Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for implementation of political reform measures during a tour in Shenzhen, the nation's first special economic zone (SEZ) which thirty years ago opened the way for the economic reforms that have helped China become a world power.
A study has measured the amount of plastic debris found in a region of the Atlantic Ocean over a 22-year period. US researchers, writing in Science, suggest the volume of plastic appeared to have peaked in recent years.
Only nine of the 63 pilot whales which were found stranded on a beach of New Zealand’s northern island on Friday are believed to have survived. Thirteen whales were re-floated Saturday but four of them got back into difficulty and NZ Department of Conservation staff made the tough decision to euthanize them.
Phorusrhacids have been extinct for millions of years, yet the so-called terror birds just got a bit more frightening. The flightless birds stood up to three meters tall and had hook-beaked heads the size of horse heads. Now a new study has apparently deciphered how the birds used those fearsome skulls—employing a fighting style like that of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
China is increasingly looking to its Asian neighbours' currencies to lessen its reliance on the US dollar, both for investment and trade. Slowing the pace at which it amasses US Treasury papers, China has started buying more South Korean and Japanese government bonds.
Brazil has overtaken Canada and Spain to become the world’s eighth largest economy, relegating Spain to ninth place, Spanish newspaper Expansión reported Wednesday.
Representatives from African coastal states attend a workshop in the United Kingdom designed to build capacity in tackling illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. IUU fishing is damaging to fish stocks, the marine environment, food security and wider economic growth and development.
As soon as pilot whales are sighted in the waters off the Faroe Islands the hunting frenzy takes hold of the about 48.000 inhabitants. Boats are launched and pods of whales are herded into the next official hunting bay.
French gruyere producers have given up trying to win the coveted appellation d'origine controlée (AOC) certification, ceding the official label to the Swiss. They had been planning to take the matter to the European Commission, but decided against the risk: if their demand for the label had been rejected, they would have lost the right to call their cheese gruyere at all.
Australia should drop its ties to the British monarchy when the Queen’s reign ends, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this week in the midst of national election campaigning.