A project to contain and irrigate the Taklimakan Desert in Northwest China is bearing fruit Imam Memet, a forest ranger with the Kekeya afforestation project, scans woodland in the area. [Xinhua] A project to contain and irrigate the Taklimakan Desert in Northwest China is bearing fruit More than 30 years ago, a war against desertification was waged silently in a little-known spot called Kekeya in Aksu prefecture, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Despite the low-key approach, the program's influence was widespread because the locals won the battle and passed on the task of fighting Mother Nature's quirks to those who will continue to strive for a better environment. Located at the northwestern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, the largest in China, Kekeya was once notorious for its unstable weather and frequent sandstorms. The Taklimakan, which at 337,000 square kilometers is only slightly smaller than Germany, is also the world's second-largest shifting sand desert. In 1986, officials in Kekeya launched an afforestation project to prevent the desert from expanding, and reduce the impact of dust and sandstorms on nearby residents. It was completed in 2015. Over the past 32 years, a green wall stretching for about 77,000 hectares has gradually been erected between the desert and local towns. The remarkable achievement in Kekeya has inspired more people to participate in ongoing ecological campaigns that are expected to transform the desert into an oasis. rubber bracelet meaningsthick rubber wristbandssilicone wristbands vancouverblue silicone braceletbest place to buy silicone wristbands
CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has lost his 29th consecutive Newspoll as the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) continues to rise.The latest Newspoll, released on Sunday night, revealed that the ALP maintained its lead over Turnbull's governing Liberal National Party (LNP) on a two-party preferred basis 53-47.The poll of 1,597 voters also found that the ALP's primary vote had risen to 39 percent, up one point from the previous poll, while the LNP stagnated at 37 percent.Worryingly for the LNP, Labor's rise came despite a majority of respondents saying they were opposed to ALP leader Bill Shorten's proposed tax reforms.The result means that if an election were held today, the LNP would lose with Shorten becoming prime minister.Scott Morrison, Australia's treasurer and one of Turnbull's top deputies, said the next federal election was more than a year away."Here are the numbers that I think Australians sweat on more than the Newspoll: the deficit has been halved, unemployment has fallen from 6.2 to 5.6 percent during the period you're referring to, 673,000 Australians have got a job, consumer confidence is up more than 10 percent," Morrison told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio on Monday."These are the things that change people's daily lives. Newspoll doesn't."Despite Shorten's tax plan, which would see the country save 59 billion Australian dollars (45.5 billion U.S. dollars) over 10 years, falling flat, his satisfaction rating among voters lifted one point to 34 percent, two points ahead of Turnbull.
