-PTI   A desperate government's efforts failed today to achieve any breakthrough with Baba Ramdev deciding to go ahead with his indefinite fast here from tomorrow amidst indications that a compromise was likely in a day or two. For nearly five hours, two senior union ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay negotiated with the yoga guru over his demands on eradication of corruption at a posh hotel, a venue totally different...

The dun wheat field spreading out at Ravi P. Singh's feet offered a possible clue to human destiny. Baked by a desert sun and deliberately starved of water, the plants were parched and nearly dead. Dr. Singh, a wheat breeder, grabbed seed heads that should have been plump with the staff of life. His practiced fingers found empty husks. “You're not going to feed the people with that,” he said. But then, over...

Areas where food supplies could be worst hit by climate change have been identified in a report. Some areas in the tropics face famine because of failing food production, an international research group says. The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) predicts large parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be worst affected. Its report points out that hundreds of millions of people in these regions are already experiencing a food...

As hazardous as lead, engine exhaust, chloroform Type of radiation a mobile emits is like very low-powered microwave oven Use texting and free-hands devices to reduce risk Confirming the worst fears of mobile phone users, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that radiation from cellphones is possibly cancerous. It has classified the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma – a malignant type of...

-The Telegraph   A World Health Organisation panel’s decision to tag mobile phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic” has set off one of the most intense debates involving an everyday device that touches the lives of 5 billion people worldwide. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified electromagnetic radiation in the category of agents such as lead, styrene, even coffee, for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in...