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The violence fuels fears that Iraq is descending into civil war as sectarian tensions build.
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
April 29, 2013, 7:04 p.m.
“……….At least eight people were killed and 18 wounded in two car bombings in the southern city near a market where municipal employees gather before work………………..
A car bomb also exploded in a market in the center of Mahmoudiya, just south of Baghdad, leaving four dead and 14 wounded….
In the southern Shiite shrine city of Karbala, a car bomb blew up in a factory area, leaving two dead, officials said. Another car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Diwaniya, also in the south, killing eight people and wounding 25, officials said…………………”
CNN: “U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today that the United States has evidence chemical weapons have been used in Syria.
Hagel’s remarks come a couple of days after an Israeli intelligence official said Damascus was using weapons banned under international law against its own people in the country’s civil war. Syria has said rebels have used chemical weapons….”
“Clashes in China’s restive Xinjiang region have left 21 people dead, including 15 police officers and officials…….”
Located in China’s resource-rich but moisture-poor Xinjiang autonomous region, Lop Nur is an uninviting location for any kind of agriculture. It sits at the eastern end of the Taklimakan Desert, where marching sand dunes can reach heights of 200 meters (650 feet), and dust storms rage across the landscape.
Yet for all it lacks in agricultural appeal, Lop Nur offers something valuable to farmers the world over: potash. This potassium salt provides a major nutrient required for plant growth, making it a key ingredient in fertilizer.
The discovery of potash at Lop Nur in the mid-1990s turned the area into a large-scale mining operation. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image of Lop Nur on May 17, 2011. The rectangular shapes in this image show the bright colors characteristic of solar evaporation ponds. Around the evaporation ponds are the earth tones typical of sandy desert.
During the early and middle Pleistocene epoch, this area held a large brackish lake. Uplift of the northern part of the lake in the late Pleistocene created hollows that became receptacles for potash deposition. The main potash deposits found at Lop Nur today are brine potash, and this site is the second-largest source of potash in China.
Lop Nur slowly dried up in the Holocene. The area now receives average annual precipitation of just 31.2 millimeters (1.2 inches), and experiences annual evaporation of 2,901 millimeters (114 inches), according to a study published in 2008. The study found, however, that this area has experienced seven major climate changes since the end of the Pleistocene, including climatic conditions far more favorable to farming and settlement than today.
Examination of plant and mollusk remains at the lake, as well as studies of sediments, indicate that the Lop Nur region experienced a severe drought about 3,000 years ago, followed by wetter conditions. Between 1,250 and 400 years ago, Lop Nur likely experienced the conditions most favorable to farming and settlement, and red willow trees grew in the area. Pottery dating from the Tang and Song dynasties further testifies to welcoming conditions at the lake centuries ago.
Starting around 400 years ago, however, a more arid climate took hold, completely drying out Lop Nur. Today, by providing potash, the desiccated lake still supports agriculture, but it does so for farming efforts further afield.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Michon Scott.
“At least 44 people have been killed in Bangladesh in a wave of violence sparked by a special tribunal’s decision to sentence a top Islamist opposition leader to death.
Reports Friday said the latest deaths took place in Gainbandha district, after two days of clashes between protesters and police. The protests were expected to continue after Friday prayers.
Many of the victims were shot Thursday in clashes between security forces and supporters of Delwar Hossain Sayedee. He was found guilty of crimes, including mass killings and rape, committed during the 1971 war against Pakistan for Bangladesh’s independence…..”
Egypt’s Morsi declares state of emergency, curfew after nearly 50 killed, hundreds injured in clashes
By Abigail Hauslohner and Sharaf al-Hourani,
The Washington Post Updated: Sunday, January 27, 5:17 PM
CAIRO — “Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfew across three major cities Sunday after violence raged for a third straight day, leaving nearly 50 dead and hundreds injured across the country…..Morsi said the state of emergency, which allows security forces to arrest and detain at will, would cover the cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia for 30 days……..”
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