Manila  - The United Nations and the European Union launched Tuesday a 15-million-euro joint initiative to promote migration and help protect migrant workers amid the global financial crisis.

Amid warnings that the global crisis could force countries to restrict the entry of migrant workers, the UN-EU initiative aims to highlight the "positive impact of migration" on development.

The programme was launched on the sidelines of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila, which will be addressed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday.

Under the programme, financial grants will be provided to projects dealing with migrant communities, migrant rights, capacities of migrants and migrant remittances.

Ranchi, Oct.

Lucknow, Oct. 28 : Special eco-friendly fireworks witnessed a high demand in Lucknow markets on the occasion of Diwali festival. Growing awareness about polluting fire crackers motivated families, especially children, to neglect them this time around.

Consequent to anti-firecracker campaign and awareness drive about ill-effects of bursting harmful firecrackers gaining momentum, manufacturers of firecrackers supplied eco-friendly variants anticipating public demand.

Carrying photographs of various Bollywood and Hollywood actors and actresses, the eco-friendly crackers were a major draw for everyone here.

Berlin, Oct 28 : Researchers of the Fraunhofer Technology Development Group TEG have developed a new fluidic energy transducer that produces electricity from gas and water.

Air compression systems can be found in many manufacturing operations. If a leak occurs anywhere in the system, the air pressure drops and production comes to a halt until the source of failure has been found. 

Sensors constantly monitor the pressure in order to keep costly fault-related losses to a minimum. 

At present, these sensors are either battery-driven or connected up by complex technical wiring. This often makes it very difficult or even impossible to install sensors in places that are hard to reach. 

Washington, Oct 28 : A new study has determined that some of the world’s most beloved species of flowers like lilies, orchids, violets, roses, and dogwoods have also been hit by global warming. 

The study, by scientists at Harvard University, US, have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, have borne the effects of climate change in strikingly different ways.

Over the past 150 years, some of the plants in Thoreau’s woods have shifted their flowering time by as much as three weeks as spring temperatures have risen, the researchers say, while others have been less flexible. 

Vienna  - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell by another 0.77 dollars Monday, OPEC said Tuesday.