New health policy in 3 months: adviser World Health Day today Staff Correspondent The government will formulate a new health policy within three months to ensure proper healthcare services for all, health and family welfare adviser AMM Shawkat Ali said on Sunday. The new policy will make major changes to the national health guidelines so far framed or proposed to facilitate modernisation of healthcare facilities, he said at a press conference on the eve of World Health Day.

BUSINESS will be expected to massively boost investment in Victoria's stressed environment under a State Government plan to save species threatened by climate change. Launching a draft blueprint for rebuilding devastated ecosystems over the next 20 to 50 years, Environment Minister Gavin Jennings yesterday called on the community to start viewing the restoration of the environment as an economic opportunity rather than a cost.

Climate change, a creation of mankind has brought many ills to the world, but a solution is not far off as long as a concerted effort involving all countries is made to protect the environment sooner than later, Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. Addressing media personnel at a seminar conducted to mark

Nobel Scientist Issues Warning On Global Warming US: April 7, 2008 MIAMI - The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who rang the first alarm bells over the ozone hole issued a warming about climate change on Saturday, saying there could be "almost irreversible consequences" if the Earth warmed 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees F) above what it ought to be.

FEATURE - Iceland: Life On Global Warming's Front Line ICELAND: April 7, 2008 REYKJAVIK - If any country can claim to be pitched on the global warming front line, it may be the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland. On a purely physical level, this land of icecaps and volcanoes and home to 300,000 people is undergoing a rapid transformation as its glaciers melt and weather patterns change dramatically. But global warming is also having a profound effect on Iceland economically -- and in many ways the effects have actually been beneficial.

Climate Change Threatens Australia's Koala - Report AUSTRALIA: April 7, 2008 SYDNEY - Australia's unique tree-dwelling koalas may become a victim of climate change, new research reported on Saturday shows. Australian scientists say that eucalyptus leaves, the staple diet of koalas and other animals, could become inedible because of climate change. "What we're seeing, essentially, is that the staple diet of these animals is being turned to leather," Australian National University science professor Bill Foley was quoted as saying in the Weekend Australian.

Iceland: life on global warming's front line By Adam Cox and Kristin Arna Bragadottir REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - If any country can claim to be pitched on the global warming front line, it may be the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland. On a purely physical level, this land of icecaps and volcanoes and home to 300,000 people is undergoing a rapid transformation as its glaciers melt and weather patterns change dramatically. But global warming is also having a profound effect on Iceland economically -- and in many ways the effects have actually been beneficial.

: The World Health Day is being observed on Monday with an objective to raise awareness and public understanding of the global and locally relevant health consequences of climate change. The World Health Organization (WHO) has dedicated 2008 to the theme "Protecting health from climate change' in recognition of the fact that climate change was posing ever-growing threats to global public health security.

Doomsday scenarios typically feature a knockout blow: a massive asteroid, all-out nuclear war or a catastrophic pandemic. Yet there is another chilling possibility: what if the very nature of civilisation means that ours, like all the others, is destined to collapse sooner or later?

Doomsday predictions are funny things. We are predisposed to pay attention to bad news, and the news industry thrives on disasters. Yet our fascination is fickle. If the warning is too scary or distressing, we attack the messenger as a doom-monger. Take the 1972 book The Limits to Growth, one of the first efforts to predict the future using computer models. It found that if trends in population, industrialisation, pollution, food production and resource depletion continued unchanged, resources would eventually run out. (Editorial)

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