Nate Johnson scores 25 as Akron defeats Alabama State 97-78From left, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo, Representative to the Czech Republic Ke Liang-ruey and Czech Representative to Taiwan David Steinke pose for a photograph after the signing of a memorandum of understanding on collaboration between Taiwan and the Czech Republic in an undated photograph.Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs via CNA Staff writer, with CNA Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) returned to Taiwan yesterday following a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic to promote industrial cooperation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. 請繼續往下閱讀... In a statement, the International Trade Administration (ITA) under the ministry said Kuo attended the inauguration of the Taiwan Trade and Investment Center in Prague on Thursday. He also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pledging to set up industrial clusters and promote business opportunities — in order to boost collaboration between Taiwan and the Czech Republic. The MOU was signed by Representative to the Czech Republic Ke Liang-ruey (柯良叡) and Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei representative David Steinke, according to the ITA. The statement noted that the trade and investment center in Prague would be Taiwan’s first overseas investment service hub. Under the MOU signed on Thursday, the center would enable Taiwan and the Czech Republic to collaborate in providing one-stop services for Taiwanese investors seeking opportunities in the European country. The ITA added that the Czech Republic has a geographic advantage in Europe, a large pool of tech talent, prestigious research institutions, a sound industrial foundation and solid technological strength. The European country has strong support from its government in technology development. This has led to it becoming one of Taiwan’s key European partners in terms of industrial cooperation, the ITA said. Taipei would use Prague as a hub to seek other business opportunities in the European market, the ITA added. During his stay in the Czech Republic, Kuo also met with Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, Marek Benda, who is a member of the Czech Chamber of Deputies and chairperson of the body’s Taiwan friendship group, as well as other Czech government officials to discuss bilateral economic exchanges, the ITA said. Kuo’s visit to Prague was part of his trip to Germany and the Czech Republic on Wednesday and Thursday. Before Kuo visited the Czech Republic, he went to Dresden in the German state of Saxony. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co started constructing a new 12-inch wafer fab in the city in August, through a joint venture called European Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The Dresden plant is scheduled to launch mass production at the end of 2027, focusing on automotive and industrial applications. Kuo also met with Dresden Mayor Dirk Hilbert and the Saxony Minister-President Michael Kretschmer to gain a better understanding of the investment environment. He called for the Saxony authorities to assist Taiwanese entrepreneurs where necessary. According to the ITA, Taiwan has long played a critical role in global supply chains and made important contributions to a wide range of tech development. That, along with Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers extending their global reach, means that many related small and medium-sized Taiwanese businesses are setting their sights on the European market. 新聞來源: TAIPEI TIMES 不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎 點我下載APP 按我看活動辦法By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a private company spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, plans what it calls the world's first grid-scale fusion power plant in Virginia, to generate power by the early 2030s, the company said on Tuesday. The project, if successful, could revolutionize the global energy industry by tapping into a virtually limitless power source, similar to that which fuels the stars. But it is a long-shot. CFS lacks local and federal permits, investors to fund most of the plant's construction, and the answer to fusion's top technological question: how to get more energy out of a fusion reaction than what goes into it in the first place. Still, CFS, the largest private-sector fusion company, which has raised $2 billion since 2018 mainly for demonstration projects, is confident more money will flow for the plant. "The fact that there's a broad investor syndicate, that's a good thing," Bob Mumgaard, the company's CEO, told Reuters ahead of the announcement. CFS investors include Italian energy company ENI, Temasek, a sovereign wealth fund from Singapore, and Norway's Equinor. For decades, scientists in the U.S., China, Europe, Russia and Japan have hoped that fusion, the reaction that produces the light and heat from the sun, can be replicated and sustained on Earth. To create fusion reactions, physicists use lasers or magnets to jam two light atoms into one, releasing large amounts of energy. When harnessed, the reactions could be used in power stations to generate emissions-free electricity, helping to fight climate change. As power demand rises due to growth in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies, companies are raising