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ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2011
INTERNATIONAL 20
World News Roundup
A handout graphic image released by France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), on May 16, shows a model of the possible surface temperatures of planet Gliese 581d that orbits a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, (right), locat-
ed around 20 light years from Earth.Cooler temperatures are represented with blue colours and warmer temperatures red. The arrows represent winds at 2 kms altitude. Scientists said on Monday a rocky world orbiting a nearby star was
confirmed as the first planet outside our solar system to meet key requirements for sustaining life. Modelling of the planet shows it has the potential to be warm and wet enough to nurture Earth-like life, they said. (AFP)
Forest Species
Obama rules hit ‘Biodiversity in crisis’
‘Use science to
set standards’
GRANTS PASS, Oregon, May 17,
European species face extinction
(Agencies): The Obama adminis- BRUSSELS, May 17, (AP): The preserving species from extinction. behind only Asia — and about three But the Center for Biological
tration’s proposed new rules for Iberian lynx that prowls the grass- “People say, ‘Yes, but we don’t times as densely populated as North Diversity criticized the deal for leav-
protecting clean water and wildlife lands of southern Spain. The have the money to spend on envi- America. ing out some species that could be
on the United States’ nearly 200 Mediterranean monk seal swimming ronmental protection. Surely growth “Today, biodiversity doesn’t sim- hurt by climate change, including
million acres (80 million hectares) waters off Greece and Turkey. The and jobs are more important,’” ply mean the protection of rare the Pacific walrus and wolverine.
of national forests goes against the Bavarian pine vole that forages in Hennon said. “You have to say, plants and species,” said Sarolta The group also argues that the deal
president’s pledge to let science be the high meadows of the Alps. ‘Well, look what happened in Tripolzsky, with the European is not enforceable.
the guide, conservation groups and In this product image provided by
Osram Sylvania, an ULTRA High These are among hundreds of Pakistan last year. You can have cat- Environmental Bureau. “It’s about The center is not a direct party to
two former Clinton administration Performance Series omni-directional European animal species — up to a astrophic flooding because forests protecting a system people rely on to the 12 cases covered by the settle-
officials said Monday. LED A-Line lamp, designed to give quarter of the total native to the con- have been cut down. So it ends up live. The costs of replacing nature’s ment, but is a plaintiff in a related
The administration made a “clear the equivalent brightness of a 75- tinent — that are threatened with costing you more in the long run.” free services would be devastating.” case. That gives it potential legal
commitment” to make conservation watt standard bulb, is displayed. Two extinction according to a warning The strategy proposed this month Conservationists argue that leverage to influence enactment of
policy based on sound science leading makers of lighting products
when it took office, said Jane issued this month by the European by Potocnik sets a variety of targets ecosystems over time find a com- the deal.
are showcasing LED bulbs that are Union. — among them, halting the loss of plex balance and changing one “We basically want the court to
Danowitz of the Pew Environment bright enough to replace energy-guz-
Group. zling 100-watt light bulbs set to dis- “Biodiversity is in crisis, with species in the European Union coun- seemingly small aspect can have hold off on approving the settlement
“One of the appear from US stores in January. species extinctions running at unpar- tries by 2020, putting management significant consequences that cannot agreement until we’ve had a chance
things we are Their demonstrations at the alleled rates,” said a statement from plans in place for all forests, restor- always be foreseen. They say there’s to explain our concerns and negoti-
asking for LightFair trade show in Philadelphia the European Union’s Environment ing at least 15 percent of degraded also an obligation to preserve ate with the government further,”
today is sim- this week mean that brighter LED Commissioner, Janez Potocnik. ecosystems, controlling invasive species, regardless of the conse- said Noah Greenwald, endangered
ple: Use sci- bulbs will likely go on sale next year, The threatened species include species, and more. quences. species program coordinator for the
ence to set but after a government ban takes mammals, amphibians, reptiles, Environmentalists have generally “The species was here before we center.
clear stan- effect. birds and butterflies. Plant life is welcomed the targets but expressed were even here, so there’s also a Court approval of the settlement
dards,” The new bulbs will also be expen- under threat as well. The crisis is due skepticism. moral issue,” Nieto said. agreement is pending. A hearing in
Danowitz said. sive — about $50 each — so the
development may not prevent con- to several factors, including loss of “There needs to be funding and Also: the case is scheduled for Tuesday in
“Make sure habitat, pollution, alien species there’s not really funding,” said Washington.
