Chinese Pollution Off The Charts

Before and during

Just how bad is the pollution in China right now? Hundreds have been sent to the hospitals with respiratory distress. Thirty-three cities have hazardous air advisories in place.

According to readings, from the US Embassy in Beijing, air quality particulate pollution readings have reached up into the seven hundreds. The normal scale maxes out at five hundred. Literally meaning that pollution levels are off the chart.

Above, the picture you see shows Beijing on a regular day, sometime in 2012, to the left. On the right you see the same angle taken during this last week.

Below are two photos released by NASA. They show the same region of China, but on two different days. In the top picture we see a view, from space, of January 3, while the bottom shows January 14. According to NASA the particulate pollution readings was three hundred and forty-one, when the second picture was taken.

Jan 3, 2013

Jan 14, 2013

France Increasing Troops Numbers in Mali as Rebels Promise Death to All French Troops

French forces continue to arrive in Mali, as they fight to keep the Malian capital from falling to Al Qaeda supported rebels.

France has announced it will increase it's troop numbers to twenty-five hundred soldiers, by the end of the week.

Rebel forces are promising to make France regret the intervention.

Oumar Ould Hamaha, a commander of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa released a statement, on Tuesday.

He said that, "every French soldier that comes into our territory should make sure to prepare his will beforehand, because he will not leave alive."

France is not alone in supporting Mali, the UK is providing transport planes and the US is providing intelligence and drones.

Nigeria has promised to send nine hundred soldiers, on Wednesday.

Other African and European Union countries have pledged support and troops, though none have a timetable yet.

83 Killed in University of Aleppo Explosions

At least eighty-three people were killed and over one hundred and sixty were injured when two blasts went off at a university in Syria, on Tuesday.

The explosions struck during the first day of exams at the University of Aleppo.

Both the government and rebel forces blamed each other for the attack.

However, the university is well within a loyalist area.

Tuesday has been one of the bloodiest days in the civil war, with two hundred and eighteen confirmed dead, on it alone.

Over sixty thousand people have been killed in the twenty-two month long conflict.

Pakistan Claims Soldier Killed by Indian Gun Fire

Pakistan claims that another of their soldiers was killed, by gunfire from India, Tuesday night.

This incident would mark the fourth time, in just over a week, that the two countries have exchanged deadly gunfire, along the Kashmir line of control.

In each incident, the two have blamed each other, or denied involvement.

Last Sunday, a Pakistani soldier was killed when Pakistan said they repulsed an Indian attack.

Then on last Tuesday, two Indian troops were killed and their bodies mutilated, in what the country claimed was a Pakistani incursion.

Another Pakistani soldier was killed, on Thursday, along the Kashmir border.

The series of events, between the two, have started worries that peace talks will be derailed.

India and Pakistan are at odds over the Kashmir area, which the two have split, and previously fought over.