Eye on the Globe

-Turkmenistan has launched the latest stage of a plan to channel water across thousands of kilometres of desert to create a vast inland sea. The lake will be filled with drainage water from the country's cotton fields.

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said the "Golden Age Lake" plan showed his country was preserving nature and improving the environment.

But critics say the water will be full of fertiliser and insecticides, and will evaporate quickly.

The project is one of the biggest and most ambitious in the world, and could cost up to $20bn ($7 billion usd).

President Berdymukhamedov opened up the first tributary to bring water to a natural depression in the Karakum Desert. The desert covers more than 80% of Turkmenistan.
He told the crowd that the lake would make the desert bloom.

-BEIJING - More people now go online in China than there are people in the United States.

The country's rapid economic growth and expansion of Internet access in more areas has fueled a sharp increase in Internet users, totaling 338 million by the end of June, a government-sanctioned research group said.

The latest U.S. Census Bureau's figure says the population of the U.S. is just under 307 million. China's population is more than 1.3 billion.

China's population of Internet users has been growing at explosive rates despite government efforts to block access to material deemed subversive or pornographic.

-Brazilian police are investigating after 64 containers with more than 1,400 tonnes of hazardous UK waste were found in three of the country's ports.

The authorities say that among the material which was brought in illegally they discovered batteries, syringes, condoms and nappies. Since the initial discovery, another 25 containers with hospital waste were found, also apparently from England.

In a statement the British Embassy in Brazil promised "immediate steps". It said the UK was completely opposed to any kind of illegal trade in waste.

Public resentment over the issue increased when it was revealed that inside one of the containers was a collection of dirty toys with a note in Portuguese saying they should be washed before being given to "poor Brazilian children".