Friday

UN official praises efforts to cut food waste

China is showing the rest of the world how to cut food waste with its leaders "walking the walk and not just talking the talk," a United Nations official said.

David Nabarro, special representative of the UN secretary general for food security and nutrition, said in an interview Thursday that China has grasped far more quickly than some developed nations that "food is cash", valuing it not just by its market value, but also by the environmental costs of producing and bringing it to consumers. His comments followed his participation in a panel discussion on reducing food waste, on the sidelines of a major UN business forum in Manhattan.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that about one-third of all food produced for humans is lost or wasted.

Duke gets approval to open school in Kunshan

Duke University will open a new campus in Kunshan, Jiangsu province in the fall of 2014 after receiving long-awaited approval to launch the joint venture.

To be called Duke Kunshan University (DKU), it will be a partnership between the North Carolina school, China's Wuhan University and the city of Kunshan, which lies between Shanghai and Suzhou.

The school will offer graduate-degree programs and undergraduate courses.

The student population will be 50 percent Chinese and 50 percent from outside of China. Tuition for Chinese students has not yet been announced, but Nora Bynum, vice-provost for DKU and China initiatives, said international students should expect to pay tuition similar to what Duke charges international students in the US. (Photo 1)