Feb. 3, 2007: Environment, Russia, China, Sudan

Russia probes smelly orange snow , Feb. 2, 2007, BBC

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
europe/6323611.stm

Russia has flown a team of chemical experts to a Siberian region to find out why smelly, coloured snow has been falling over several towns.

Oily yellow and orange snowflakes fell over an area of more than 1,500sq km (570sq miles) in the Omsk region on Wednesday, Russian officials said.

[....] the snow had four times the normal levels of iron in it.

[....] The TV also reported that coloured snow had fallen in the neighbouring regions of Tomsk and Tyumen.

Omsk, in western Siberia, is a centre of Russia's oil industry. About 27,000 people live in the areas affected by the snow, Russian officials said.

Chinese leader boosts Sudan ties
China's President Hu Jintao agrees more economic deals in Sudan, which China protects from UN sanctions. , Feb. 3, 2007

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
africa/6323017.stm

Chinese President Hu Jintao has agreed on a series of economic deals in Sudan, which China has protected from UN sanctions over the Darfur conflict.

China announced an interest-free loan to build a new presidential palace, and said it would build two schools. China already buys most of Sudan's oil.

[....] China has used its veto at the UN Security Council to block moves to impose sanctions on Sudan unless it stops the fighting in Darfur.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in the capital, Khartoum, says the Sudanese government meanwhile has violated numerous ceasefire agreements, bombing civilians and launching ground assaults - often with weapons bought directly from China.

[....] In the 1980s and 1990s, when human rights abuses and civil war forced Western companies to pull out, China stepped in. [....]

Search: the lack of conditions , Liberia

Remember the cries of activists over Talisman in Sudan? Talisman had to leave; it was getting such bad press, though there may have been other reasons. Is Sudan any better off today with China as mentor?