Sep, – Sibu’s signature tourism event, the Borneo Cultural Festival (BCF) 2006, will begin at the town square here Friday evening with the Borneo Mandarin Fest (Chinese) and Borneo Dayak Fest of the Dayak and Orang Ulu communities.
Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King said the Borneo Malay/Melanau Fest for the Malay and Melanau communities would follow Saturday evening.
The first six nights would be dedicated to showing and promoting traditional performances, food, handicraft, games and interactive events of the three groups at their own pavilions, he told a news conference here Thursday. Read more
HERE’S a sample of what neighbouring capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila and Singapore have to offer in terms of public art. The Democracy Monument (cement, 1939-40) by the Italian Corrado Feroci stands in the middle of Rajadamnern Avenue, Bangkok. Ferocci and his team also built the monument of King Thaksin the Great (at Mong Pian Yai Circle, Bangkok). The first public sculptures in Thailand were produced in the 19th century. Read more
Sep, – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Russian venture may be charged with destruction of forests, a criminal offence, as President Vladimir Putin extends government control of the nation’s oil and gas industry.
The construction of a pipeline by Shell’s Sakhalin Energy across Sakhalin Island caused at least 11 million rubles ($410,000) of damage to the forests, Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of the Natural Resources Ministry’s environmental inspectorate, said at a press conference in Moscow yesterday. Read more
DOUGLAS COUNTY: The Douglas Forest Protective Association has dropped the Industrial Fire Precaution Level in response to recent cooling trends.
The lower level took effect Friday afternoon on all private, county, state and Bureau of Land Management land within its 1.6 million-acre district.The new restrictions prohibit blasting, welding and cable yarding from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., and also prohibit the use of power saws except at loading sites. A firewatch is also required for three hours at the end of an operation. Read more
Crews expect to have the so-called Pine Fire that has burned through 150 acres in the Angeles National Forest 80 percent contained today. U-S Forest Service officials say the blaze started yesterday afternoon about ten miles north of La Canada Flintridge. There’s no word yet on when to expect full containment.
Firefighters also continue to battle the Day Fire that has burned more than 93-thousand acres in the Los Padres National Forest since Labor Day. It was last reported to be 20 percent contained.
Crews are also still trying to stop the fire that broke out yesterday morning near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino National Forest. It quickly scorched more than 25-hundred acres and was five percent contained as of late last night./ktla.trb.com
A US$16-million Forest Conservation Fund launched yesterday by minister of agriculture and lands Roger Clarke will provide long-term funding to protect and manage the island’s forest reserves and national parks.
The Forest Conservation Fund (FCF) is the result of a debt-for-nature swap signed in 2004 by the United States government, the government of Jamaica and The Nature Conservancy which sees the cancelling of nearly US$16 million in Jamaican debt to the USA. Read more
The owners –Australian science body CSIRO and Scion, the former Forest Research Institute – want to streamline Ensis’ management, support services and governance, as the business heads into a new development phase.
The changes include expanding the role of Scion’s chief executive, Tom Richardson, to include Ensis as well.
Current Ensis ceo Larry Little finished his contract on Monday. Read more