Current Events

Kidnapped European Tourists Freed - CNN.com


Tourists in Egypt...

10 days ago, 11 European tourists and their 8 Egyptian guides were kidnapped from South of Egypt in Wadi al-Gadid, which is about 400 km from the Southern Egyptian city of Aswan. They were all traveling in 4 jeeps when they were apparently taken to Sudan. This kidnapping cause a start of a small conflict between Egypt and Europe.
The tourist group included 5 Germans, 5 Italians, and 1 Romanian. The guides were all Egyptian; 4 drivers, 3 security guards assigned to accompany the group and the owner of the company.

Today, all of them have been released unharmed.
All of them now are on a military flight back to another military base near Cairo, the capital of Egypt, reported Magdy Rady, a spokesman for the Prime minister of Egypt. However, the officials have not released the information of where they were kept and whether they made any arrests of the kidnappers.

September 29, 2008
CNN.com

China Recycling Wastes

This is a picture of all the radiators and generators that can give off dangerous gases. [Picture 3]

Above is an example of a three-wheeled bike. [Picture 2]

[Picture 1]


When the US or Europe wants to send China more recyclables, they usually send it by cargo ships. It is rare that they use a plane because that is more expensive.
You can see all the time in Beijing, three-wheeled bicycles carrying junk and trash [Picture 2]. Well, these people who ride them collect trash and items that can be recycled they can make a living out of it. When they collect plastic bottles, they can get a refund of 0.1 yuan (US $0.10) which isn't much. But once they've collected dozens and dozens, they've got money! Stuff like toys, ACs, TVs and computers, the riders of the three-wheeled bicycles can take them apart and sell the parts. Great, we've got all the good stuff about recycling in China. How 'bout the negative side of it?
What if there are wires and small particles of those toys, ACs, TVs and computers can't be used again or they can't find anything to do with them? Well, if they are those people who ride on those three-wheeled bikes, they just dump it at the local dump site [Picture 1]. This is a picture of a woman trying to dig out useful wires that she can use for something else. Maybe she found some parts that she can use for something. Or maybe she works there. The government takes people for jobs and put them at the dump sites to burn the items that can't be used again and can't be recycled. This creates air pollution with all the smoke. Some of the generators from the electronical items give out weird and dangerous gases [Picture 3].

China - Recycling - USA - Europe

China has been getting exports from the USA and Europe. Why? And which countries?
Why? - "As China threatens to supplant Japan as the third-largest U.S. export market, local companies are finding that China's appetite for everything from old paper to chemicals to semiconductors"[CNN]
Los Angeles has been one of those countries that send paper to China.
In Florida, there is a China-Latin America Trade Center for Recyclables.
Mostly places where there are many industries in America, they sometimes send their waste products to China.

Sometimes though, China asks the companies to send their waste products to China. It seems that China is really serious about the green movement.

In Europe, countries like England and France are sending their waste products to China and China has been converting them into recycled paper. China has been saving many forest with their new improved technique, especially in India and Russia where many people get their paper.