A flower from a parakmeria omeiensistree. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Parakmeria omeiensis, a rare tree species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, has been artificially propagated by researchers in Sichuan province. Since 2016, more than 500 parakmeria omeiensis trees have been planted on the province's Mount Emei. Growing somewhere 1,200 to 1,500 above sea level on the mountain, the trees are unique species in the world. In 1940, Zheng Wanjun (1904-1983), a leading Chinese botanist, became the first to discover parakmeria omeiensi on the mountain. In the ensuing three decades, however, nobody had spotted them and they were feared to be extinct. In 1987, a four-member investigation team headed by Wu Jialin, president of Emei Traditional Chinese Medicine School in Sichuan, paid a visit to Mount Emei and found nine parakmeria omeiensi at a site about 1,200 meters above sea level. Only seventy-four wild trees of the species have been found since, according to Yu Daoping, deputy researcher with the Sichuan Research Institute of Natural Resources. Since the late 1980s, researchers in Sichuan have collected seeds from wild parakmeria omeiensis trees and used them to propagate 1,600 more artificially. custom bar braceletcustom sports braceletscustom logo wristbandsde securite pour personne ageeembossed wristbandscolorfilled wristbandsembossed printed wristbandsdual layer wristbands
Rescue workers tend to the injured at the site of a train derailment in Lian county in northern Taiwan on Sunday, Oct 21, 2018. Passengers were killed and injured on Sunday when one of Taiwan's newer, faster trains derailed on a curve along a popular weekend route, officials said. [Photo/Agencies] TAIPEI, Oct. 22 -- A preliminary investigation showed that speeding was the cause to Taiwan's worst train disaster in decades, which claimed 18 lives and left nearly 200 people injured Sunday. An official in charge of the investigation said Monday evening that the express train was going too fast when it entered a section of a curved track, before it ran off tracks in Xinma Station, Yilan County. The radius of the curved rails is about 300 meters with a designated turning speed of 75 kph, but the train was running over 80 kph, and perhaps even over 100 kph when the accident happened. The cause of the speeding, however, still awaits further investigation, the official said. Local procuratorial authority in Yilan has filed a case to the local court for detaining the driver, identified by surname as You, on suspicion of causing deaths by negligence. The Puyuma Express No. 6432 bound for Taitung from Shulin Station with 366 passengers on board derailed at 4:50 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Yilan, leaving 18 people killed and 190 people injured. It was considered Taiwan's worst train crash in more than three decades. According to local media reports, the driver and the conductor reported brake faults and problems with the power system before the accident happened. Mainland authorities on Monday mourned victims who died in the accident and sent condolences to their families and the injured. Two female passengers from the mainland were found injured in the derailment. One of them, aged 44 and surnamed Yao, was still in critical condition. The island's railway authority is carrying out full safety checks into its Puyuma express trains and related infrastructure. By Monday morning the wreckage has been cleared and train services on the line were partially resumed.
