China’s plan to cut air pollution
Beijing: China aims to cut down its coal consumption to under 65 percent of its overall primary energy use by 2017 in a government action plan to cut down on air pollution.
Several initiatives have been envisaged in the action plan, unveiled Thursday, as part of the country’s efforts to readjust its energy structure and increase clean energy supply, Xinhua reported citing the central government’s website.
New projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and both the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions will be banned from setting up their own coal-fired power plants.
By 2017, the total capacity of China’s nuclear power reactors in operation will reach 50 million kilowatts, and the share of non-fossil fuel energy will be raised to 13 percent in overall primary energy use.
Under the plan, the country is also eyeing a roughly 20-percent cut in energy consumption per unit of industrial value added by 2017, as compared to 2012.
The government said combined heat and power plants would gradually replace decentralised coal-fired boilers in industry clusters of chemical engineering, papermaking, dyeing and tanning for the sake of emissions cuts.
The action plan also calls for technological upgrades at refinery enterprises to improve the quality of fuel oil, which affects vehicle emissions.
The government claims it also aims to clear heavy-polluting ‘yellow-label’ vehicles from roads across the country by 2017. (IANS)
Harry admits being an uncle is ‘fantastic’
Prince Harry spoke about his new-born nephew, Prince George at WellChild awards ceremony for children at The Dorchester hotel in London.
The 28-year old younger brother of Prince William revealed that he recently saw his baby nephew smile for the first time, adding that being an uncle was “fantastic”, the Mirror reported.
Harry, who is a patron of WellChild, even spoke about being a prince, admitting that it was “good and bad”.
He also delivered a short speech congratulating the winners and said that it was a “privilege” to meet the children and hear their stories
A royal spokesman confirmed that Harry had spent time with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace earlier that day. (ANI)
Dogs may help teach robots social skills
Washington: Behaviour of dogs could help fine-tune future designs of social robots, a new study has found. The study led by Gabriella Lakatos of the Hungarian Academy of Science and Eotvos Lorand University found that the man’s best friend reacts sociably to robots that behave socially towards them, even if the devices look nothing like a human.
This animal behaviour study tested the reaction of 41 dogs. They were divided into two groups depending on the nature of human-robot interaction: ‘asocial’ or ‘social’. One set of dogs in the ‘asocial group’ first observed an interaction between two humans (the owner and the human experimenter) and then observed an ‘asocial’ interaction between the owner and the robot. The remaining dogs in this group participated in these interactions in the reverse order. Then, in the ‘social group,’ one set of dogs watched an interaction between the owner and the human experimenter followed by observing a ‘social’ interaction between the owner and the robot. The remaining dogs in this group also participated in these interactions in the reverse order.
These interactions were followed by sessions in which either the human experimenter or the robot pointed out the location of hidden food in both the ‘asocial’ and the ‘social’ groups. (ANI)
Miss America pageant to have its first ever tattooed contestant
Washington: Miss America pageant will see its first ever tattooed contestant, as ‘Miss Kansas’ has refused to hide her tattoos during the show.
Sgt. Theresa Vail, who is an Army National Guard sergeant, said that her whole platform is empowering women to overcome stereotypes and break barriers, the Washington Times reported.
Vail said that she would be a hypocrite if she covered her ink and would not be able to encourage women to be fearless and true to themselves.
Miss Kansas who is a senior at Kansas State University with Chinese and chemistry major, is an expert M16 marksman, a bow hunter, skydiver, boxer, a mechanic and a former motorcycle racer. (ANI)
Prince William, David Beckham to fight illegal wildlife trade
London: Prince William has enlisted Soccer star David Beckham in the fight against illegal wildlife products as he launched a new global conservation organisation.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old second-in-line to Britain’s throne announced he was quitting the Armed Forces and revealed that he has created a partnership called United for Wildlife, which brings together seven of the world’s most influential conservation organisations, as well as ‘The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry’.
The body will initially focus on the illegal wildlife trade, and is likely to take up a large slice of the Duke’s time after he announced today that his seven-year operational career in the forces was at an end. The Duke will be president of the new organisation. On Thursday, the Duke was joined by Beckham and the former Chinese basketball star Yao Ming to record two public service videos on behalf of the anti-wildlife trade charity WildAid.
The videos are aimed at the Far East, which has the biggest market for banned wildlife products such as rhino horn and ivory, and will be released later this year. An estimated 25,000 elephants are killed every year by ivory poachers and 618 rhinos have been killed so far this year for their horns. (ANI)
Loose baggy pants foil church robbery suspect’s getaway
ORLANDO, Florida: A robber who was running away with his hands full of loot from a Florida church was caught when his baggy pants started slipping off, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
She said the man, Anthony Jason Garcia, 31, had been praying in the sanctuary of a large Catholic Church near Walt Disney World on Wednesday when he arose, went into the gift shop, grabbed the cash drawer and ran toward the courtyard with church maintenance director Joe Larkin in pursuit.
As they ran, Garcia’s baggy pants began to fall down, said Orange County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jane Watrel.
“So here Garcia is, both hands holding the cash drawer and trying to pull up his pants. So he (Larkin) sees an opening,” Watrel said. “He plunges for him and pulls his pants down further which trips up the guy.” Larkin put Garcia in a wrestling hold called a “cradle” until deputies arrived a few minutes later, Watrel said.
She said 12 customers and four clerks were present at Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine during the robbery, but most of them did not immediately notice what was happening because Garcia was so quiet and did not use a weapon. (Reuters)