Pagaruyung Palace is a royal palace, or also called istana of the former Pagaruyung Kingdom.

The palace is located in Tanjung Emassub district near Batusangkar town, Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

It was built in the traditional Minangkabau rumah gadang vernacular architectural style, but had a number of atypical elements including three floors structure and larger dimension compares to common rumah gadang.

However, the original Pagaruyung Palace was standing on the peak of Pagaruyung’s Batu Patah hill. It was burnt to the ground during a bloody riot in 1804.

After that, it was reconstructed and burned again several times in 1966 and in 2007.

The recent Pagaruyung Palace is only the replica made for the second time.

This replacement structure was constructed to the south from the original one.

The palace on the peak of the hill was the center of fourteenth century Pagarayung Kingdom. According to local myth, Pagaruyung Kingdom, also called Batu Patah Hill Kingdom, was the origin of all Minangkabau people. It was where Bundo Kanduang, one of its queens, once ruled the kingdom.

She is considered as the founder of matriarchal system of Minangkabau society.

Although today there is no king or royal family resides in this palace, since the Pagaruyung Kingdom was disbanded in 1833, the palace still held in high esteem among Minangkabau people as the descendants of scattered Minang nobles (bangsawan) still seeks their root and link to the former royal house of Pagaruyung.

The original Pagaruyung palace was built entirely from timber masonry, however the current building frame was built using modern concrete structure.

Nevertheless, the Istano Basa Pagaruyung was quite faithfully restored using traditional technique and materials adorned with 60 carvings that signify Minang philosophy and culture.

The palace has three floors with 72 pillars and the typical rumah gadang gonjong, with horn-like curved roof made from 26 tons of black ijuk aren palm fibers.

The palace is also furnished with over 100 replicas of Minang antique furniture and artifacts, aiming the palace to be revived as Minangkabau cultural center as well as tourism attraction in West Sumatra.

President Joe Biden vowed on Thursday that the U.S. federal government would remain committed to the people of Maui as they recover, rebuild and grieve in the wake of wildfires that destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed at least 110 people.

In a brief video aired on ABC’s Good Morning America, the president said the U.S. government has already taken immediate action, sending hundreds of emergency personnel, thousands of meals and supplies to the devastated tourist resort town where some 2,200 buildings were destroyed.

“We will be with you for as long as it takes, I promise you,” he said. “Already from the darkness and the smoke and the ash, we see the light of hope and strength.”

During his remarks, Biden highlighted the efforts of first responders – many of whom have been personally affected by the wildfires.

Local first responders have worked around the clock searching for the missing, while volunteers deliver aid by fishing boats and local chefs prepare meals for displaced families, he noted.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii on Monday to survey the devastation and meet with first responders, survivors and federal, state and local officials.

“I want the people of Hawaii to know that your country is with you as long as it takes,” he said.

In other developments:

— Maui County Emergency Management Agency administrator Herman Andaya defended the department’s decision not to sound sirens during last week’s deadly wildfire as questions intensify regarding how residents were alerted to growing threat as the deadly wildfires spread last Tuesday.

Andaya said sirens in Hawaii are used to alert people to tsunamis. Using it during the fire might have led people to evacuate toward the danger, he told reporters on Wednesday.

“The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded,” Andaya said during a press conference.

“Had we sounded the siren that night, we’re afraid that people would have gone mauka (to the mountainside) and if that was the case then they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya said.

— On Wednesday, officials opened the main road through town for the first time in several days, responding to frustration from residents. Officials initially closed the highway, which bypasses the charred waterfront and town center, to all but residents, first responders and employees of local businesses.

Firefighters on Thursday struggled to contain a wildfire that broke out in a mountainous national park on the Spanish island of Tenerife, prompting authorities to evacuate at least 3,800 people.

The fire’s perimeter expanded to 31 kilometres (19 miles)across dry woodland covering both flanks of steep ravines near the Mount Teide volcano – Spain’s highest peak – hampering access to the area and covering much of the island with smoke clouds and ash.