water and
sumers from hoarding traditional BILLINGS, Montana: An environ-
bulbs. (AP) encroachment, climate change and Nieto. mental group asked a judge on Attorneys for the government and
Rappaport wildlife are overfishing. Hennon, the EU spokesman, WildEarth Guardians filed docu-
protected for Monday to delay action on a pro-
Critics say the EU’s proposed acknowledged Monday that funding posed legal settlement that would ments Monday arguing that the
generations to come.” solutions don’t go far enough and so far is insufficient to meet the Center for Biological Diversity
The comments came in a tele- require the US government to con-
conference from Washington,
lack funding. EU’s goals. A paper explaining the sider new protections for hundreds should not be allowed to interfere
marking the end of a 90-day public “Life is possible because of biodi- new proposals said the European of animals and plants considered in with the proposed settlement at this
comment period on new rules gov- versity,” said Ana Nieto, with the Commission, the EU’s executive danger of extinction. point.
erning administration of the International Union for arm, is “assessing the funding The Center for Biological Approval of the deal would speed
National Forest Management Act. Conservation of Nature. needs” for implementing the 2020 Diversity filed court documents in up decisions on imperiled species
The US Forest Service expects to “Everything comes from biodiversi- goals. The EU failed to meet its bio- Washington, D.C., seeking to put that in some cases have languished
come out with final rules by the end ty. Everything comes from having diversity targets for 2010. the settlement agreement on hold. for more than 30 years, said Nicole
of the year. well-functioning ecosystems.” Protect The Tucson, Arizona, group said Rosmarino with WildEarth
Also participating was Jamie The crisis threatens humans as The European Environmental the deal was hatched in secret and Guardians.
Rappaport Clark, a Defenders of well, potentially wreaking economic Bureau, a confederation of grass- suffers from serious flaws. Under the agreement, the — Fish
Wildlife executive and former US Heuer Higgs and social havoc in Europe, said and Wildlife Service also would
roots environmental organizations, Announced last week, the agree-
Fish and Wildlife Service director. Potocnik spokesman Joe Hennon. said the EU strategy “appears to fall ment between the Obama adminis- resolve petitions seeking protections
Clark said forest supervisors being Alarming on approximately 600 additional
given unprecedented discretion Science The continuing loss of birds can
short of delivering what is needed to
protect Europe’s valuable natural
tration and Denver-based WildEarth
Guardians received strong praise species.
under the new rules need strong “The most important issue is
standards and guidelines to resist allow insects to breed at alarming resource base.” from many conservation groups.
rates, harming crops, Hennon said. Nieto said the loss of biodiversity It would address a backlog of 251 whether the status quo is serving
the political pressure they regularly ‘Riddle may be solved by 2012’: (imperiled species) better than our
face in making decisions on manag- Physicists said on Tuesday they believed
A reduced number of bees inhibits is more acute in Europe than in species currently listed as “candi-
plant pollination. Diminishing many other parts of the world dates” for protections that the gov- agreement with the Interior
ing their lands. that by the end of 2012 they could deter- Department. I think any reasonable
Decisions mine whether a theorised particle called forests mean water is not cleaned because of the scale of residential ernment lacks the resources to pro-
the Higgs boson, which has unleashed a naturally and the soil is loosened, and industrial development. With an vide. Those include widely recog- person would say no,” Rosmarino
Jim Furnish, a former deputy chief said. “Clearly we need to get the ball
of the Forest Service, said the pro- gruelling decades-long hunt, exists or not. too, making floods and mud slides average of nearly 70 people per nized species such as the greater
“I’m pretty confident that towards the more likely. square kilometer (180 people per sage grouse and Canada lynx and rolling and address the plight faced
posed rules tell local forest supervi- by these endangered animals and
sors to consider science but leave end of 2012 we will have an answer to the All of that, Hennon said, means square mile), Europe is the second dozens of lesser known plants and
Shakespeare question for the Higgs boson governments should spend money most densely populated continent, animals. plants.”
them room to ignore science when — to be, or not to be?” Rolf-Dieter
making decisions on protecting clean Heuer, director general of the European
water resources, fish and wildlife Organisation for Nuclear Research
habitat, and endangered species. (CERN), told a press conference at occurred on September 10, 2008. The 2012 for work enabling it to crank up to between particles and a non-matter parti- endary Tevatron collider at Fermilab in
The proposed rules represent Britain’s Royal Society. smasher then had to endure a 14-month full power. cle, or boson, called the Higgs. These col- Chicago will be shut down for good in 2011.
