BEIJING: China’s far western Xinjiang region has suspended mining in one of its big nature reserves, the official Xinhua news agency reported, amid rising environmental concerns.
The mining sector has been a crucial part of China’s rapid economic expansion in the past three decades, but poor regulation and weak enforcement of standards has contaminated much of the country’s soil and left parts of its land and water supplies unfit for human use, threatening public health.
Authorities in Xinjiang’s Altun national nature reserve have stopped 69 mining projects as part of a national campaign to tighten environmental supervision, Xinhua said.
All mining activities within the 46,800-square-kilometer reserve, home to endangered species such as Tibetan wild yak and wild ass, will be banned, it added.
In September, a Chinese mining association official said the authorities would cancel about a third of its iron ore mining licenses, mostly belonging to small polluting mines as part of Beijing’s efforts to improve air quality.
— REUTERS
China’s Xinjiang halts mining in nature reserve to curb pollution
China’s Xinjiang halts mining in nature reserve to curb pollution
No Saudi acquisition offers: FC Barcelona tells Al-Eqtisadiah
CAIRO: FC Barcelona has not received any offers, whether from Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, to acquire the club, according to an official source who spoke to Al-Eqtisadiah.
According to the source, the circulating news regarding the possibility of finalizing a deal to acquire the club in the coming period is a mere rumor.
Recent Spanish reports had indicated the possibility of a Saudi acquisition of Barcelona shares for around €10 billion ($11.7 billion), a move considered capable of saving the club from its financial crises if it were to happen, especially as it suffers from debts estimated at around €2.5 billion.
Sale not in management’s hands
Joan Gaspart, the former president of the club, confirmed that the current board of directors, chaired by Joan Laporta, does not have the right to dispose of the club’s ownership.
He added: “FC Barcelona is owned by about 150,000 members, and selling the club is something the owners will not accept. FC Barcelona possesses something no other club in the world has; money is very important, and so is passion, but the sentiment of the members today is to continue what the club has been for 125 years.”
High market value
Despite the financial crisis the club has been going through in recent years, FC Barcelona ranks sixth on the list of the world’s highest market value clubs, with an estimated value of €1.12 billion, according to Transfermarkt. Meanwhile, its rival Real Madrid tops the list with a market value of €1.38 billion.
