■ Environment
Focus on renewable energy
The government will develop renewable energy and carbon dioxide reduction technology as efforts to decrease the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions, a Council for Economic Planning and Development official said yesterday. The official noted that as Taiwan's carbon dioxide emissions accounts for 1 percent of the world's total, a task force on energy policy has decided to develop renewable energy such as hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass power, hydrogen energy and other carbon-dioxide-reduction technologies to do less harm to the environment. Citing a G8 report, the official said climate change will pose the greatest threat to people, as can be evidenced by the fact that the world's 10 hottest years in recent memory occurred after 1991. Bad as it will be, climate change could also represent potential trade opportunities, the official said, citing the G8 report that the global investment in energy-efficiency and energy-saving equipment could reach US$16 trillion over the next 25 years.
■ Society
Thousands to go hungry
Eight thousand people have been invited to take part in the 16th "Hunger 30" activity in Kaohsiung on Aug. 13 as a humanitarian gesture to the less fortunate of the world. Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday thanked World Vision Taiwan for "building a platform through which the nation has been able to show its love of the world." "Hunger 30" will be held at the soccer field of National Sun Yat-sen University. Chen called on the people to go and experience for themselves how it feels to be without food for 30 consecutive hours. "When we realize what it is like to go hungry for longer than a day, when we realize the preciousness of life, then we may be more willing to contribute what we can to the world's humanitarian efforts," he said. World Vision Taiwan opened a photo exhibit at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center yesterday graphically showing relief efforts and children suffering from hunger in India, Ethiopia and other countries.
■ Environment
Baby ocelet doing well
A tiny leopard cat -- a protected animal -- found by a man in central Taiwan in the wake of Typhoon Haitang on July 18, is being well taken care of by the government's special animal protection and preservation center. A veterinarian with the center in Chichi (集集), Nantou County, said when the man discovered the animal, he contacted the center. The baby cat was only about two weeks old. Workers at the center suspect that it might been separated from its mother during the typhoon. The center concluded that it was a leopard cat, also called an ocelot or tiger cat (felis pardalis). The center's staff have been feeding the leopard cat with milk. It has since doubled in size and is very lively but has yet to cut its first tooth. The center will keep feeding it until it is seven or eight months old, when it will be trained to catch prey, before being released into the mountains, he said.
■ Health
Hou encouraged by US trip
Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mao (侯勝茂) said on Wednesday that the US is willing to help Taiwan attend World Health Organization (WHO) meetings. He told Taiwanese journalists stationed in Washington that he had reached consensus with the US in May that the US would help Taiwan take part in WHO meetings based on the principle of application.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
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