another shift to the right on environ- CERN has ordered the world’s biggest shutdown to fix technical problems. However, a decision was made several lisions slow down some particles and give In late April, rumours circulated like
mental issues for the Obama admin- particle collider to step up the quest to The LHC recently notched up the weeks ago to delay closure for a year to them mass, but other particles experience wildfire that CERN had detected the shad-
istration, which recently stood aside explain mass, one of the greatest puzzles biggest-ever energy release from particle help the search for the Higgs, said Gianotti. few collisions or none at all. ow of a Higgs, but this was only a partial,
as Congress lifted Endangered in physics.
The key to this is believed to be the collisions, although this is still only half The theory behind the Higgs is that mass Europe and the United States have been draft result that was leaked on an Internet
Species Act protections for wolves in of its design capacity. does not derive from particles themselves. jousting for Higgs glory — and the competi- blog and turned out to be false, said
the Rocky Mountains and took steps Higgs, a notional sub-atomic particle
named after British physicist Peter Higgs It had been due to shut down in early Instead, mass comes from collisions tion is feverish right now, because the leg- Gianotti. (AFP)
to ramp up domestic oil production
by extending drilling leases in the who mooted its existence in 1964.
Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of If it is found, one of the last pieces
Alaska. would be set in place in the famous ‘Diagnosis more than 3,500 yrs late’
Standard Model, which seeks to bring all
The 155 national forests and the particles and forces in the Universe
grasslands managed by the Forest
Service cover 193 million acres (78
million hectares) in 42 states and
under a single, unified theory.
“By the end of 2012 we will either dis- Egyptian princess had heart disease
cover the Standard Model Higgs Boson, if it
Puerto Rico. They provide about 40 exists, or we will rule it out,” said Fabiola PARIS, May 17, (AFP): The diagnosis is of Princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon
percent of the nation’s clean water Gianotti, who is the spokesman for CERN’s more than 3,500 years late, but no less using a computerised tomography (CT)
and threatened and endangered biggest particle-collider lab, called Atlas. stunning for all of that. scanner, a non-invasive technique that
species habitat. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is An Egyptian princess who lived gives highly detailed cross-sectional
Balance between industry and located in a 27-kms (16.9-mile) ring-shaped between 1580 and images of the body.
conservation in those areas has tunnel 100 metres (325 feet) below ground, 1550 BC has become The princess, who died in her 40s,
been tough to find since the exist- straddling the French-Swiss border. the earliest person in had atherosclerosis, or a buildup of
ing rules took effect in 1982. The It is designed to accelerate protons to human history to be fatty material, in two of her three main
existing rules were the basis for nearly the speed of light and then smash diagnosed with coro- coronary arteries, the European Society
lawsuits that cut logging by more them together in house-sized labs where nary heart disease, of Cardiology (ESC) said in a press
than 80 percent to protect salmon, detectors record the seething sub-atomic according to comput-
debris.
release.
the northern spotted owl and other er scans presented at “Today she would have needed by-
fish and wildlife. The smashups briefly stoke temperatures
100,000 times hotter than the Sun, fleeting- a medical conference pass surgery,” said Thomas, who led the
Tony Tooke is overseeing devel- ly replicating conditions which prevailed this week. analysis.
opment of the rules as Forest Service split-seconds after the “Big Bang” that cre- “We can’t be sure Thomas The work was to be presented this
director of ecosystem management ated the Universe 13.7 billion years ago. Richard Branson reacts after watching the last launch of the space shuttle what she died of, but week at an annual conference of non-
coordination. He said the agency is In this primordial soup, novel particles Endeavour, on May 16, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Space shuttle Endeavour we can see what illnesses she had,” invasive cardiovascular imaging, taking
trying to write rules that will guide a may lurk that will resolve mysteries soared from a bank of clouds, its towering plume of white smoke lighting the Gregory Thomas, director of Nuclear place in Amsterdam, the ESC said.
collaborative process based on sci- clouding our understanding of fundamen- azure sky. There were dozens of space junkies at NASA’s news center watch- Cardiology Education at the University The May 15-18 event showcases
ence and other information sources. tal matter, scientists say. ing Endeavour lift off on its final mission. Many arrived several days before the of California at Irvine, said by phone. advances in diagnostic tools for heart
The first proton collisions at the LHC launch, ahead of the news networks. (AP) Researchers delved into the mummy doctors.
