China overtakes US: China has edged ahead of the US as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases (ghg). According to the findings of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China's emissions increased by 8 per cent in 2007, which is two-thirds of the growth in the year's global ghg emissions. With this, China's emissions were 14 per cent higher than the us's.
Dead rivers: The pollution level in the river Buriganga and its tributaries Turag and Norai, which flow across Dhaka, is so high that no living organism can survive in these waters. A three-year research by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology has found that some aquatic life forms come into being in these rivers only when water flow increases during the rains and completely disappear in the dry season.
High on coca: Colombian farmers devoted 27 per cent more land for coca crop, the raw ingredient of cocaine, in 2007 over the previous year. According to a report by the un's Office on Drugs and Crime, the increase is a "a shock" given the government's efforts to destroy coca crops. The farmers are shifting to smaller plots in remote locations to avoid the drug police. Colombia has the world's largest cocaine industry.
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