Â鶹´«Ã½

An immense yellow-brown cloud of dirty air has been blowing eastward around
the globe during the past week, after a powerful early-April storm lifted dust
from the Gobi Desert. The cloud hit the US Pacific coast over Easter weekend and
obscured normally clear spring skies. As Â鶹´«Ã½ went to press
the cloud had reached the Great Lakes and was still on the move. US Navy
meteorologist Douglas Westphal says the dense, low-level haze from Asia contains
sulphates and other pollutants as well as dust, and its path over the US is
worrying. He says such pollution-laden plumes could become more common if China
continues to industrialise at its present rate.