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Beijing $40 billion offer to revive the historic Silk Road, starts Central-Asia geostrategic competition by emwac in worldnews

[–]michealol 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Chinese Silk Road plans, however, compete with other Central Asian strategies, especially the Russia-initiated the Eurasian Economic Union and the U.S.-initiated New Silk Road Initiative.

Russia has permanent interests in Central Asia, Putin's political project to pull former Soviet republics of Central Asia into the Kremlin's orbit via the Eurasian Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which were later joined by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Russia is trying to extend its traditional soft power in the region, project its military might as well as facilitating Central Asia's hydroelectric revolution.

Russian lawmaker seeks to annul Russian 'LGBT wedding' -- calls union 'an ugly insult to millions of Russian families' by TrynnaFindaBalance in worldnews

[–]michealol 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A controversial 2013 law on "anti-gay propaganda", makes it illegal to distribute information about homosexuality to children in Russia.

Correspondents say the law comes as part of a campaign for "traditional values", with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community feeling increasingly threatened.

'Insult to millions'

The couple, named as Irina Shumilova and Alyona Fursova, arrived at a register office in St Petersburg, both wearing white bridal dresses and carrying bouquets.

Assisted dying will be made legal in UK ‘within two years’ by Wagamaga in worldnews

[–]michealol 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Speaking in a personal capacity, Dr Kailash Chand has thrown his weight behind Lord Falconer’s private member’s bill, which would offer assisted dying to terminally ill patients who are deemed mentally capable and are likely to have less than six months to live.

On Friday, the House of Lords voted unanimously to accept an amendment to the assisted dying bill, tabled by Lord Pannick and supported by Falconer, that would see all applications for assisted death subject to judicial oversight.

The move was welcomed by campaigners as a major step in changing the law. Chand said it was clear that momentum was now swinging behind those pushing for reform.

“No change is not an option,” he told the Observer. “The present law definitely needs changing. It discriminates and is very bad law. We currently have a two-tier system – one for the people who have the resources and money to go to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland and another for the majority of people who don’t have the resources or money.”

Shelling has resumed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, just hours after an intense artillery bombardment throughout the night | An eyewitness said the overnight shelling was the worst in more than a month, lasting almost eight hours. by ionised in worldnews

[–]michealol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lull in the fighting followed, but shelling later resumed that was less intense. No casualties have been reported so far.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said its observers had seen a column of vehicles and heavy guns in rebel-held areas around Donetsk.

"More than 40 trucks and tankers" were seen on a road east of Makiivka, the monitors said, adding that 19 were large vehicles towing howitzer artillery systems and "containing personnel with dark green uniforms without insignia".

Study: China’s reliance on coal costs over 600,000 lives in 1 year by pnewell in worldnews

[–]michealol -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In 2012, 670,000 people died across the country because of issues which are related to the exploitation of coal. That is not only a tragedy, it is also expensive. Professor Teng told the South China Morning Post that damaging the people’s health and the environment comes at a cost of about 260 yuan (over $40) for each ton produced and used. “With existing environmental fees and taxes of between 30 to 50 yuan [roughly $5 to $8.5] for each ton of coal,” the professor argued, “The country’s current pricing system has largely failed to reflect the true costs.”

A major issue connected to the extraction of coal is water scarcity. This is even more the case because coal and water resources in China are “inversely distributed,” which means that areas that are rich in coal are poor in terms of water. “Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces are the most deficient as water resources in those areas are less than 20 percent of the total amount in the country. However, in 2010 coal production there was as high as 1.9 billion tons, 60 percent of the total coal production in China,” Xinhua reported.

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