Archive
China’s Drinking Water Crisis
The quality of China’s tap water was raised on World Water Day. Reports and statements by professionals all point to a drinking water crisis.
Despite a five-year period given water companies to comply with higher governmental sanitary standards for drinking water running out on July 1, 2012, pollution of drinking water and drinking water sources remain a serious issue in China.
Li Wei, secretary of China’s Environmental Protection Foundation (EPF), said that in 2007, 27.6 percent of China’s surface water quality fell into class 5, the lowest according to the Water Quality Index, making it basically unusable.
Li said the overall pollution level of China’s seven natural hydraulic systems was “medium,” based on the EPF’s River Pollution Index’s four categories–none, slight, medium, and serious.
According to China’s 2nd National Water Assessment report, 35.6 percent of drinking water in China is not drinkable. Read more…
Is the European Union on the brink of Collapse?
Foto: THOMAS BORBERG (arkivfoto)
A real risk of disintegration if the EU does not soon display solid internal and external cooperation.
Europe’s external divisions on Libya are as great as its internal divisions on the new Europact.
Over the past few days, EU countries have faced historically difficult decisions without being able to reach agreement.
The indecision has seriously questioned the determination that European countries are able to muster, both in NATO and in the European Union.
The countries seem to have reached agreement on handing over the responsibility for the Libya operation to NATO. The breakthrough has, however, come so late that credibility has already been lost.
For once, Denmark has stood out in a positive light by both sending fighter aircraft to Read more…
Dozens killed and injured in Burma quake: official
More than 60 people were killed, 90 people injured and dozens of buildings destroyed when a strong earthquake struck Burma near the Thai border, officials from both countries said today.
Tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, almost 800 kilometres from the epicentre, Hanoi and parts of China during the earthquake yesterday, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) measured at magnitude 6.8.
A Burma official said dozens of people were killed in two towns close to the epicentre.
“The death toll of the quake has increased to more than 50 in Tarlay and Mine Lin townships,” said the official, who declined to be named.
“Roads are also closed. According to the information that we have, more than 130 buildings collapsed because of the quake. There might be more casualties and damage.”
Across the border, Thai authorities said a 52-year-old woman was killed in Mae Sai district after a wall in her Read more…
China May Match India as World’s Biggest Gold Consumer on ‘Amazing’ Demand
Chinese consumption of gold may climb to rival that of India, the top user, as investors buy the metal as a store of value, said GFMS Ltd. and INTL FCStone.
Demand in China, the world’s second-biggest economy, almost tripled to 580 metric tons last year from 206 tons in 2001, data from the producer-funded World Gold Council show. Use in India may slump 5 percent to 26 percent this year from 963 tons in 2010, Morgan Stanley said in a report yesterday.
Bullion soared to a record $1,444.95 an ounce on March 7 and rallied 30 percent last year for a 10th annual gain as investors sought to preserve their wealth against inflation, Middle East unrest and currency debasement. Consumer prices in China climbed 4.9 percent in February from a year ago, exceeding the government’s 4 percent goal for the full year.
“The level of interest in gold as an asset class is just amazing,” Jeffrey Rhodes, global head of precious metals with INTL FCStone in Dubai, said in an interview. “There is potential for China to Read more…
A global energy war looms
Here’s an alarming chart to ponder. HSBC has calculated what would happen to energy consumption by 2050 given plausible forecasts for economic growth and assuming no constraint on resources, or that humans carry on using energy in the “taken for granted” way they do at the moment.
As you can see, demand in China, India and other emerging markets soars, but there is also quite considerable growth from advanced economies too. The big picture is that with an additional one billion cars on the road, demand for oil would grow 110pc to more than 190 million barrels per day. Total demand for energy would rise by a similar order of magnitude, doubling the Read more…
Is China Backing Indian Insurgents?
The arrest in January of a Chinese spy who allegedly met insurgents in the northeast of the country suggests a broader effort to destabilize India.
On January 25, 2011, Wang Qing, a Chinese spy disguised as a TV reporter, was arrested and deported after she reportedly visited the headquarters of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) or NSCN-IM—one of India’s largest and most troublesome insurgent groups. Indian authorities said Qing admitted to being a spy for the People’s Security Bureau, a Chinese intelligence agency, and that she had conducted a secretive four-hour-long, closed-door meeting with Thuingaleng Muivah, a key rebel leader of the NSCN-IM who is currently holding reconciliation talks with the Indian government. The rebel group, however, insisted that it was holding talks with the Indian Government in good faith and that it has had Read more…
China Tightens Censorship of Electronic Communications
BEIJING — If anyone wonders whether the Chinese government has tightened its grip on electronic communications since protests began engulfing the Arab world, Shakespeare may prove instructive.
A Beijing entrepreneur, discussing restaurant choices with his fiancée over their cellphones last week, quoted Queen Gertrude’s response to Hamlet: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” The second time he said the word “protest,” her phone cut off.
He spoke English, but another caller, repeating the same phrase on Monday in Chinese over a different phone, was also cut off in mid-sentence.
A host of evidence over the past several weeks shows that Chinese authorities are more Read more…
Malaysia Seen as Possible WMD Transport Hub
Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Monday said his country was probably used as a midshipment point for the illicit movement of WMD materials, The Star newspaper reported (see GSN, March 18).
“It is safe for me to say that Malaysia is likely being used as a transit point and not as a destination point for WMD,” Hishammuddin said.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian state last week announced they had seized two containers from a Malaysian-flagged ship that were filled with technology that could have applications in the building of nuclear weapons. Reports indicated the vessel was heading from China to Iran.
“It will take us some time to identify the equipment, what it can be used for and to Read more…
A First: Fully Armed Chinese Missile Frigate Spotted Off Libyan Coast
Though China abstained from a UN Security Council vote authorizing a no-fly-zone in Libya, and are not among the 16 nation coalition involved in Operation Odyssey Dawn, for the first time in modern day naval history, a Chinese warship sailed in the Mediterranean Sea. The 4000 ton Xuzhou missile frigate sailed to Libya after being deployed of the coast of Yemen, on the other side of the Red Sea.
The missile frigate’s role is not exactly clear, but based on China’s position thus far it is not likely that the ship is part of the US, UK and French led attack. The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s newspaper, earlier pointed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and criticized the US for launching a third attack “on a sovereign nation,” so the chances that China is providing assistance are slim. While China may be flexing some of its military might, they are more than likely in the area strictly to observe operations – for the time being.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
crisisboom
CRISISBOOM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.