BBC NEWS | Magazine | The filthy air conundrum

Beijing is taking drastic measures to improve its air quality in the run-up to the Olympics. But is it possible to conquer air pollution in a short space of time?

In China's capital city, emergency measures are afoot.

It is nine days until the games begin. Beijing has a reputation for bad air pollution and if the national stadium is shrouded in smog on the first day of the games, the embarrassment will be palpable.

Driving through the city is restricted to cars with even or odd number plates on alternating days. Factory emissions have been reduced and some building sites shut down.

BBC NEWS Magazine The filthy air conundrum

EarthTrends: Searchable Database - Population, Health and Human Well-being

Example of data available:

Population, Health and Human Well-being

SEARCHABLE DATABASE

Select the variable you wish to view from the list.

Access to Information: Broadband internet subscribers

Access to Information: Cellular mobile telephone subscribers

Access to Information: Cellular mobile telephone subscribers per 1000 people

Access to Information: Homes with personal computers

EarthTrends: Searchable Database - Population, Health and Human Well-being

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk

BBC NEWS Science/Nature Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk

EO Newsroom: New Images - Sea Surface Temperature and Hurricane Bertha

On land, the passage of a severe storm might be marked by fallen trees or swollen streams. In the ocean, a hurricane leaves a swath of cold water in its path. That trail of cold water marks the passage of Hurricane Bertha through the North Atlantic Ocean in this sea surface temperature image, taken by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 7, 2008. Water that is warm enough to fuel a hurricane—about 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit)—is yellow and orange, while cooler water is blue and white.

EO Newsroom: New Images - Sea Surface Temperature and Hurricane Bertha

Olympics environment: Beijing shuts all building sites and more factories to clear the smog | World news | The Guardian

Beijing's Olympic organisers are planning new emergency measures to reduce pollution after the draconian steps introduced a week ago failed to stop a grimy haze from smothering the host city.

Air quality has failed to reach national standards for four of the seven days since the city took more than 1m cars off the roads and shut hundreds of factories.

With less than two weeks until the opening ceremony, organisers are planning more drastic steps to ensure that the "Greyjing" tag does not undermine the promise of a green Olympics and force endurance events such as the marathon, triathlon and 10km open-water swim to be postponed.

According to the China Daily, all building sites and more factories in and around Beijing may be temporarily closed if the air quality deteriorates during the games.

Olympics environment: Beijing shuts all building sites and more factories to clear the smog World news The Guardian

Haiti: Mud cakes The Guardian

Brittle and gritty - and as revolting as they sound - these are "mud cakes". For years they have been consumed by impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, a risky and medically unproven supplement, but now the cakes have become a staple for entire families.

Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach World news The Guardian

BBC NEWS | Business | Mumbai's slum life poses world problem

Mumbai - according to the UN - has a population of 19 million. And the UN forecasts that total will rise to more than 26 million by 2025. At that point, it would be the most heavily populated "urban agglomeration" in the world, apart from Tokyo and its surroundings. Mumbai's increase in population will partly be caused by increasing life expectancy and partly by migration from other, poorer, parts of India. Although Mumbai is India's commercial capital and rents for luxury apartments are some of the highest in the world, it is estimated that more than half the city's population live in slums. And controversial plans to redevelop the slums highlight some of the problems faced by mega-cities around the world.

BBC NEWS | Business | Mumbai's slum life poses world problem

Benidorm History Benidorm Old Photos

In 1956 the town mayor approved plans to build the now famous
avenues along the Levante which would welcome at first Spanish
tourists and later those from Holland, Germany and Britain. The first
package holidays to Benidorm for as little as 21 euro for a week
half board in the four star Delfin Hotel including air travel to
Valencia airport which opened in 1933. In those early years the
coach trip from Valencia took four and a half hours. Late evening
arrivals when hotel kitchens were closed necessitated a stop at a
road side Tapas bar where a bottle of wine would only cost 9
pesetas and dinner 15 pesetas.
Alicante airport did not open until April1967. Once opened this
was the biggest contributing factor to Benidorm´s success as a
holiday resort, together with the introduction of modern jet airliners.
These made flying more cost effective and for the first time
enabled the ordinary family to enjoy a basic holiday abroad. This
was the beginnings of the end for many seaside destinations in
Britain such as the channel islands which saw tourist numbers
decline rapidly. Passenger numbers reached 8.9 million in 2005
and a new terminal is due to open in 2009 to cope with the
increased air traffic of which 80% arrives from foreign destinations.

