Tibet leaders slam China 'repression' in new autonomy push
Dharamsala, India (AFP) June 05, 2014 -
The leader of Tibet's exiled government accused China Thursday of blanket repression in his homeland and warned that resentment over its rule was growing as he launched a new campaign for autonomy.
Speaking as he and other senior exiles, including the Dalai Lama, renewed their push for a "Middle Way" of peaceful autonomy within China, Lobsang Sangay called for more international help for the ...
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NATO anti-piracy ops until 2016
Brussels (UPI) Jun 5, 2013 -
Shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa will continue to be patrolled by maritime forces of NATO-members until 2016 to protect against piracy, the alliance has announced.
Operation Ocean Shield is an international effort to curb pirate attacks against commercial vessels sailing in the Indian Ocean and has been in operation since 2009.
In 2011, 24 ships were captured by pirates and ...
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Pollution-ridden Bangladesh unveils green tax in budget
Dhaka (AFP) June 05, 2014 -
Bangladesh imposed a radical new "green tax" on Thursday to force polluting factories to pay extra levies as it looks to clean up the country's increasingly dirty rivers and air.
The environmental tax was announced as part of a $32 billion budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year, which also focused on giant new infrastructure projects such as a metro in the cramped capital Dhaka and a nuclear pow ...
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China censors sweep web of Tiananmen references
Beijing (AFP) June 05, 2014 -
China's state censors on Thursday scrubbed the Internet of references to commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown including a huge vigil in Hong Kong, extending a campaign of repression that has seen dozens of critics detained.
Organisers said a record 180,000 people filled Hong Kong's Victoria Park for Wednesday night's gathering, the only major commemoration on Chinese territory of the 25 ...
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Deep sea fish remove million tonnes of CO2 a year from UK waters
Southampton, UK (SPX) Jun 04, 2014 -
Deep sea fishes remove and store more than one million tonnes of CO2 from UK and Irish surface waters every year, according to a new study led by the University of Southampton. This natural carbon capture and storage scheme could store carbon equivalent to 10 million pounds per year in carbon credits.
Fish living in deep waters on the continental slope around the UK play an important role ...
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Drones give farmers an eye in the sky to check on crop progress
Champaign IL (SPX) Jun 05, 2014 -
This growing season, crop researchers at the University of Illinois are experimenting with the use of drones - unmanned aerial vehicles - on the university's South Farms.
Dennis Bowman, a crop sciences educator with U. of I. Extension, is using two drones to take aerial pictures of crops growing in research plots on the farms. He presented his findings to farmers and other researchers at t ...
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UGA ecologists provide close-up of coral bleaching event
Athens GA (SPX) Jun 04, 2014 -
New research by University of Georgia ecologists sheds light on exactly what happens to coral during periods of excessively high water temperatures. Their study, published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography, documents a coral bleaching event in the Caribbean in minute detail and sheds light on how it changed a coral's community of algae-a change that could have long-term consequences for ...
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