India granted 'observer' status in Arctic Council

India has been granted the status of an observer in the Arctic Council, an organisation of global nations that coordinates Arctic policy. With the melting of Arctic ice, new waterways are emerging, creating opportunities for countries to tap the region’s so far inaccessible resources. There is growing competition over the untapped oil, natural gas, minerals and fish resources of the region.

Betel benefit

Denmark scraps tax on fat

IN A blow to the anti-obesity drive across the globe, Denmark’s tax ministry has scrapped tax on food high in fat content within a year of implementing it. The ministry also decided against the sugar tax it had proposed to introduce this year.

Avoid the din

LIVING in a house on a noisy highway can give you more than a headache. The constant din from the traffic can make you prone to heart attack.

Heart-friendly

NOT all trans fats are bad for health. At least not the natural ones found in ghee, butter and cheese. Scientists have found that naturally occurring trans fats in milk and meat products obtained from ruminant animals like cows and buffaloes do not increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases the way industrial trans fats do.

Is Arctic rush worth it?

Race to kill kyoto protocol

An atmosphere of gloom prevailed in the galleries of the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok on October 9, 2008. It was the last day of talks on climate change, and there was near-unanimity that the Kyoto Protocol was going to die. Delegates from developing countries were an angry lot. Those from developed countries did not seem to care much.

CoP-8: Nothing's brewing

It was a huge party. There were camels, horses and gaudily caparisoned elephants. Teams of sweating musicians belted out India's diverse ethnic notes; girls, perched atop plywood props designed to look like fortress towers, swayed and struck dance poses. There was food from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, turbaned waiters, false fountains and even a rickety wooden bridge across a shallow muddy pond.

Denmark imposes fat tax

In a bid to curb the growing problem of obesity, Denmark has imposed a fat tax on junk food. The surcharge will be levied on food items like butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, bacon, ice cream and processed food if they contain more than 2.3 per cent saturated fat.

News Snippets

>> The BBC is to axe more than 1,000 hours of children’s radio programmes on digital station Radio 7 after it emerged that the average age of their listeners is 48.