 Salty water, parched earth: Vietnam's Mekong paddies dry up Que Dien, Vietnam (AFP) July 14, 2010 - The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring's crop. Vietnam is the world's second-biggest rice exporter and the Mekong Delta, where Roi farms, accounts for more than half of its production. But Roi's paddy fields in Ben Tre province are burning up du ... more |  |
 GOES Brings Hurricane Alley Live To The Wireless Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 14, 2010 - Scientists working for NASA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. have developed continually updating "movies" of satellite imagery that allows on-line, iPhone and iPad viewing of any cyclone's movement in the Hurricane Alleys of the Atlantic Ocean or Eastern Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospher ... more |  |
Britain unveils Google Earth map showing temperature rises London (AFP) July 14, 2010 - British ministers on Wednesday launched a new Google Earth map designed to show the potential impact of temperature rises of four degrees Celsius. The interactive map lets members of the public see the dramatic changes that could occur if action is not taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Significant alterations include higher temperatures over land compared to the sea, and extreme ... more |  |
China AgBank set for massive stock debut Shanghai (AFP) July 14, 2010 - Agricultural Bank of China debuts on the Shanghai stock market Thursday, completing a great leap from peasant policy bank to capitalist darling in what is expected to be a world record IPO. AgBank's performance in Shanghai and in Hong Kong - where trading starts Friday - will signal whether it is maximising the number of additional shares it can offer and has raised a record 22.1 billion U ... more |  |
Elite European producers push for fine wines in China Penglai, China (AFP) July 13, 2010 - Wine-loving China, the world's fifth-biggest consumer, is not known for making top-quality wine but its potential is drawing elite vintners like Spain's Torres and France's Lafite. "We are looking to make the best wine possible, but not necessarily the best wine in the world," said Gerard Colin, managing director of Lafite's wine estate in China. Colin spoke on a hilltop on the Penglai ... more |  |
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Wine woos China's chic Shanghai (AFP) July 14, 2010 - China is mad for wine. At the Haagen Dazs cafe in the trendy Xintiandi district, well-heeled Shanghai urbanites decide between Rum Raisin and Cookies 'n Cream to go with their Chilean Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. While a wine glass might not grace every dining table in China, wine has become a symbol of a desirable urban lifestyle, equal parts sophistication and quirky enthusiasm. Most ... more |  |
No end in sight for China soybean ban Beijing (UPI) Jul 14, 2010 - Argentina's bid to restore $2 billion a year soybean oil trade with China faced an uncertain future Wednesday after the two countries signed 18 agreements without reaching an accord on the suspended commodity deal. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is in China this week on an official visit that was originally scheduled for earlier this year but postponed when Fernandez ... more |  |
 Alion To Analyze Promising Biofuel Energy Crop Mclean VA (SPX) Jul 14, 2010 - Alion Science and Technology has been awarded a contract from the Biotechnology Research and Development Center (BRDC) to develop models that will assess options for processing pennycress seeds into biofuels. Pennycress is a potentially attractive biofuel source crop that produces twice the oil per acre as soybeans but can be grown by U.S. farmers in the winter and harvested in the spring ... more |  |
 107 dead in China rainstorms and floods: state media Beijing (AFP) July 13, 2010 - Torrential rains and severe flooding have left 107 people dead and 59 missing in ten Chinese provinces, mostly along the Yangtze River following recent storms, state media said Tuesday. The Xinhua news agency said that as of Tuesday, rain-triggered floods had affected some 29 million people and 997,000 had been evacuated. The latest toll is more than double that reported by Xinhua Mond ... more |  |
Renewed China flooding leaves 43 dead Beijing (AFP) July 12, 2010 - Heavy rains along the Yangtze River in central and eastern China have killed 43 people and left 18 missing over the past four days, state media reported on Monday. The downpours, which have caused major lakes and some Yangtze tributaries to rise alarmingly, come as the region is still recovering from widespread deadly flooding caused by torrential rainfall last month. Xinhua news agency ... more |  |
