Washington, March 13 : A new research has suggested that natural releases of carbon dioxide from the Southern Ocean due to shifting wind patterns could have amplified global warming at the end of the last ice age, and could be repeated as manmade warming proceeds.

The research was conducted by a team of scientists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, US.

Many scientists think that the end of the last ice age was triggered by a change in Earth's orbit that caused the northern part of the planet to warm.

This partial climate shift was accompanied by rising levels of the greenhouse gas CO2, ice core records show, which could have intensified the warming around the globe.

Wash

Washington, Mar 13: For the first time in 11 years, 2009 registered Friday the 13th falling in two consecutive months-February and March.

And what''s more, the double whammy can only occur in certain non-leap years and only in a February-March combination.

In fact, one can look for another of the Friday the 13th combo in 2015.

If this wasn''t enough, the double threat isn''t the only Friday the 13th claim to infamy for 2009, a particularly tough year for superstitious minds.

The ominous date falls on three Fridays this year: February 13; this Friday, March 13; and again on November 13.

Washington, Mar. 13: Expressing its fears that Iran''s nuclear program is a cover to build atomic weapons, the Obama administration has extended sanctions imposed on that country for one more year.

Tehran claims that it is enriching uranium to produce nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

Citing a continued "unusual and extraordinary threat to U. S. national security," President Obama on Thursday extended sanctions against Iran for one year in a public notice, reports Fox News.

Washington, March 13: The Cassini spacecraft has relayed information that it had successfully swapped to a backup set of propulsion thrusters late on March 11.

The swap was performed because of degradation in the performance of the primary thrusters, which had been in use since Cassini’s launch in 1997.

This is only the second time in Cassini’s 11 years of flight that the engineering teams have gone to a backup system.

New York, March 13: A red 8GB iPod emblazoned with former U. S. President Bill Clinton’s signature has been sold at an online charity auction.

The ipod contained songs by Elton John and Van Morrison.

It pulled in more than 2,200 dollars in the auction run by the Web site Tonic, reports the New York Daily News.