News Headlines - 08 April 2012

▽Catholic Leader Says No Need For Gay Marriage - Sky News
http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16204832
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has told Sky News that Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to legalise gay marriage are unnecessary.
The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, says he does not see the need to change the definition of marriage.

▽Syria demands guarantees from rebels before calling ceasefire - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/08/syria-demands-guarantees-rebels-ceasefire
UN-backed plans for a ceasefire and negotiations in Syria have been thrown into doubt by a new demand from President Bashar al-Assad that armed groups guarantee to halt all violence before regime forces are withdrawn from flashpoints across the country.

▽Anonymous claims responsibility for taking down government sites - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/08/anonymous-taking-down-government-websites
A group of computer hackers have claimed responsibility for taking down the Home Office website apparently in protest against government extradition and surveillance policies.

▽How Kew Gardens stays green in a drought - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9190481/How-Kew-Gardens-stays-green-in-a-drought.html
“Under the National Heritage Act 1983, plants from the scientific collection are exempt from the ban,” explains Barnes, who has worked at the gardens for 24 years. “This applies to rare species, such as orchids and flora from the Canary Islands and Madagascar. We also have two cacti of which there are only three in total on earth. It’s like having a dodo, so we have a duty to keep those alive.”

▽Severe global warming 55million years ago 'triggered by changes in Earth's orbit' - Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2125533/Global-warming-55m-years-ago-triggered-changes-Earths-orbit.html
Changes in the Earth’s orbit 55million years ago caused the planet to warm up by 5C, according to new research.
A study by climate scientist Rob DeConto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues at the University of Sheffield found that orbital changes triggered the melting of vast areas of permafrost at the poles, which released greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.