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 Australia turns to desalination Sydney (UPI) Jul 12, 2010 - Coming through a decade of drought said to be its worst in a century, Australia has turned to desalination as part of the government's measures to beef up water supply systems. State governments are already investing $13.2 billion in desalination plants in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and on the Gold Coast. In two years, when the final plant is expected to be in operation, ... more |  |
Argentina fights to save China soya trade Beijing (UPI) Jul 12, 2010 - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is pursuing a restoration of $2 billion soya trade with China in talks begun after she arrived in Beijing Sunday. China is holding back on soybean oil imports from Argentina, complaining of chemical contamination, in a move seen by observers as retaliation for Argentine curbs on Chinese imports. Before Fernandez landed in Beijing ... more | |
Researchers Witness Overnight Breakup And Retreat Of Greenland Glacier Washington DC (SPX) Jul 12, 2010 - NASA-funded researchers monitoring Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier report that a 7 square kilometer (2.7 square mile) section of the glacier broke up on July 6 and 7. The calving front - where the ice sheet meets the ocean - retreated nearly 1.5 kilometers (a mile) in one day and is now further inland than at any time previously observed. The chunk of lost ice is roughly one-eighth t ... more |  |
What Plant Genes Tell Us About Crop Domestication St. Louis MO (SPX) Jul 12, 2010 - Anyone who has seen teosinte, the wild grass from which maize (corn) evolved, might be forgiven for assuming many genetic changes underlie the transformation of one plant to the other. However, a method for exploring the genetics of domestication called Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping has revealed that only modest modifications are needed to convert a wild plant to a crop plant. Som ... more |  |
Google to resume taking 'Street View' photos next week Washington (AFP) July 9, 2010 - Google's "Street View" cars will return to the road next week but all wireless scanning equipment has been removed after a controversy over the collection of private information. Google said Friday that the camera-equipped cars, which drive around taking photographs for the Internet giant's free online mapping service, would resume operating in four countries next week and in others later. ... more |  |
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Mexican sisters survive floods after four days in tree Nuevo Laredo, Mexico (AFP) July 11, 2010 - Two young sisters have been rescued after clinging to a tree for four days to escape torrential floods which swept away their parents and a brother, Mexican authorities said Sunday. Rescue workers were still searching for the oldest sister and another brother of Lisbeth, 10, and Lesli, nine, who remain missing after their car was swept from a bridge between Matamoros and Ciudad Victoria, in ... more |  |
 US to feel more heat, more often in coming years: study Washington (AFP) July 9, 2010 - Targets set by policy makers to slow global warming are too soft to prevent more heatwaves and extreme temperatures in the United States within a few years, with grim consequences for human health and farming, a study warned this week. Although the United States and more than 100 other countries agreed in Copenhagen last year to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "so as to hold t ... more |  |
Haitian farmers reaping hard times as hunger grows Cariyes, Haiti (AFP) July 9, 2010 - In Haiti's rocky northern hills, Joseph Jean has planted seeds donated by a US aid group Trees for The Future hoping to reverse the deforestation that has washed away soil and impoverished farmers. Jean's field barely feeds his family and he has had to take a teaching job to make ends meet. Some aid does reach often forgotten rural communities, far from the capital of Port-au-Prince, but Hai ... more |  |
China seizes melamine-tainted milk powder: reports Beijing (AFP) July 9, 2010 - Chinese authorities have seized 76 tonnes of milk powder tainted with the same chemical responsible for the deaths of six babies two years ago, state media said Friday. The powder was seized in northwestern China's Gansu province after tests showed it contained up to 500 times the allowed level of the toxic industrial chemical melamine, Xinhua news agency reported. The Beijing News said ... more |  |
China's AgBank offers room for improvement Hong Kong (AFP) July 9, 2010 - Agricultural Bank of China's huge share sale this week underscores investor confidence that the country's so-called economic miracle is set to continue. But it also highlights what may be the lender's biggest challenge: to book ever-increasing profits while fulfilling its mandate to help bridge the yawning gap between urban and rural economic prosperity. AgBank - on track to set a recor ... more | |
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