Tag Archives: Asia

Russia Offers Fukushima Cleanup Help as Tepco Reaches Out

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“Russia repeated an offer first made two years ago to help Japan clean up its accident-ravaged Fukushima nuclear station, welcoming Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s decision to seek outside help. As Tokyo Electric pumps thousands of metric tons of water through the wrecked Fukushima station to cool its melted cores, the tainted run-off was found to be leaking into groundwater and the ocean. The approach to cooling and decommissioning the station will need to change and include technologies developed outside of Japan if the cleanup is to succeed, said Vladimir Asmolov, first deputy director general of Rosenergoatom, the state-owned Russian nuclear utility.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-25/russia-offers-to-help-clean-up-fukushima-as-tepco-calls-for-help.html

Russia repeated an offer first made two years ago to help Japan clean up its accident-ravaged Fukushima nuclear station, welcoming Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s decision to seek outside help.

As Tokyo Electric pumps thousands of metric tons of water through the wrecked Fukushima station to cool its melted cores, the tainted run-off was found to be leaking into groundwater and the ocean. The approach to cooling and decommissioning the station will need to change and include technologies developed outside of Japan if the cleanup is to succeed, said Vladimir Asmolov, first deputy director general of Rosenergoatom, the state-owned Russian nuclear utility.

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Banish the trolls, but web debate still needs anonymity

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“So the proprietor of the Huffington Post has decided to ban anonymous commenting from the site.  It seems like common sense [that people will behave better]. Whether it is supported by evidence is uncertain. The most striking study I’ve come across is the experiment conducted by the (South) Korea Communications Commission from July 2007. From that month onwards, anyone wanting to comment on any of the 146 Korean websites with more than 100,000 members was required by law to submit resident registration or credit card details. The hypothesis behind the requirement was that people would behave better online if they were easily identifiable. But it didn’t turn out that way.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/25/banish-the-trolls-but-web-debate-needs-anonymity/

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Invasive starfish species threatens Philippines coral reef

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“A coral-killing starfish has begun infesting a channel of water in the Philippines famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world. The appearance of the crown-of-thorns starfish in the Verde Island Passage could cause great damage to the area’s biodiversity, Jacob Meimban, head of the wildlife bureau’s coastal marine management office, told AFP. ‘The crown-of-thorns starfish really kills the corals. It eats the polyps of the corals, leaving the bleached, white bodies. Then it moves elsewhere… until it leaves the reef dead,’ Meimban said.  Environmentalists have warned for years that the passage, a popular dive location, is under grave threat from pollution and overfishing.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/31/invasive-starfish-species-threatens-philippines-coral-reef-considered-center-of-biodiversity/

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Thai airport officials linked to rhino poaching

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“Thai authorities said Tuesday they would seek arrest warrants for three police officers allegedly involved in trafficking rhino horn through Bangkok’s main airport.  The horn was brought into Suvarnabhumi Airport in January by Vietnamese migrant workers paid $500 per trip, said Narasak Hemnithi, commander of the Natural Resources Environmental Crime Division. ‘After arriving in Bangkok they were asked to put the rhino horn on a trolley and leave it somewhere nobody could see and then police would come and collect it,’ he told AFP. ‘We have evidence, especially closed circuit television footage,’ he added.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/05/thai-airport-officials-linked-to-rhino-trade/

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Wildlife trafficker kills 5 crocodiles, 90 rare birds as police descend on his compound

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“Five dead crocodiles, 14 critically endangered turtles and a cache of other rare species have been found in the home of a suspected wildlife trader in one of the Philippines’ biggest slums, the government said Friday.  The juvenile saltwater crocodiles, as well as 90 birds, were killed by the trader or his aides shortly before police and environment officials raided the place Wednesday, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said. He denounced the unnamed suspects’ ‘cruelty’. ‘What’s particularly alarming about this poaching incident is that there were reports that most of these endangered animals were intentionally killed to avoid detection by authorities,’ Paje said in a statement.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/05/endanger-species-trafficker-kills-5-crocodiles-90-rare-birds-as-police-descend-on-his-compound/

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Smog crisis creates ‘apocalyptic’ conditions in Singapore

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“Fast-food deliveries have been cancelled, the army has suspended field training and even Singapore’s top marathon runner has retreated as residents try to protect themselves from the smog that has descended on the city-state. In Singapore’s worst environmental crisis in more than a decade, the skyscrapers lining the Marina Bay financial district were shrouded by thick smoke Thursday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia’s Sumatra island pushed air pollution levels to an all-time high.  The acrid smell of burning wood lingered everywhere, including inside air-conditioned metro trains, and cars were covered with a thin film of grey ash.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/20/smog-crisis-creates-apocalyptic-conditions-in-singapore/

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Bhutan banks on ‘white gold’ hydropower

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“Home to meditating monks and Himalayan nomads, the sleepy kingdom of Bhutan has set its sights on becoming an unlikely energy powerhouse thanks to its abundant winding rivers.  Hydropower plants have already harnessed the country’s water flows to light up nearly every Bhutanese home, generating electricity that is sent to remote villages by cables strung through rugged mountain terrain.  It is a rapid transformation for the long isolated nation, where less than a quarter of households had electricity in 1999 — the same year Bhutan became the last country to introduce television.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/07/bhutan-banks-on-white-gold-hydropower/

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Putin warns Ukraine against EU free trade pact

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“Moscow wants to pull in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as well and to transform it into an EU-type ‘Eurasian Union’ in the coming years.  On the other side, the EU has offered to sign a political association and free trade pact with Ukraine in November if it improves rule of law.  Putin’s comments come in the wake of severe customs restrictions by Russian authorities between 14 and 20 August which caused a near standstill in Ukrainian road and rail imports. Russia in July also banned Ukraine’s top chocolate brand, Roshen, saying it caused cancer, while Kazakhstan on 20 August banned Ukrainian eggs.”

http://euobserver.com/foreign/121189

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North Korea protests over Swiss ski lift ban

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“Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said on Monday that it had blocked the deal, reportedly worth seven million francs ($7.6 million), after the Swiss government expanded its sanctions on the North in July.
 
SECO said selling supplies to the ski project fell under the expanded sanctions on luxury exports to the nuclear armed country. The North’s association insisted the resort was aimed at providing its citizens with ‘highly civilised and happy living conditions and make them enjoy all blessings’. ‘Cableway equipment for the ski resort do not produce any rocket or nuclear weapon,’ it said.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/20130824/north-korea-protests-over-swiss-ski-lift-ban

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Archaeologists use revolutionary laser technology to find lost medieval city in Cambodia

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“A journalist and photographer from the newspaper accompanied the ‘Indiana Jones-style’ expedition, led by a French-born archaeologist, through landmine-strewn jungle in the Siem Reap region where Angkor Wat, the largest Hindi temple complex in the world, is located.  The expedition used an instrument called Lidar — light detection and ranging data — which was strapped to a helicopter that criss-crossed a mountain north of Angkor Wat for seven days. It effectively peeled away the jungle canopy using billions of laser pulses, allowing archaeologists to see structures that were in perfect squares, completing a map of the city which years of painstaking ground research had been unable to achieve.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/15/archaeologists-use-revolutionary-laser-technology-to-find-lost-medieval-city-in-cambodia/

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