twin cities blog

ry's president said. Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic, indicted for genocide, would get approval from Serbia’s war crimes court to visit his daughter’s grave, but the decision would likely be vetoed by the security services, Reuters reports. Mladic, accused in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, was frequently seen visiting his daughter’s grave before he went underground in the early 2000s, according to Reuters. Mladic’s daughter Ana committed suicide in 1994 with her father’s handgun and was buried at a cemetery in the outskirts of Belgrade. "The court has tentatively agreed to allow this, but the final decision is in the hands of security services as such a move poses a major security risk," said the court official who asked not to be named. "Because of that, it is unlikely this wd that investigation resulted in 74 people being detained in 56 cases that were handed to police for possible prosecution. Lead poisoning can damage the nervous, muscular and reproductive systems. Children are particularly at risk. The poisonings in Taizhou were among many in Zhejiang, a major battery production center, and elsewhere in eastern and southern China that appear to have prompted the latest push for better local enforcement of laxly observed environmental standards. "All remediation will be conducted according to strict discipline. Dismantling of illegal smelters and small, unauthorized electroplating workshops will be conducted strictly according to law," the statement cited Cai Xumin, a local official in charge of the Taizhou cleanup, as saying. In Zhejiang's Deqing county, where 53 people were hospitalized after tests in late April found high lead levels in the blood of 332 residents near a factory making lead-acid motorcycle batteries, all three local factories were ordered to stop production, said county public outreach official Ji Huibin. The crackdown is aimed at preventing and reducing contamination of the environment with toxins such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and other heavy metals that have left much of China dangerously polluted. Thousands of children were affected by lead poisoning in several provinces in 2009 and 2010 because they lived near metal smelters or battery factories. Combined with scandals over contaminated foods and milk, the issue has taken on urgency for government leaders who have promised to deliver more sustainable, people-oriented economic growth. Manufacturers of lead-acid batteries are a key target. An explosion in the use of electric scooters and surging auto manufacturing have driven up demand for batteries, but mining, smelting, making and disposal of the lead and the batteries have been poorly regulated. "It doesn't matter what the reason is, companies and local officials must take responsibility for failing to meet e