Of glass... . ..and porcelain and adamantine steel...

The tunnel operators we met insisted they were only smuggling gravel, cement and steel.

But the European coal and steel union became possible only after Europe s major political conflicts were resolved.

Efforts are being made to introduce improvements in cement and steel production to ensure that these processes are ecologically and environmentally friendly.

Regional identity, cultural diversity, and traditional arts and customs have been buried under concrete, steel, and glass all over China.

Modern kaleidoscopes are made of brass tubes, stained glass, wood, steel, gourds or almost any material an artist can use.

The first moment when decisive French leadership began to unify Europe came when Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer created the European Coal and Steel Community.

Nor can they be considered the first tentative steps towards such a shared destiny, in the manner of the 1952 European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, which began the project for European unity.

Some Parties identified plans to modernize industrial processes and equipment through the introduction of improvements in cement and steel production to ensure that these processes are ecologically and environmentally friendly.

The current approach of providing iron folate supplements during pregnancy has had limited impact on anaemia rates during pregnancy, owing to problems in distribution.

Spillover effects from the original Coal and Steel Community of the 1950's led to the creation of the European Economic Community, then to the European Community, and finally to the creation of the Union.

Accordingly, what became the European Union started inconspicuously, with the integration of French and German industries that had been most directly associated with war production coal and steel.

This has led energy intensive European industries including producers of glass, steel, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals to invest heavily in the US.

The policy is rooted in central planning, which, three decades ago, led to artificially low prices and, in turn, to shortages of basic necessities and key production inputs, such as grain and steel.

As a result, China s economy is dominated by resource hungry and inefficient polluters, such as coal and mineral mines, textile and paper mills, iron and steel makers, petrochemical factories, and building material producers.

Billions of dollars are flowing into auto, steel, chemical, and high tech electronics plants, setting the stage for China to be a major exporter of high end products.

Similarly, to cultivate bio fuels on land that would otherwise be used to produce sustainable construction materials would drive up the prices of these materials and encourage their substitution by non sustainable materials like concrete and steel.

On July 24, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin initiated the first act by fiercely attacking, without evidence, the timid owner of the giant coal and steel company Mechel for price gouging and tax evasion.

For example, in the US, the Engineering News Record Building Cost Index (which is based on prices of labor, concrete, steel, and lumber) has actually fallen relative to consumer prices over the past 30 years.

Indeed, the parallels with the role of coal and steel in forging the European Union are clear enough that, over the past month, Joschka Fischer, Germany s former foreign minister, has called for such a union.

While we have become familiar with China s ardent interest in natural resources such as oil, coal, steel, copper, and soybeans, we are far less acquainted with other kinds of Chinese investments, including outright acquisitions of foreign companies.

First, many Chinese enterprises particularly in basic goods sectors such as soy, meat, iron, steel, copper, and oil have initiated activities in Latin America, either through direct investment or by buying products and or businesses.

Accordingly, what became the European Union started inconspicuously, with the integration of French and German industries that had been most directly associated with war production coal and steel. Only after economic integration had progressed did the first serious efforts at political integration take place.