The beginning phases of industrialization are always tough on the environment. Both London and Los Angeles were famous for their polluted air, and it is only recently that progress has been made in preventing many particulates from entering the atmosphere. China now has some of the most polluted air on the planet (although New Delhi in India is reportedly quite bad as well). The World Health Organization puts the limit on toxic air particulates at 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air over 24 hours. The recent reading in the Chinese city of Shenyang registered at 1,400 micrograms. The photos are brutal.
9 November is an important day in German history. In 1938 it was the night of Kristallnacht, when thugs roamed the streets of Germany smashing the windows of stores and homes owned by Jews. The word refers to the sound the smashed glass (crystal) made all throughout the night. That night signaled the beginning of the Holocaust although measures against Jews had already become extensive throughout Germany. In 1989 it was the day the Berlin Wall fell. The wall had divided East and West Berlin since 1961 and was a stark symbol of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The fall of the Berlin Wall ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Kristallnacht The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Catalonia’s regional government has decided to declare independence from Spain in 2017. The Catalonians are angry with the Spanish central government since the province is one of the more economically dynamic areas of Spain and the central government takes more tax revenues out of the province than it returns in the form of governmental assistance. The central government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, will vigorously resist the move, but it is likely that Spain will have to endure a constitutional crisis.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment