Word: regionality
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...last year, the British army deployed 3,300 soldiers to Afghanistan's Helmand province - an arid, mostly desert region in the country's southwest. Tasked to provide security for ongoing NATO reconstruction and humanitarian efforts, they expected little combat. But within weeks the troops were engaged in daily battles with the Taliban and, by the end of their tour in October 2006, had fired 480,000 rounds of ammunition, fought in nearly 500 skirmishes and mourned the loss of 15 comrades...
...millenniums, China hardly touched the mighty Mekong, content to let its raging headwaters flow unimpeded from the Tibetan plateau down through Laos, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. But over the past few years, the emergent superpower has begun turning the world's 12th-longest river into a highway for regional commerce and a source of hydroelectric power. For many Indochinese entrepreneurs, increased China trade and investment has allowed a backward region to participate in their upstream neighbor's remarkable economic expansion. Southeast Asian governments hope China will share the electricity it will harness after a series of massive dams...
...season, scientists worry that Xiaowan will act as a spigot that controls the destiny of millions of people in five countries. Environmental groups estimate that 35% of the silt that's needed to fertilize floodplains down south may be obstructed by the dam - distressing news for a region that depends on the Mekong for 80% of its protein needs and, in the lower river basin, rice production...
...regional government has promised to eradicate the plague in five weeks by burning fields, distributing poison, and clearing nests. But earlier this week a German biologist hired to assist with the endeavor told El País newspaper that he had doubts about the plan. In Fresno el Viejo, where selected fields were burned in early August, the impact was minimal, says Medina: "The voles just went to other fields." Silvia Clemente, Councilwoman for the region of Castilla-León, announced on Wednesday that there had been a 58% reduction in voles in towns where active treatment with poison...
Growers across the region are angry about what they consider an inadequate government response, and agricultural unions are threatening collective action. In the meantime, some farmers are taking matters into their own hands. One potato field just outside of Fresno is dotted with poison-filled red plastic tubes. Medina, who fears the environmental and health risks of the chemicals, instead puts out buckets of water each night. "Voles are stupid animals," he says. "Plus they're not very good swimmers. They fall...