United States

N. Korea may use detained US journalists as bargaining chips

N. Korea may use detained US journalists as bargaining chipsTokyo, Mar. 26 : The North Korean Government is likely to use the two American journalists it has detained as bargaining chips in its feuds with the outside world, analysts and politicians in South Korea have claimed.

No matter what charges are made against the journalists, North Korea will probably use them -- and the timing of their release -- as leverage in negotiations with the United States and other countries over aid, nuclear weapons and, most urgently, the planned test launch in early April of a long-range missile, several analysts said.

US announces five million dollar reward for Baitullah Mehsud

US announces five million dollar reward for Baitullah MehsudWashington, Mar. 26 : The United States has announced a reward of five million dollars to anyone revealing the whereabouts of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud.

US State Department statement also said that a similar bounty has been put on the senior leader of the Haqqani group, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and a million dollar reward on high ranking Al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi.

US keeping channels open both with Zardari and opposition parties in Pakistan

US keeping channels open both with Zardari and opposition parties in PakistanWashington, Mar. 26 : The United States has said it will continue to assist the present and future democratically elected government in Pakistan in tackling issues on all fronts, including terrorism and the economic crisis clearly indicating that it would also tender support to the PML-N in case it succeeds the Zardari regime.

Sulfuric acid may help soot turn into cloud seeds

Sulfuric acid may help soot turn into cloud seedsWashington, March 26 : In a new research, scientists have determined that as soot particles in the atmosphere age, airborne sulfuric acid may help turn them into condensation nuclei, which enable the formation of clouds.

The research was conducted by Alexei F. Khalizov and colleagues from Texas A and M University, who worked alongside researchers from University of Minnesota, and Lund University, Sweden.

Carbon soot aerosols from combustion of fossil fuels and forest fires directly influence the Earth-atmosphere heat balance by absorbing sunlight.

Natasha Richardson’s organs donated to waiting transplant patients

Natasha RichardsonNew York, Mar 26 : Late Natasha Richardson’s organs have been donated to waiting transplant patients as gifts of life.

Sources have revealed that her husband Liam Neeson, mother Vanessa Redgrave, and other members of the family agreed that Natasha should donate her organs to people in queue for transplants.

The actress had become brain-dead from a fall on a ski slope two days before her family sorrowfully pulled the plug on her.

"Doctors spent six hours harvesting all her organs," the New York Post quoted a source as saying.

Daily marijuana intake leads to psychosis, schizophrenia

Daily marijuana intake leads to psychosis, schizophreniaWashington, Mar 26 : People who consume cannabis on daily basis are likely to show episodes of psychosis and schizophrenia, according to a doctoral thesis.

Miguel Ruiz Veguilla, from the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada in Spain, also claimed that the episodes of psychosis because of marijuana intake present certain specific characteristics, both before their appearance and in the clinical presentation of the psychosis.

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