Science & Technology News

By Christian Lowe and Marcin Goettig WARSAW (Reuters) – World leaders marking 25 years since Poland began its transformation into a free-market democracy had a message this month for neighbouring Ukraine: you too could follow the same path to prosperity. Fundamentals of the two economies suggest Ukraine can aspire to match the progress Poland has made since communism fell. Back in 1990, shortly before Ukraine split from the crumbling Soviet Union, it had a gross domestic product per head of population of $6,806 while the figure for Poland was only $5,976. “Ukraine has a huge potential for development,” said Pawel Borys, director for strategy and investment at PKO BP, Poland’s biggest bank.

By Faith Hung TAIPEI (Reuters) – China’s top official in charge of relations with Taiwan has returned to Beijing, hailing his visit to the self-ruled island as “historic”, despite violent protests that forced him to cancel several meetings. The visit by Zhang Zhijun, director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, marked the first such trip by such a senior mainland official in 65 years since the Nationalists fled after losing a civil war to China’s Communists in 1949. Throughout his four-day tour of the island, Zhang was greeted by protesters, including at the high-speed train station in the pro-independence southern port of Kaohsiung on Friday. There hundreds of demonstrators gathered, some waving placards reading “Communist Zhang Zhijun, get the hell back to China”.