Spotlight

New Delhi, 5 May 2007

NEW CRIMINAL  TRACKING SYSTEM

HYDERABAD, May 6 (INFA): A first-of-its-kind criminal tracking system recently introduced in Vijayawada Police Commissionerate will soon be replicated across Andhra Pradesh.

The Integrated Mobile Photo Album (IMPA), which is a computerized data-base containing over 12,000 pictures of criminals and others (including about 7000 auto drivers) has been installed in the class unit that normally visits every scene of offence.

The data-base helps the victims identify the criminals by browsing the pictures stored in the computer and simplifies the investigation process.

With a modest investigation of Rs.1.23 lakhs, the IMPA could be effectively in crime control, according the Police Department.

 EARTH GETS HOTTER IN 2007

NEW DELHI, May 6 (INFA): If forecast of climate experts at the Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia, the U.K. is to be believed, 2007 would be the warmest year on record.

The reason for this is the deadly combination of ‘El Nino’ weather pattern with the global warming phenomenon, which could result in extreme conditions across the globe and make 2007 warmer than 1998, the hottest year on record. It is likely that temperature will also exceed that in 2006, which was the sixth warmest year ever.                                         

According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the latest readings show that a moderate ‘El Nino’, with sea temperatures 1.5⁰C above average, was taking place, which in the worst case scenario, could develop into an extreme weather pattern lasting up to 18 months, as in 1997-1998. 

The UN agency noted that the weather pattern was already having ‘early and intense’ effects, including drought ‘early and intense effects, including drought in Australia and dramatically warm seas in the Indian Ocean, possibly affecting the monsoons.  It warned that the ‘El Nino’ could also bring extreme rainfall to parts of east Africa which were hit last year by a cycle of droughts and floods.

Another manifestation of global warming is the recent breaking of a giant ice shelf from an island sought of the North Pole.  The Ayles Ice Shelf, the size of 11,000 football fields, broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the North Pole in the Canadian Arctic. The ice shelf was one of the six major shelves remaining in Canada’s Arctic which is packed with ancient ice that is more than 3,000 years old.

Within one hour of breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island. The dramatic speed with which climate change has affected the ice shelves has surprised scientists who till recently believed that global warming changes occur gradually.

So, the writing on the wall is clear. Unless rapid action is taken to reverse the rise in carbon emissions, global warming could run out of control and change the planet forever. ---INFA