World Bank helps out China
The World Bank said last week it would lend China US$87 million to help expand the supply of renewable electricity in Asia's economic powerhouse and giant energy consumer. "China's abundant undeveloped resources of small hydropower, wind, biomass, geothermal and solar energy ... could help the country reduce some of the environmental damage from its overwhelming dependence on coal for large-scale, grid-based power generation," the global lender said.
Africans flood to cities
Sub-Saharan Africa's traditionally rural-based society is fast disappearing, with more than half its roughly 700 million people seen living in urban areas by 2030, the United Nations said Friday. The head of the UN housing project Habitat said Africa's "chaotic urbanization" was -- together with the HIV/AIDS pandemic -- the biggest threat to the world's poorest continent.
More tsunamis predicted
Scientists are convinced another giant tsunami will one day sweep across the Indian Ocean -- what they are not sure about is when. Almost six months after the deadly Dec. 26 tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.15 earthquake, scientists are keeping a close eye on aftershocks and the increased earthquake activity around Indonesia as they try to work out when the next big one will hit.
Blair caught in climate dilemma
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is trapped in a dilemma of his own creation over saving the planet from global warming, analysts say. Blair has put climate change at the heart of his year-long presidency of the Group of Eight industrial nations, but his efforts to get action agreed at next month's G8 summit in Scotland are being repeatedly torpedoed by the US.
Desertification a global threat
Desertification threatens to drive millions of people from their homes in coming decades while vast dust storms will damage the health of people continents away, an international report said last week. "Desertification has emerged as a global problem affecting everyone," said Zafar Adeel, assistant director of the UN University's water academy and a lead author of a report drawing on the work of 1,360 scientists in 95 nations.
Brazilians uncover `Michelangelo code'
Two Brazilian doctors and amateur art lovers believe they have uncovered a secret lesson on human anatomy hidden by Renaissance artist Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. Completed nearly 500 years ago, the brightly colored frescoes painted on the Vatican's famous sanctuary are considered some of the world's greatest works of art. They depict Biblical scenes such as the Creation of Adam in which God reaches out to touch Adam's finger.
Scientists look for new blood
Australian scientists say they have found a way to make blood cells in volume out of human master cells, which could eventually lead to production of safe blood cells for transfusions and organ transplants. Synthetically produced red blood cells would, in theory, overcome the concerns about dangerous infections that can be transmitted from blood donors to patients worldwide.
Sept. 21 to Sept. 27 When the Shah of Iran became the Grand Hotel’s (圓山大飯店) first head-of-state guest in 1958, it was hardly the landmark it is known as today. A Chinese-style, two-story structure with just 36 rooms built on the former site of the Taipei Shinto Shrine, the hotel was still referred to as its original name, the Taiwan Hotel (台灣大飯店), in an official newsreel detailing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s visit. The video lavished praise on the hotel, pointing out its “beautiful architecture and magnificent appearance” and noting that it had just been renovated. After being greeted personally by then-president
The one-day trip begins at the geographical center of Taiwan: Puli Township’s (埔里) Hutou Mountain Geographic Center of Taiwan Monument (臺灣地理中心碑), embedded at the foot of Nantou County’s dense forested slopes. It sits entrenched in forest vegetation amid the tall, spindly bodies and spiky heads of the betel nut trees; the air is cool, and its surroundings are mostly silent save the sounds of late-season cicadas. Roughly two minutes from the first destination, and after a bend in Yongfeng Road (永豐路), there’s a glimpse of a resplendent golden dome on the horizon. It’s the cap of the 135m-tall main building of the
Two years ago, the music came to an abrupt halt at one of Taiwan’s largest independent music festivals. The problem: a single noise complaint. The DJ’s high-energy tunes had exceeded the allowed sound limit. As per regulation, the performance took a several-minute pause and then continued, this time at a slightly lower decibel. And then last year, the same event, Compass Taichung International Food and Music Festival, was unexpectedly canceled due to sponsorship issues. Such are the woes of trying to organize outdoor music festivals these days. “It makes it so much harder to put on a festival,” said Courtney Donovan Smith, co-publisher
Focus Taiwan reported on the Kuai Kuai land sale, with a narrative centered on the famed snack factory’s workers. But buried in it was a glimpse of the way Taiwan’s land markets are being relentlessly reshaped by the multiple pressures of sagging traditional industry fortunes and surging AI and related electronics industries. Kuai Kuai’s owner, the San-ti Group, sold the factory and the land it sits on in Taoyuan’s Zhongli District (中壢). According to Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions Secretary-General Tracy Sun (孫語謙), who was quoted in the piece, rising land prices, especially for industrial land, tempt factory owners to sell
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