20120719 China Daily_WHO urges China to tax smokers

Cigarette tax should be increased to combat nicotine addiction in the world's largest tobacco consumer and producer, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said.


"There is still plenty of room for China to raise its tobacco tax and the government should take more action regarding this to help curb smoking," she told China Daily.

"Evidence shows that higher taxes deter people, especially the young, from smoking,'' she said.

International studies indicate that for every 1 percent rise in the price of a packet of cigarettes,the number of smokers falls by about 0.4 percent, she said.

There is a huge financial cost in treating tobacco-related diseases, Chan said.

China has 350 million smokers, more than one-third of the world's total, and at least 1 million people die from smoking-related diseases each year, according to the ministry. By 2020, thefigure for fatalities is expected to reach 2 million without effective intervention.

Government agencies, like the ministries of health and education, have introduced policies such as smoke-free hospitals and schools, as well as smoking bans at most public indoorplaces. Tobacco products have also been targeted with tax hikes.

In 2009, authorities increased tobacco tax by at least 6 percent, mostly on the more expensive brands.

"But that had little effect on curbing tobacco use, particularly the low-end brands," said YangGonghuan, former director of the tobacco control office under the Chinese Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention.

Tobacco tax, even after the hike, remained very low on a global scale.

20120719 BBC_Iceberg breaks off from Greenland's Petermann Glacier

The Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan, scientists say.

Images from a Nasa satellite show the island breaking off a tongue of ice that extends at the end of the glacier.

In 2010 an ice island measuring 250 square km (100 square miles) broke off the same glacier.

Glaciers do calve icebergs naturally, but the extent of the changes to the Petermann Glacier in recent years has taken many experts by surprise.

However, the calving is not expected have an impact on sea levels as the ice was already floating.

Icebergs from the Petermann Glacier sometimes reach the coast off Newfoundland in Canada, posing a danger to shipping and navigation, according to the Canadian Ice Service.

Scientists have also raised concerns in recent years about the Greenland ice shelf, saying that it is thinning extensively amid warm temperatures.

20120617 China Daily_Issues linger before summit (Rio+20)

The draft action plan for the coming global sustainable development summit, the Rio+20,remains unfinished as the final preparatory meeting wrapped up Friday evening.


Brazil will take on the coordination and shepherd the draft through informal consultations thatbegan on Saturday. The formal high-level segment of the conference begins June 20.


The principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" has become a sticking point forsome developed countries and the European Union proposed to delete the terms in the draftdocument. "The bloc of the Group of 77 and China firmly request to reaffirm the principles stated in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development," La Yijun, a representative ofthe Chinese delegation said on the sidelines of the meeting on Friday.

La urged all sides to adopt a sense of urgency and a spirit of compromise and flexibility.

Sustainable development has been highly valued by the Chinese government, he said, and the nation will continue to work to push forward the process.

The definition of "green economy" is another issue at the meeting. Green economy is apathway to sustainable development, La said, but it must be considered in the context ofpoverty eradication and not as an excuse for trade protectionism.

Developed countries need to help developing countries establish green economies byproviding funds, technology and market access, but their commitment has been weak, said La

20120611 Apple Daily 林鄭：東涌發展橋頭經濟

【本報訊】發展局局長林鄭月娥（圖）昨日出席東涌地區團體舉辦的模型展覽時表示，東涌未來可進一步發展，將由現時約13萬人口，增加至約23萬人的市鎮；加上十大基建中如港珠澳大橋等都與東涌連接，認為該區有潛力發展「橋頭經濟」效應。
她指出，東涌有15幅土地已納入分區計劃大綱圖，其中3幅土地可興建住宅單位，包括一幅位於56區的土地正計劃興建公屋，但計劃被同區私樓居民反對暫時擱置。有地區團體建議，政府可開發東涌大約150公頃的土地，提供約2.4萬個公私營住宅單位及休憩場所，並興建由東涌到迪欣湖的單車徑。

20120609 日擬重開核電廠 民眾抗議

日本311大地震引發的核災難，至今仍未完全解決，首相野田佳彥昨日（周五）召開記者會游說國民，為了保障就業和人民的生活，必須重開其中兩個已暫停運作的核反應堆，結果觸發大批民眾抗議。
福島核災爆發後，日本上月初暫停了全國50個核反應堆運作，卻引發電力不足問題。野田指出，隨着夏季來臨，電力需求增加，其中西部地區預期會缺電15%，缺電問題很嚴重，刻不容緩，必須重新啟動部份核反應堆。
他指西部福井縣大飯核電廠第三和第四號反應堆已準備好恢復運作，強調當局已採取充足安全措施，確保再發生像311那麼嚴重的大地震和海嘯，反應堆都不會洩漏輻射。
但大批反核人士在首相府外抗議，拉起寫有「堅決反對大飯核電廠重開」、「打倒野田政權」等抗議標語。

20120520 BBC_Arctic melt releasing ancient methane

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.

The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability.

There are many sources of the gas around the world, some natural and some man-made, such as landfill waste disposal sites and farm animals.

"If this relationship holds true for other regions where sedimentary basins are at present capped by permafrost, glaciers and ice sheets, such as northern West Siberia, rich in natural gas and partially underlain by thin permafrost predicted to degrade substantially by 2100, a very strong increase in methane carbon cycling will result, with potential implications for climate warming feedbacks."

"The Arctic is the fastest warming region on the planet, and has many methane sources that will increase as the temperature rises," commented Prof Euan Nisbet from Royal Holloway, University of London, who is also involved in Arctic methane research.

"This is yet another serious concern: the warming will feed the warming."

How serious and how immediate a threat this feedback mechanism presents is a controversial area, with some scientists believing that the impacts will not be seen for many decades, and others pointing out the possibility of a rapid release that could swiftly accelerate global warming.

Many of the sites were bubbling methane that has been stored for millennia

Atmospheric methane concentration is rising again after a plateau of a few years

20120516 China Daily_China starts fishing ban in South Sea

A two-and-a half month fishing ban will start at noon Wednesday in most part of theSouth China Sea to rehabilitate marine resources, according to fishery authorities.

The Hainan provincial marine and fishing department said all 8,994 locally-registered fishingvessels are all moored, affecting 35,611 people.

The annual fishing ban reinforced since 1999 will last from May 16 to August 1 this year,covering areas north of the 12th parallel of north latitude, including Huangyan Island butexcluding most of the Nansha Islands.

The fishing ban is also applicable to foreign ships.

A spokesman from the South China Fishery Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculturesaid earlier this week that fishing activity of foreign ships in the banned areas will be seen as a"blatant encroachment on China's fishery resources."

A fisherman harvests the last batch of fish before a two-and-ahalf month fishing ban take into effect [Photo/Xinhua]

Fishing boats anchor off Shantou, South China's Guangdong province  [Photo/Xinhua]

Vessels anchor at a port in Haikou, the capital of South China's Hainan province [Photo/Xinhua]