It has been getting ever harder to pretend that Antarctica is a pristine place. We like to think of it as being scoured clean by hostile winds and extreme cold. But more and more, Antarctica, like the Arctic, shows the lasting scars of human negligence. The effects of climate change are being felt far more strongly at the poles than elsewhere on the planet. Some of the most persistent and dangerous chemicals ever created have accumulated there and remain there.

- Harmful chemicals are posing a serious threat to human survival thus endangering global environment, said Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi, Secretary Ministry of Environment here on Friday. He was presiding over the inauguration ceremony of the national consultative workshop on 'Obligation and implementation status of Pakistan on chemicals-related environmental treaties', Organised by the Ministry of Environment.

With skill and resources, they persuade power to benefit their clients. SHANTANU GUHA RAY trawls the world of Delhi's adept influencers ON A QUIET Tuesday last month, the rooftop res - taurant of a leading central Delhi hotel had four of its dozen tables occupied. One had a senior former editor lunching with a high flying cabinet minister; another a troubleshooter for the Delhi state government with fundraising businessmen; the third had a hushed negotiation between an A-list persuader and a senior bureaucrat; only the fourth table was made up of a clutch of lunching ladies.

Poisoning deaths related to pesticides have increased in recent years. The National Hospital's Poison and Drugs Information Centre reported that the males were involved in most intentional poisoning deaths or poison related suicides in the country. They fall to the age category of 20 years to 29 the sources noted.