billions of dollars in hopes of commercializing the technology. Unlike today's nuclear reactors, powered by fission, which splits atoms, fusion does not generate large amounts of long-lasting radioactive waste. But there are other challenges, such as ensuring materials withstand constant bombardments of high-energy neutrons and some of the hottest temperatures ever created on Earth, and how to transfer that heat to a turbine to generate electricity. Getting reactions to occur almost continuously instead of once in a while is yet another challenge. A fusion breakthrough came two years ago when scientists at a U.S. lab in California briefly achieved "fusion ignition" with lasers, though the energy output was tiny compared to the energy firing the lasers. NO GUARANTEE CFS said it will start seeking local, state and federal permits next year. That is well before it expects to produce in 2026 its first plasma, or a superheated, charged state of matter that allows fusion reactions, at SPARC, its demonstration magnet-driven project in Massachusetts. It hopes to reach net energy shortly after. "There is of course no guarantee in life that all will go according to plan, but it's pretty sure if you don't prepare, it won't," Mumgaard said about the plan to build in Virginia before ironing out the science. Dominion Energy will provide non-financial help, including development and technical expertise and leasing rights for the proposed site in Chesterfield County. Edward Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia, said CFS is "advancing the exciting energy potential of fusion." CFS expects ARC, the plant planned for Virginia, will have capacity to generate 400 megawatts of electricity — enough to power industrial sites or about 150,000 homes. Last year, the five-member U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously to separate fusion regulation from fission regulation, a move that developers of the new technology said would allow them to innovate. Last week, two anonymous NRC staffers who helped develop the rule, challenged the different licensing approach in a public document saying such plants could use large amounts of water for cooling and leak tritium, a hard-to-contain radioactive isotope. Mumgaard said CFS is learning how to deal with tritium at its Massachusetts facility and that the staffers' criticisms were "just part of the normal process of staff working through" fusion issues. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Rod Nickel)

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Mitchell scores 32, Idaho defeats Pacific 95-72AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Nate Johnson scored 25 points to help Akron defeat Alabama State 97-78 on Sunday. Johnson added five rebounds for the Zips (4-2). Bowen Hardman scored 19 points, shooting 6 for 7 from beyond the arc. Isaiah Gray went 4 of 7 from the field to finish with 11 points. The Hornets (3-3) were led by CJ Hines with 19 points. Tyler Mack added 18 points and Antonio Madlock scored 17. Akron took the lead with 6:46 left in the first half and did not relinquish it. Johnson led their team in scoring with 13 points in the first half to help put them up 50-41 at the break. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

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Trump taps Scott Bessent for Treasury, capping long drama over choiceTo minimize our rice importation, we must spend our irrigation money wisely. But first, let us understand our rice import situation today. The reason why the Philippines is the world’s top rice importer was given by Paul John Caña. He quotes from the book “Why Does the Philippine Import Rice,” which states: “Several answers have been given to this question, many of which injure national pride by alluding to bad politicians, corruption, incompetence or laziness. But the real answer is not so bad: In a word, it is geography. ” We import rice because we are composed of islands with no major deltas like Thailand and Vietnam. The major rice exporters are all in the Southeast Asian mainland (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar). The importers are all archipelagos or narrow peninsulas (the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea and Malaysia). READ: Marcos: New dams, river projects to lessen flooding in Cagayan Valley The book continues: “The fact that countries remain in one club or the other for long periods of time suggests that some deep force is at work. That deep force is endowments of land and water. Thailand has four times the arable land per person versus the Philippines.” Given this difficult situation, it is necessary that we choose the best ways to use our irrigation money to produce the most rice per peso spent. But in the past, Congress has chosen to spend too much of the available money on new irrigation when other alternatives are more cost-efficient. This is because new irrigation is perceived to get more votes than these other alternatives. Last Nov. 19, we talked to National Irrigation Administration (NIA) head Eduardo Guillen and National Confederation of Irrigators Association president Remy Albano. They recommended three more cost-efficient options compared to new irrigation, which averages P1.3 million a hectare. The first is to spend it on repairs and restoration. This would cost P500,000 per hectare, or 38 percent of the cost of new