Word: regions
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Xinjiang is China's most exotic region. A vast, remote landmass three times the size of Texas and studded with mountains and deserts, the province once stood at the crossroads of the ancient Silk Road. Its capital, Urumqi, is far closer to Kabul than it is to Beijing. Xinjiang's population of 20 million is one of China's most diverse, with Uighurs, Kazakhs, Mongols, Tajiks and ever growing numbers of Han Chinese. Beneath the desert sands, reserves of oil, minerals and natural gas abound...
...other side of the continent, Senator Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, urged the NOAA to direct at least $500,000 to assess a disastrous red tide - a form of algal bloom. "The state of Maine is currently besieged by the most virulent red tide event ever recorded in the region," Snowe wrote. "As a result of this outbreak, virtually the entire coast of our state has been closed to the harvest of clams, mussels, ocean quahogs and other shellfish...
...Barrow, although none of them at all like this," Barry Sherr, an Oregon State University professor of oceanography, said in an e-mail. "The fact that the locals say they've never seen anything like it suggests that it might represent some exotic species which has drifted into the region, perhaps as a result of global change. For the moment, that's just a guess...
...Still, the chances that the region's heads of states will follow suit seem unlikely...
...That is significant - according to the World Health Organization, developing nations will account for 80% of the world's tobacco-related deaths over the next decade, as smoking rates in developed countries fall and tobacco companies step up their presence in other markets to compensate. "People in the region are watching Turkey closely," says Ratte, who is due to take her anti-smoking campaign to Egypt next. "It could become a regional role model, like Ireland was for Europe or New York for the rest...