Times Atlas of the World of Serbia and Montenegro into separate countries. The new national capital of Myanmar called Nay Pyi Taw, a joint capital with Yangon (Rangoon). Secession of St-Barthelemy and St-Martin from Guadeloupe. New World Heritage Sites. Opening of the 1118 km Golmud to Lhasa railway in China, the highest railway in the world. Opening of the 32.5 km cross sea Donghai bridge, in China, linking Shanghai to the deepwater port on Xiaoyang Shan island." A Luxury Edition was also offered from 2008, bound by Book Works Studio in London. The map of Greenland depicted 15% less ice cover than in the 1999
Capital punishment in the Soviet Union Capital punishment in the Soviet Union Capital punishment was a legal penalty in the Soviet Union for most of the country's existence. The legal justification of capital punishment was found in Article 22 of the Fundamental Principles of Criminal Legislation, which stated that the death penalty was permitted "as an exceptional measure of punishment, until its complete abolition". According to Western estimates, in the early 1980s Soviet courts passed around 2,000 death sentences every year, of which two-thirds were commuted to prison terms. The death penalty was not applied to minors or pregnant women. The first person to be sentenced