Benidorm History Benidorm Old Photos

Abandoned, derelict, covered in graffiti and rubbish: What is left of Athens' £9billion Olympic 'glory' | Mail Online

Abandoned, derelict, covered in graffiti and rubbish: What is left of Athens' £9billion Olympic 'glory' | Mail Online

Association of Public Health Observatories - Health Profiles Interactive

Health Profiles Interactive is a service new to Health Profiles 2008. It was designed to allow users to select indicators and areas for comparison through a map or list in an intuitive visual interface including the Health Profiles spine chart format.

The interactive atlases have been produced at several different geography levels to allow indicator comparisons over these geographies.

Association of Public Health Observatories - Health Profiles Interactive

China's £4bn drive to buy Africa's mineral wealth - Telegraph

Full scale work by the Chinese begins to rebuild 2,050 miles of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, left to rot in the rainforest after the Belgian colonialists pulled out 48 years ago and further shattered by seven years of war.

The vast project, which will triple Congo's current paved road network, is part of China's largest investment in Africa, a £4.5 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal signed in January.

China's £4bn drive to buy Africa's mineral wealth - Telegraph

Africa's economy

BBC NEWS

Anagrams of country names

ANAGRAMS

Anagrams of country names

English dialect vocabulary

Recordings of all sorts of UK dialects and accents

English dialect vocabulary

BBC Correspondents Map by Stuart Pinfold

This is a map showing the location of news correspondants. Great for Geography in the news items

BBC Correspondents Map by Stuart Pinfold

World Weather - Local Weather Forecast

Interesting weather site worth a play

World Weather - Local Weather Forecast

Wasting food | Environment | The Guardian

Waste not ...

We throw out 4.1m tonnes of food each year - the equivalent of £420 for every home. The government wants us to cut back, but how can we break our habit? Laura Barton and Jon Henley ask the experts for tips

Laura Barton and Jon Henley on how to break the habit of wasting food | Environment | The Guardian

Video: Argentinian glacier begins rare winter rupture

VIDEO

Video: Argentinian glacier begins rare winter rupture | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Eight new natural wonders added to World Heritage list | Environment | guardian.co.uk

A Canadian fossil park, an Icelandic volcanic island and an archipelago in Yemen are among the latest sites to be added to the World Heritage list of natural wonders. Each year the IUCN World Conservation Union evaluates hundreds of nominated sites for the list in a bid to protect and preserve natural heritage around the world that is considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. There are 855 properties on the World Heritage list: 663 are of cultural importance, 166 of natural value and 26 are mixed sites

Eight new natural wonders added to World Heritage list | Environment | guardian.co.uk

URBAN EARTH

For the first time in human history more people are living in urban than rural places. Over the summer of 2008 URBAN EARTH will be travelling on foot across Mexico City, London and Mumbai to witness our increasingly URBAN EARTH.

URBAN EARTH

Global Warming Mindmap

Enjoy Live the Solution's Mind Map Illustration | BBC Green

MALARIA

EarthPortal » Environment In Focus

placeSpotting.com | The online map game | solve

Go to the website and click CREATE.
Move and zoom the map until it shows an interesting place. Provide some hints for the person / friend who will try to solve the puzzle (a number of hints can be provided) and a message that they will see if the riddle is solved. After saving the quiz you can send it by mail to a friend or embed it in your homepage as a picture. The task is to find the place shown in your picture on a second google map.
The website has 6638 different quizzes stored. 108274 quizzes were solved and
927275 opened.

placeSpotting.com | The online map game | solve

Spain: Dark days for Brits who sought a life in the sun | World news

It was supposed to be paradise. Now the thousands of expats who flocked to Spain for its blue skies and low prices find themselves trapped by a crashing property market, a tumbling pound and bitter planning rows

Spain: Dark days for Brits who sought a life in the sun | World news | The Observer

News: Sustainability - London 2012

News: Venue images - London 2012

News: Venue images - London 2012

Global Rich List

HOW RICH ARE YOU?
Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world. Wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out. Just enter your annual income into the box below and hit 'show me the money'

The GLOBAL RICH LIST

BBC NEWS | World | Denmark 'world's happiest nation'

 

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.

The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.

BBC NEWS | World | Denmark 'world's happiest nation'

Latest environment interactive | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Latest environment interactive | Environment | guardian.co.uk