migrants," who might be carriers of infectious diseases.

Overall, as many as 50 million additional people could be at risk of hunger by 2020, and as many as 1.2 billion people could suffer from water shortage.

Nevertheless, developed nations may fare better with an anticipated increase in agricultural production. But other problems like growing immigration pressures are likely to tighten its grip on US economy.

The report goes without global warming's latent effect on terrorism.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Lift Ban on Drilling

Navtej Kohli blogspot updates on rising oil and gas prices.

Bush urges to lift ban of offshore drilling


President George W. Bush will call on US lawmakers today to pass legislation lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling.

"With gasoline now over four dollars a gallon, tomorrow he will explicitly call on Congress to also pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally-friendly offshore oil drilling," Dana Perino (White House spokeswoman) said.

The announcement came just hours after Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for the federal government to scrap its 27-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling.

His demand tapped into voters' anxiety about sky-high fuel prices but his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, dismissed it as "political posturing" that would not help gas prices and might do much to ruin the coastal environment.

Perino said the president had long pushed Congress to expand the United States' domestic oil supply but blamed Democrats for blocking any action.

"The president believes Congress shouldn't waste any more time," she said, while adding that he "is not taking any executive action tomorrow."

Friday, June 13, 2008

Some more Global Poverty Facts by Navtej Kohli

Navtej Kohli brings some more sad and unfortunately true statistics:

1. Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.

2. In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass—fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung—to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 percent of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.

3. Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.

4. 1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity

5. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.

6. For every $1 in aid a developing country receives, over $25 is spent on debt repayment.

7. 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.

8. A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.

Read more interesting facts on Navtej Kohli Rediffblog

Monday, June 9, 2008

Global warming turning sea into acid bath - Navtej Kohli

Navtej Kohli blog brings another news update on Global Warming. Sea is turning acidic. A report on Navtej Kohli blog:

Increasing carbon dioxide emissions could leave species such as coral and sea urchins struggling to survive by the end of the century because they are making the oceans more acidic, research led by British scientists suggests.

The study of how acidification affects marine ecosystems has revealed a striking impact on animal and plant life. The findings indicate that rising carbon emissions will alter the biodiversity of the seas profoundly, even before the effects of global warming are taken into account.

Greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mean that more of the gas becomes dissolved in seawater, increasing its acidity. This will have good consequences for some species, but be catastrophic for others.

Dr Hall-Spencer's team investigated the likely effects of acidification by studying natural underwater vents off the coast of Italy, where carbon dioxide bubbles up through the sea floor. This makes the water around the vents significantly more acidic than it is in surrounding areas.

The study shows that certain species are very badly affected by rising acidity. Corals of the Caryophyllia, Cladocora and Balanophyllia varieties, for example, were common in on the sea bed in the region, but absent close to the vents. Sea urchins and sea snails were also affected badly by the high acidity.

Other species, including sea-grass and a type of algae known as Sargassum, thrived as the extra carbon dioxide has a fertilizing effect. This extra growth, however, can be damaging to other sea life - Sargassum is an alien invasive species, carried to the region in the ballast of shipping.

The research team is the first to use natural underwater carbon dioxide vents to assess how acidity caused by the gas influences sea life. “Our field studies provide a window on the future of the oceans in a high CO2 world,” Dr Hall-Spencer said.

This appraisal of life in a more acidic ocean was if anything conservative, Dr Hall-Spencer said, because it mimicked future ecosystems only partially.

The acidity around carbon dioxide vents can be reduced by rough conditions, which dilute the water - something that would not happen if the whole ocean was highly acidic.

The researchers also noted that while fish continued to swim through more acidic waters, they avoided breeding or spawning in them. “That isn't a problem at the moment, as they can go elsewhere,” Dr Hall-Spencer said. “But in a more acidic ocean there will be no escape.”

Global warming will also have an independent impact on sea life, by raising ocean temperatures.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Bid begins for Jolie's kids' pix - Navtej Kohi

'Million Dollar baby'...Oops! I mean babies. Angelina Jolie's impending delivery has become the talk of the town. Several big magazines are desperate to get the exclusive pics of the twins and are willing to pay 15 million dollars for the first shot. Navtej Kohli Blogspot features the report.

The bidding war for the first photographs of mum-to-be Angelina Jolie’s twins is set to touch a record high with magazines like People and OK! willing to offer 15 million dollars for the snaps.

OK!'s representative admits the publication would be "foolish" not to bid for the photos.

In 2006, the couple offered the first pictures of daughter Shiloh through distributor Getty Images while People magazine paid more than 4.1 million dollars for the North American rights.

British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for 3.5 million dollars.

However, Jolie and partner Brad Pitt donated all the profits to an undisclosed charity.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Pre-mature balding cure - Navtej Kohli

For people worried about their premature hair loss, Navtej Kohli has a good news. Scientists have pioneered a technique that would help provide a cure for premature hairloss - hair cloning.

The new technique, known as follicular cell implantation works by replicating remaining hair strands and would eventually help millions of people to regain a full head of their own hair.

It can potentially re-grow a limitless supply hair for individuals who have become bald during cancer treatment, from suffering severe burns, or simply the onset of age, reports the Telegraph.

The cell therapy, during clinical trials, increased hair count in at least two thirds of patients after six months, and four out of five if the scalp is stimulated beforehand through gentle abrasions, which encourage hair growth.

The new technique is a breakthrough in hair restoration and has been granted 1.9 million pounds by the government.

The procedure is being developed by Intercytex, a British company based in Manchester.