aral sea
April 4, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called the drying up of the Aral Sea one of the planet’s most shocking disasters and urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.
Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.
The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea’s evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.
Ban toured the sea by helicopter as part of a visit to the five countries of former Soviet Central Asia. His trip included a touchdown in Muynak, Uzbekistan, a town once on the shore where a pier stretches eerily over gray desert and camels stand near the hulks of stranded ships.
“On the pier, I wasn’t seeing anything, I could see only a graveyard of ships,” Ban told reporters after arriving in Nukus, the nearest sizable city and capital of the autonomous Karakalpak region.
“It is clearly one of the worst disasters, environmental disasters of the world. I was so shocked,” he said.
The Aral Sea catastrophe is one of Ban’s top concerns on his six-day trip through the region and he is calling on the countries’ leaders to set aside rivalries to cooperate on repairing some of the damage.
“I urge all the leaders … to sit down together and try to find the solutions,” he said, promising United Nations support.
However, cooperation is hampered by disagreements over who has rights to scarce water and how it should be used.
In a presentation to Ban before his flyover, Uzbek officials complained that dam projects in Tajikistan will severely reduce the amount of water flowing into Uzbekistan. Impoverished Tajikistan sees the hydroelectric projects as potential key revenue earners.
Competition for water could become increasingly heated as global warming and rising populations further reduce the amount of water available per capita.
Water problems also could brew further dissatisfaction among civilians already troubled by poverty and repressive governments; some observers fear that could feed growing Islamist sentiment in the region.
Ban also is taking on the region’s frequently poor human rights conditions.
That is likely to be an especially tense issue when he meets Monday with Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has led the country since the 1991 Soviet collapse and imposed severe pressure on opposition and civil rights activists.
The meeting comes less than two weeks after the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued a report criticizing Uzbekistan, including calling for fuller investigation of the brutal suppression of a 2005 uprising in the city of Andijan. Opposition and rights groups claim that hundreds were killed, but authorities insist the reports are exaggerated and angrily reject any criticism.
Pakistan Players to Miss 3rd Edition of IPL: Modi
ISLAMABAD : Four players have received clearance to get their visas to travel to neighbouring India to feature in the lucrative Indian Premier League, the nation’s cricket chief said Thursday.
“Our High Commissioner in New Delhi has confirmed that four Pakistani players — Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Misbah-ul Haq and Kamran Akmal — have got clearance to get visas,” said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt.
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But IPL official Lalit Modi had announced that players from across the border would miss the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2010) because they did not get their visas before a deadline.
Butt said he would talk to Modi to try and get him to reconsider.
“I hope they will consider this latest development,” Butt told AFP.
Modi had ruled out Pakistani players’ participation in the league after the Monday deadline for completing all formalities including obtaining visas for the March 12 to April 25 event elapsed.
Eleven Pakistani players — Gul, Kamran, Tanvir, Misbah, Younus Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Malik, Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez — featured in the first edition of the IPL in 2008.
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The PCB said last week that Islamabad had granted permission to the players to take part in the third season of the IPL, but the delay in securing Indian visas created an obstacle.
Pakistan Players to Miss 3rd Edition of IPL: Modi was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 9:59 pm.
Carlos Monasterios
Carlos Monasterios, Big news this morning: the Mets pitcher was Carlos Monasteries in Rule 5.
Do not worry, not supposed to have heard of him. The fun part is that he took in organizing the Philadelphia Phillies.
Monasteries is a 23-year-old right-hander (will be 24 March) of Venezuela, which produces a hard burden of the 90 low. It was acquired by the Phillies in the deal that sent Bobby Abreu to the Yankees, and has performed with mixed results since.
Originally a starter, he moved to the bullpen in 2009 – which appears 29 times in relief and making 8 starts. Of the 37 games, 35 came to Clearwater in the Florida State League (A). He threw a total of 7 entries for AA Reading last year. He had two saves and pitched a Clearwater.
Overall, his ERA was 3.73 last year more than 89 IP, 75 K, 29 BB, 4 HR, 79 H, to 1.21 WHIP. You can see their full statistics here.
Monasteries Personally I have never seen release, so I can not comment beyond what is available on the interweb super highway. Seems to be a very big leap to go from one ball to MLB, but it has done before.
Carlos Monasterios was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 10:10 pm.
Singapore Vs Laos
Singapore Vs Laos, A full house of 20,000 fans are expected when Laos take on Singapore in tonight’s Group B football match.
A draw at the National Stadium in Vientiane will see both teams qualify for the semi-finals.
As for our Young Lions, they last won a bronze medal at the 2007 SEA Games.
And 5 players from that team including Isa Halim and Saiful Isa, are with the current squad in Laos.
Well, playing in his very 1st SEA Games, central defender Eddie Chang says, he’s hoping to go one better this time round.
So it’s Laos vs Singapore on a delayed telecast on Channel 5 at 11pm.
For more details on our boys and the other Team Singapore athletes, do get your copy of the TODAY Paper.
Meanwhile,
Singapore continued their dominance in Vientaine as the men’s table tennis team routed Indonesia 3-nil last night.
With the win, Yang Zi, Gao Ning and Cai Xiaoli are through to the semi-finals.
The Republic’s women’s team also finished the group stages on a high note, with their 3-0 victory over the Philippines.
Led by Feng Tianwei, they’ll face Malaysia in the semi-finals later this morning, while our men will square off against Vietnam in the last 4.
Also happening today, is the start of the swimming programme.
7 gold medals at stake with Singapore’s Tao Li and Quah Ting Wen expected to make the finals.
Singapore Vs Laos was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 10:33 pm.
