New water balance calculation for the Dead Sea
Tel Aviv, Israel (SPX) Jul 23, 2014 -
The drinking water resources on the eastern, Jordanian side of the Dead Sea could decline severe as a result of climate change than those on the western, Israeli and Palestinian side. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers that calculated the water flows around the Dead Sea.
The natural replenishment rate of groundwater will reduce dramatically in the future ...
more
China detains five in expired meat scandal: police
Shanghai (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
Chinese police on Wednesday detained five people from a unit of US food supplier OSI Group, a statement said, in a case involving expired meat sold to fast food giants including McDonald's and KFC.
The Shanghai Public Security Bureau said the five included the company officials responsible. It said a quality manager was among them but did not name the five.
Shanghai authorities on Sunday ...
more
Iraq MPs stall presidential vote as violence rages
Baghdad (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
Iraqi lawmakers on Wednesday postponed choosing a new president for their ailing country while air strikes, suicide car bombs and summary executions yielded their daily grim crop of bodies.
Parliament adjourned without even broaching the issue and agreed to meet again on Thursday, their last chance to pick a new leader before the week-long Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday.
A government air rai ...
more
China censors squash giant inflatable toad reports
Beijing (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
Chinese reports about a giant inflatable toad have been deleted from the Internet after social media users compared the puffed-up animal to a former Communist Party chief.
The installation of a giant inflatable duck in Hong Kong's harbour last year sparked a national craze for oversized blow-up wildlife, with several Chinese cities launching their own imitations.
The latest, a 22-metre-h ...
more
Chinese blogger given 6.5 years for 'rumour-mongering'
Beijing (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
A Chinese blogger known for criticising the ruling Communist Party was sentenced Wednesday to six-and-a-half years in jail, state media said, as authorities pursue a crackdown on online "rumours".
Dong Rubin - a businessman known to his 50,000 online followers by the alias "Bianmin", or frontier person - had long discomfited officials in the southwestern province of Yunnan on issues rangin ...
more
Poland suffers first cases of African swine fever in pigs
Warsaw (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
Poland on Wednesday confirmed its first cases of deadly swine fever in domestic pigs, as the World Trade Organisation reviewed a Russian embargo on EU pork imports imposed over the disease.
"Test results showed the first outbreak of African swine fever on a farm with five pigs," in the eastern region of Bialystok bordering Belarus, Polish veterinary authorities said in a statement.
The ...
more
South Africa targets screening whole population for AIDS
Cape Town (AFP) July 23, 2014 -
South Africa's government plans to extend AIDS tests to the country's entire population and speed up antiretroviral treatment of those who test positive for the virus, the health minister said Wednesday.
"We come from very far in the past five years," Aaron Motsoaledi told parliament.
"But a lot still needs to be done," the minister said while presenting his annual budget.
With 6.4 m ...
more
