Taiwanese, Chinese leaders to meet
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A presidential spokesman says Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore on Saturday. It will be the first such meeting of leaders since the two sides split in 1949 during a civil war.
Spokesman Charles Chen says the meeting will be aimed at strengthening peace and that there will be no agreement or joint declaration signed.
Ma is stepping down as president next year after his maximum two terms, during which the ruling Nationalist Party has lost favor over its pro-China policies.
Rome’s Trevi fountain reopens to public
ROME – As hundreds of tourists and Romans took pictures, water began flowing once again at Rome’s famed Trevi fountain after a 17-month, $2.4 million restoration.
The restoration was paid for by the Rome-based Fendi fashion house. Rome’s top culture official, Claudio Parisi, said at the fountain’s re-opening Tuesday such public-private partnerships are essential to preserve the city’s cultural treasures in tight economic times.
Tourists still had access to the dry fountain during the restoration, approaching the stonework along a temporary bridge that gave them a close-up view of the sculpture of Oceanus in a shell chariot.
Associated Press