irrigation. With the same amount of money, we can produce 2.6 times the volume of new irrigation. READ: NIA’s solar irrigation project a game-changer for farmers, food security The second alternative is even more attractive. When irrigation does not work because of no energy, solar-powered systems can be used at only P250,000 per hectare. This means more than five times the benefit of new irrigation. Despite this, it is often shelved in favor of new irrigation. The third is to have solar-powered irrigation in traditionally nonirrigable areas. Irrigation is usually done only on land with a slope grade of 3 percent. But irrigation is not just for rice. Solar-powered irrigation can be used for high-value crops grown in mountainous areas, with the land sloping at up to 31 percent. This costs P750,000 per hectare. It yields a very high rate of return from these crops that sell for much higher prices than rice. In addition to choosing the optimal mode of irrigation, other factors should be considered to optimize its use. A new rice road map group, with Hazel Tanchuling as chair and Raul Montemayor as cochair, discusses the importance of considering climate change forecasts when deciding when to plant. Guiller, the NIA administrator, added that planting should no longer be done the traditional way in irrigated areas. Instead, planting should be timed to avoid the dangerous typhoons that cause havoc to rice production. But since this is against farmers’ culture and tradition, a system should be put in place to motivate this new behavior. An example will be to time the provision of inputs such as water, seeds and fertilizers so that the planting is done at the optimal time. Another key factor is clustering. Irrigation done in clustered areas will result in economies of scale. This will be seen in the different areas of production, credit, marketing and technology transfer. In addition, irrigation must be part of a holistic agriculture development plan. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . Because of geography, we may have no choice but to import rice. However, we should be replacing these imports through wise water use. Choosing the right way of spending irrigation money based on the expected return on investment, instead of perceived political benefit, must now be done by Congress. This must be supplemented by good management using factors like timing, clustering and the other components necessary for a complete approach. We can then move closer to true food security.Carlos Alcaraz has often been open about the fact that he idolized Rafael Nadal while growing up. He has often sung the praises of the tennis legend. After Nadal bid farewell to tennis, the 21-year-old shared his biggest learning experience idolizing Nadal over the years. Nadal played his final career match at the Davis Cup Finals on Tuesday,(November 19). The 38-year-old led Spain into the opening tie against the Netherlands, but lost in straight sets to Botic van de Zandschulp . Alcaraz brought the Spanish team back into the game but in the decisive doubles match, the Dutch team edged over Spain in a 2-1 victory. After the match, legends and athletes from all over the world poured their tribute to Nadal following his retirement. However, Alcaraz, who has idolized the tennis legend, has been much closer to him in the past few months. He partnered with Nadal at the Paris Olympics, where they reached the quarterfinals before exiting the tournament. During Alcaraz press conference at the Davis Cup, the 21-year-old paid tribute to his legendary compatriot. He also expressed gratitude to Nadal for the learning experiences he gained watching him over the years. Rafa taught me the passion that is necessary for this life in tennis. I was lucky to have him by my side. If I could have arrived on the circuit earlier... But I will keep unforgettable moments from him. It is thanks to him that I wanted to become a tennis player. Nadal’s loss to Van de Zandschulp was his second defeat at the Davis Cup in his career. The Spaniard played 31 matches and won 29 of them. The last time he lost a match was in 2004 against Czech Republic’s Jiri Novak . Carlos Alcaraz hopes to continue Rafael Nadal’s legacy despite being “almost impossible” Carlos Alcaraz has always been applauded as the best player to continue Rafael Nadal ‘s legacy on the court. The 21-year-old has achieved several records in tennis, including winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles at the French Open and Wimbledon. He now has four majors which is a long way from Nadal’s 22. After Spain exited the Davis Cup Finals, he was asked whether he would continue Nadal’s legacy. The Spanish youngster revealed that it will be difficult and almost impossible to do that but didn’t rule out the likelihood of it happening. I don’t want to think that I should continue the legacy that he has left. It is difficult, almost impossible. I will try to do my best, but right now, you know, it’s time to say just great things about Rafa, what he has done during his career... Probably he was one of the players that put tennis in the top of sport in the top of the world. Alcaraz ended the 2024 season with four titles and finished as World No.3. The Australian Open remains the only Grand Slam he has yet to win in his career, and he will aim to lift the title in January 2025. This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.