■ MINING
Tibet plans eco-friendly ban
Local officials in Tibet plan to ban the mining of gold, mercury, arsenic and peat to preserve mineral resources and protect the environment, state media reported yesterday. "Mercury and arsenic mining can pollute water supplies, peat mining can destroy wetlands and gold mining can ruin grasslands and rivers," Wang Baosheng, director of Tibet's Land and Resources Department, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. The report did not say when the ban would come into effect.
■ COMPUTERS
Energy initiative launched
Google and Intel are leading a consortium of major technology companies in an effort to sharply reduce the amount of power wasted by personal computers and servers. The energy-saving effort, announced on Tuesday, is called the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Companies agreeing to Climate Savers standards will try to build machines that are at least 90 percent efficient in their power use by promoting new technologies, setting new standards and encouraging more efficient use by consumers. The group envisions better power management in computers, roughly equivalent to taking 11 million cars off the highway.
■ BANKING
China's ICBC looks overseas
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (中國工商銀行, ICBC), the nation's largest lender, has applied for US and Russian banking licenses as it seeks to expand internationally, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing the bank's chairman. "We have applied to regulatory authorities in the US, Russia and other places to set up operations," Jiang Jianqing (姜建清) told the newspaper. ICBC is now one of the world's biggest banks by market capitalization. Only 3.1 percent of its pre-tax profits came from outside China last year.
■ BEVERAGES
Cucumber soda hits Japan
Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with "Pepsi Ice Cucumber" -- a new soda based on the crisp green gourd. The soft drink, which hit stores here on Tuesday, doesn't actually have any cucumber in it -- but has been artificially flavored to resemble "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber," said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan's Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd. "We wanted a flavor that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat," Takemoto said. "We thought the cucumber was just perfect." The soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan and Suntory aims to sell 200,000 cases over the next three months.
■ TRADE
China hits back at US food
China has launched a crackdown on US food imports, seizing "rancid" pistachio nuts and vowing tough inspections in the wake of Washington's own offensive rejecting suspect Chinese food and drug ingredients. China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine told inspectors to step up checks of pistachio nuts from the US after a 20 tonne shipment was found to have rotting nuts infested with ants, Xinhua news agency reported late on Tuesday. The pistachio shipment would be destroyed, it said. Last week, China destroyed or returned nutritional supplement capsules and raisins from the US after detecting unacceptable levels of bacteria.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source