Maldives looks to ban anti-ozone substances
The Maldives parliament accepted the Bill on Protection of the Ozone Layer and submitted it to an interim committee for review Sunday. The Bill was accepted with 61 of the 65 members present voting
Haveeru Daily (Maldives)
-
Death in the deep: Volcanoes blamed for mass extinction
Ninety-three million years ago, Earth was a reshuffled jigsaw of continents, a hothouse where the average temperature was nearly twice that of today. Palm trees grew in what would be Alaska, large reptiles roamed in northern Canada and the ice-free Arctic Ocean warmed to the equivalent of a tepid swimming pool. So our planet was balmy -- but hardly a biological paradise, for it was whacked by a mass die-out. The depths of the ocean suddenly became starved of oxygen, wiping out swathes of marine life.
-
Employment Act comes into effect
The Employment Act which excludes a lot of staff in different sectors from their basic rights came into effect yesterday.
-
President Gayoom departs to attend "The Human Face of Climate Change' meeting
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom departed for Geneva on Saturday night to attend the Global Humanitarian Forum's Annual Meeting 2008, "The Human Face of Climate Change'. The Meeting will be held in Geneva on the 24th and 25th of this month. The President is attending the meeting on the invitation of the Forum's President, Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. The Global Humanitarian Forum is a newly founded NGO by the Swiss government and a group of senior leaders from the academic, business, government, international and civil society.
-
Greening program commences in Handhufushi Resort
A tree-planting program began in Handhufushi Resort and Spa, formerly known as Herathere Island Resort, on Wednesday. The resort was taken over by a new management, Yacht Tours, on the first of this month and since then the company has tried to clean up the island and make it more 'green'. The tree-planting program is part of the cleanup and renovation work being carried out at the island by Yacht Tours and students from Muhibbuddin School, Ismlamiyya School, Feydhoo School and Seenu Atoll School participated in the program.
-
Small radioactive water leak after Japan quake: company
A small amount of radioactive water leaked at a storage facility at a nuclear power plant Saturday after an earthquake in Japan but there should be no concern to the public, the operator said. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that 14.8 litres (3.8 gallons) of water came out of a pool in which radioactive equipment is stored at the Fukushima Number Two Reactor in northern Fukushima prefecture. "But the radiation level of the water is far below the level that could potentially affect the environment," a company spokesman said, adding that the reactor itself continued operation.
-
WHO practises disease outbreak response
- World Health Organization experts initiated a two-day exercise on Wednesday testing responses to a simulated neurological disease outbreak in Thailand, Vietnam and Canada. "We clarified issues that will serve us extremely well in the future, we now understand the issues extremely well," said David Heymann, Assistant Director-General on Health Security and Environment.
-
Smoking cuts life span by nearly five years: study
Smoking cigarettes has the same effect as cutting the life span by close to five years, according to a mortality risk chart released Tuesday in the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "The effect of smoking on the chance of dying is similar to the effect of adding five to 10 years of age," the study said. "For both men and women, smoking increases the risk of death by nearly the same magnitude as adding five years to a person's age."
-
UN calls for lifting travel restrictions on HIV carriers
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for an end to discrimination against people carrying the AIDS virus, including travel restrictions imposed on them by some countries. "I call for a change in laws that uphold stigma and discrimination, including restrictions on travel for people living with HIV," he said at the opening of a two-day, high-level meeting in the General Assembly on UN targets set in 2001 to roll back the disease worldwide.
-
President Gayoom inaugurates "Green School Award', "Environmental Champions Award'
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Monday inaugurated the "Green School Award' and the "Environmental Champions Award'. The "Green School Award' is given to the school with the most active environment club. The "Environmental Champions Award' is given to Scouts or Girl Guides who provides a constructive service in collaboration with a committee or society or the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water in a project related to environmental preservation.
-
Survey: One out of every ten students in secondary grade smokes
A survey conducted by the Department of Public Health (DPH) shows that one out of every 10 students studying in secondary grade smoke tobacco in one form or another, the Department has said. According to a statement issued by the DPH, the survey conducted among school children last year under the "Global Youth Tobacco Survey' program showed that 5.2 percent of students in the secondary grade smoked cigarettes and 4.5 were habitual smokers.