“Ukraine’s Next Casualties Could Be Its Farmers”, “One in Eight Deaths Worldwide Is Linked to Air Pollution”, "Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's Shadowy Man Of The Hour", “US wants to remain in Afghanistan: Ex-US official”

businessweek.com. “Ukraine’s Next Casualties Could Be Its Farmers” - After taking part in protests that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February, some Ukrainian farmers rushed back to their land to prepare for spring planting.

“One in Eight Deaths Worldwide Is Linked to Air Pollution” - One in eight deaths worldwide can be attributed at least in part to air pollution exposure, according to a March 25 report by the World Health Organization. In 2012, the WHO linked 7 million deaths worldwide to air pollution—making it the “world’s largest single environmental health risk.”

rferl.org."Profile: Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's Shadowy Man Of The Hour"-Petro Poroshenko is one of the richest men in Ukraine and has been a player in national politics since 1998. Yet he remains, for the most part, an unknown quantity, a gray figure without a significant public image. 

presstv.ir. “US wants to remain in Afghanistan: Ex-US official” - Press TV has conducted an interview with Michael Maloof, a former Pentagon officer, from Washington, to discuss whether the US will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by 2014.

“Central Asian states must unite to halt the spread of jihadism” -  After US withdrawal from Afghanistan, central Asia’s stability is at risk, ft.com reports. The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan this year is almost as worrying to the country’s neighbours as to the Afghans themselves. The five central Asian states – Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan – fear an upsurge in Islamic terrorism, increased flows of heroin and a flood of refugees. The US-led intervention, which aimed to uproot al-Qaeda from Afghanistan, may instead have scattered the seeds of jihadism over a wider field.

aljazeera.com. “The US Pivots East, China Marches West” - As the U.S. shifts its attention to Asia, China in turn seeks increased influence in and access to Central Asia. In November, when the U.S. sent two B-52s defiantly through China’s newly proclaimed air defense identification zone, it seemed no more than move and countermove. In fact, it was the first clash of two ultimately clashing policies —the United States’ so-called “pivot” east, representing the U.S.’s shift in military and diplomatic attention toward Asia, and China’s economically driven march west into Central Asia, where the U.S. has been very active since launching its global war on terrorism.

globaltimes.cn. “Taking tradition abroad” - The International Education College at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (founded in 1956) started enrolling international students some 30 years ago and has to date trained 10,000 TCM practitioners, acupuncturists and physical therapists from nearly 100 countries and regions. Last year, 185 students joined the college for undergraduate or master's degrees and 104 students graduated. 

foreignpolicyjournal.com. “In taking Crimea, Putin will lose Central Asia and the Caucasus” - After three months of intense protests, Ukrainian pro-West demonstrators managed to topple President Viktor Yanukovytch, whose policy had turned toward Russia. As a result of this popular coup, Russia, under the pretext of defending the “threatened” Russian population, intervened in Crimea, annexing this Ukrainian autonomous province after a majority of the Crimean people voted in a referendum for accession to Russia (the referendum was boycotted by a significant portion of the population).