Economist, Nov 8, 2014

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East Asian firms in China | A Bridge Over Troubled Waters; Taiwan, Japan and South Korea employ huge numbers of mainland Chinese.
www.economist.com/news/asia/2163 ... ver-troubled-waters

Quote:

"At the latest count 88,000 firms from Taiwan employ 15.6m Chinese workers. About 11m are employed at 23,000 Japanese firms or their suppliers. Throw in 2m more workers for South Korean enterprises, and companies from around the troubled East China Sea have approaching 30m Chinese on their payrolls. Most of these Chinese, of course, have factory jobs.

"A large number of the jobs are filled by migrant workers from the Chinese countryside. About 163m people were working outside their home area in 2012.

"In truth, many Chinese like working for foreign firms. They follow China’s labour rules as well as, and often better than, local firms; they also pay fairly well. And, by and large, they [Taiwanese companies and, until recently, Japanese ones] continue to hire.

choi

Kazakhstan’s spaceport | Final Countdown; Russia is thinking of moving its space operations out of Kazakhstan.
www.economist.com/news/asia/2163 ... tan-final-countdown

Quote:

"From Baikonur—now in central Kazakhstan, then in the Soviet Union—Sputnik and Laika the dog blasted off in the 1950s, and Yuri Gagarin shot into orbit and fame in 1961. * * * Russia pays about $115m a year to lease the remote chunk of steppe. Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, launches most of its rockets from Baikonur: between 22 and 25 each year.

"Kazakhstan tried to limit Proton launches because the rocket uses an especially toxic fuel. But Russia needs its workhorse. Thanks to the Proton [rocket], which launches only from Baikonur, Russia has held a third of the commercial space-launch market over the past decade, says Rachel Villain of Euroconsult, a space-industry consultancy.

"Russia is speeding up construction of its Vostochny (“Eastern”) Cosmodrome near the Chinese border [promised to be completed in 2015].

"Meanwhile, Baikonur and Vostochny have a competitor: the European Space Agency’s spaceport in French Guiana, where Russia began launching Soyuzes three years ago. Because Guiana is close to the equator, rockets can blast off from there with twice the payload.

Note:
(a)
(i) Baikonur Cosmodrome
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome
(world's first and largest operational space launch facility; in the desert steppe; leased and managed by Russia; section 1.1.1 Name)
(ii) English dictionary
* Baikonur
www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/baikonur
* cosmodrome
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmodrome
* -drome
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drome

(b)
(i) French Guiana
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guiana

, whose Devil's Island was featured in the 1973 film Papillon.
(ii) Guyana
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana
(section 1 Etymology)

Take notice the first vowels of Guiana and Guyana are pronounced differently, despite sharing the etymology.