World leaders announced a US$50 billion boost in development aid yesterday, declaring the deal was a message of hope that countered the hatred behind the London bomb attacks.
"We speak today in the shadow of terrorism but it will not obscure what we came here to achieve," British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared, flanked by fellow leaders of the G8 states and seven of their African counterparts.
Blair, who skipped much of Thursday's session to handle the aftermath of the bombs in London, did not give a timetable for reaching the aid target.
Campaigners said they understood the deal was to double overall aid to some US$100 billion by 2010, with about half of that destined for Africa. They had pressed for the boost immediately, saying a delay would cost millions of lives.
"There is no hope in terrorism or any future in it worth living and it is hope that is the alternative to this hatred," Blair said on the steps of the Gleneagles hotel.
"We offer today this contrast with the politics of terror," he said.
"It isn't all everyone wanted but it is progress, real and achievable progress," he said. "It isn't the end of poverty in Africa, but it is the hope that it can be ended."
They agreed to start a dialogue on Nov. 1 with the major emerging economies on how to slow down and later reverse the rise in greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
Environmental groups have criticized their accord as too vague to pose a serious challenge to climate change.
The leaders pledged to end farm-export aid but set no deadline. They also called for renewed efforts to conclude a new phase of world trade liberalization by the end of next year.
Blair had been determined that his twin priorities of action on global warming and African poverty would not be wrecked by the London bombings.
But he brought forward his closing news conference by one hour yesterday to allow him to head back to London in the early afternoon and take charge of the crisis.
Blair also announced a US$3 billion aid deal for the Palestinian Authority -- a pledge he said would allow "two states, Israel and Palestine, two peoples and two religions [to] live side by side in peace."
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
RSS