[naviga:h3]China starts work on 2nd line to Tibet[/naviga:h3]

BEIJING — Work is under way on China’s second railway line to Tibet that will wind through some of the world’s most mountainous and inhospitable territory and likely take the better part of a decade to complete, state media said.

Work at the line’s two ends in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and Tibet’s capital of Lhasa has already begun, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Other feasibility studies have been completed, but the most difficult section, through the mountains from Kangding in Sichuan to Nyingchi in Tibet, is still being designed and may take seven years to finish once construction begins, Xinhua said.

Once completed, the line will run for 1,060 miles, 80 percent of it consisting of tunnels and bridges. Total cost is estimated at $37 billion, while the travel time from Chengdu to Lhasa will be cut from 48 to about 13 hours, Xinhua said.

Likening it to a roller coaster, designers said the line will traverse eight ascents and descents, topping out at 14,400 feet, Xinhua said. Varying terrain, landslides and earthquakes are also major threats.

The line is the latest in a seemingly endless series of hugely ambitious construction projects that include the gargantuan Three Gorges Dam, the world’s longest bridge over water in Jiaozhou Bay and the world’s most extensive high-speed rail network.

China opened an initial line to Lhasa from Qinghai province to the northeast in 2006 that runs for 1,215 miles and tops out at about 13,000 feet.

[naviga:h3]All ‘visible remains’ retrieved from tower[/naviga:h3]

LONDON — British police said today that they have recovered all “visible human remains” from a fire-gutted London tower block, three weeks after a blaze tore through the building and killed at least 80 people.

But they said the devastation at Grenfell Tower is so catastrophic that it will be months before the full death toll is known.

The Metropolitan Police force said 87 “recoveries” of human remains have been made — but they may not be from 87 different people.

Police say 80 people are either dead or missing and presumed dead, but only 21 have been identified.

The British government said today that it is sending in outside experts to help oversee recovery efforts from the fire, after strong criticism of the local council’s response.

[naviga:h3]Merkel still says U.S. not reliable[/naviga:h3]

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is standing by her suggestion that Europe can no longer entirely rely on the U.S. as she prepares to host President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit.

Merkel made the comment during a campaign event in late May. Asked in an interview with weekly Die Zeit whether she would repeat it today, she replied: “Yes, exactly that way. It is, for example, open whether we can and should in the future rely on the U.S. investing so much as it has so far in the United Nations’ work, in Middle East policy, in European security policy or in peace missions in Africa.”

In the interview published today, she added globalization is seen in the U.S. administration as a process that doesn’t produce “win-win situations.”