Substantial glacier ice loss in Central Asia's largest mountain range

ScienceDaily: "Glaciers in Central Asia experience substantial losses in glacier mass and area. Along the Tien Shan, Central Asia's largest mountain range, glaciers have lost 27% of their mass and 18% of their area during the last 50 years. "

Will China be dragged down by oil wars copying the US?

globeandmail : "Japan called on China on Tuesday to halt construction of oil-and-gas exploration platforms in the East China Sea close to waters claimed by both nations, concerned that Chinese drills could tap reservoirs that extend into Japanese territory."

The cost of capitalist development, health and the environment

Zero Hedge: "Ill health and chronic disease are undercutting the economic growth everyone is focusing on. Whatever the metric used--hours of labor lost to illness, years of labor lost to early retirement due to ill-health, etc.--the costs of China's environmental damage, disrupted social order and low investment in public health are weighing heavily on output."

China invests USD 3.5B in Brazil oil

Zero Hedge: "With that in mind, we find it somewhat ironic that the China Development Bank (which isn’t the same as the AIIB but which we think might offer some clues as the how the new venture will be run under Beijing’s control), is set to provide $3.5 billion in financing to Brazil’s deeply indebted Petrobras. The new funding comes 6 years after a $10 billion oil export deal between the company and China and just days after Brazil signed up as a founding member of the AIIB. "

China walking into same oil-dependency trap as US

New oil pipeline highlights China’s effort to strengthen energy security - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun: "KYAUKPYU, Myanmar--China has constructed a pipeline to pump crude oil from the Bay of Bengal to southern China through Myanmar as part of an effort to ease its reliance on the pirate-ridden Malacca Strait.

China also constructed a deep-water port in Myanmar so it can annually transport 22 millions tons of crude, the equivalent of 8 percent of China's total oil import in 2013, through the pipeline."

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Shocking Images Of China's Dire Pollution Problem

Zero Hedge:

Beijing to Moscow in 30 hours -- by train

Zero Hedge : "China will build a 7,000-kilometer (4,350-mile) high-speed rail link from Beijing to Moscow, at a cost of 1.5 trillion yuan ($242 billion), Beijing’s city government said. The rail-link - which will bring travel time between Beijing and Moscow down from 5 days to 30 hours "