London, Sept. 7 : One meat-free day a week can help tackle climate change, claims Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC).

Pachauri, who last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, and was re-elected the panel''s chairman for a second six-year term last week, told The Observer that diet change is important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals.

London- A computer disk containing the personal data of around 5,000 prison workers in Britain has gone missing, in another case of several similar incidents that have embarrassed the British government, a British tabloid reported Sunday.

London, Sept. 7 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to convince rebels within his Labour party to give him some political breathing space with regard to imposing a windfall tax on energy companies.

A rebel MP, Rob Marris, had led calls for suppliers to be hit with a one-off tax to help poor families meet the cost of rising energy bills. But he decided not to press ahead with the demand, as it would have led to cabinet resignations.

Britain’s Chancellor of Exchequer Alistair Darling and John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, had warned that a windfall tax would damage the economy.

London, Sept 7 : If you think that high-calorie diet and a sedentary lifestyle is responsible for your kid’s bulging waistline, then here’s a piece of information: pollution can make children fat.

That’s the conclusion of a new research, which has found that children exposed to pesticide in womb are twice as likely to be overweight.

According to the groundbreaking Spanish study, exposure to a range of common chemicals before birth sets up a baby to grow up stout, thus helping to drive the worldwide obesity epidemic.

London, Sept. 7 : A computer firm’s disclosure that it has lost personal details relating to thousands of British prison staff, has prompted the country’s Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, to order an urgent inquiry.

According to The Independent, US firm Electronic Data Systems (EDS) has admitted to losing data containing the names, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and prison service numbers of up to 5,000 employees of the National Offender Management Service.

It was revealed last night that EDS staff only realised the data was missing in July.

London, Sept. 7 : Seventy-five percent of the local councils across Britain have reportedly used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000, an anti-terrorism law, over the past year to spy on residents and tackle barking dogs and noisy children.

A Sunday Telegraph report said that the act gives councils the right to place residents and businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and email accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.