The fire, which broke out on Wednesday, has burned through 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) of land.

“The night has been very tough…This is the most complex fire we’ve had in the Canary Islands in the last 40 years,” the region’s leader, Fernando Clavijo, told a news conference.

Scorching heat and dry weather this summer has contributed to unusually severe wildfires in Europe and western Canada.

Pedro Martinez, head of emergency services in Tenerife, said the fire had spread to the north and towards a valley where several camping sites are located.

While some villages were evacuated out of precaution, residents in a few others were ordered to stay home, affecting a further 3,500 people.

A prison and a migrant reception centre were in the areas under confinement, Clavijo said.

Civil protection removed 1,294 people from their homes in the municipality of El Rosario and 1,525 from areas of La Orotava on Thursday, with total evacuations reaching 3,800 people and more still being carried out.

Authorities deployed 17 aircraft and a combined 350 firefighters and military personnel. Additional waterbombing aircraft arrived from the mainland.

All access to the mountains on the island, including tourist-favourite Mount Teide, has been closed off to prevent any incidents.

Tenerife’s two airports were operating normally, Spanish airport operator Aena said.

Last week, a heatwave in the Canary Islands left many areas bone dry, heightening the risk of wildfires.

This summer, firefighters have extinguished a series of forest fires on the islands of Gran Canaria and La Palma, which form part of the Canary Islands archipelago.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ.O) on Thursday said it will supply 1,200 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage products to a project in Arizona.

Papago Storage, which will be operated by Canadian Solar’s subsidiary Recurrent Energy, will use e-STORAGE’s SolBank, a proprietary battery energy storage solution part of the Ontario-based company’s subsidiary CSI Solar.

Construction at the Arizona-based project is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2024, and will be the largest standalone energy storage project in the state once operational.

China, the world’s biggest renewable equipment manufacturer, will set up a recycling system for ageing wind turbines and solar panels as it tries to tackle the growing volumes of waste generated by the industry, the state planner said.

China has ramped up its wind and solar manufacturing capabilities in a bid to decarbonise its economy and ease its dependence on coal, and it is now on track to meet its goal to bring total wind and solar capacity to 1,200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 758 GW at the end of last year.

But as older projects are replaced and decommissioned, waste volumes are set to soar, with large amounts of capacity already approaching retirement age, posing big environmental risks.

To cope with the challenge, China will draw up new industrial standards and rules detailing the proper ways to decommission, dismantle and recycle wind and solar facilities, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Wednesday.

The state planning agency said that China would have a “basically mature” full-process recycling system for wind turbines and solar panels by the end of the decade.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels have a lifespan of around 25 years, and many of China’s projects are already showing significant signs of wear and tear, China’s official Science and Technology Daily newspaper said in June.

The paper cited experts as saying that China would need to recycle 1.5 million metric tons of PV modules by 2030, rising to around 20 million tons in 2050.

The problem of waste from the renewable energy sector has become a growing global concern. Total waste from solar projects alone could reach 212 million tons a year by 2050, according to one scenario drawn up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) last year.

Kano State Government has warned residents to desist from dumpling of refuse in waterways in Sabon Gari area of Fagge Local Government.

The Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Alhaji Nasiru Garo, expressed disgust over the attitude of residents at Sabon Gari area on indiscriminate dumping of refuse.

He said such activities would lead to environmental pollution, citing the health hazards and its effects on climate change.

This is contained in a statement issued by Director, Public Enlightenment in the Ministry of Environment, Samaila Gwammaja, in Kano, the state capital, on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.

The Commissioner for Environment and Climate Change, Alhaji Nasiru Garo, expressed disgust over the attitude of residents at Sabon Gari area in particular.

Garo said such activities would lead to environmental pollution, citing the health hazards and its effects on climate change.

He tasked the residents to complement government’s efforts by ensuring regular sanitation by clearing their drains and water ways to allow free flow of water during the rainy season.

The commissioner said, “State Government is passionate and committed to improve the living standard of its teeming populace regardless of tribes or religion to make their environment more habitable and conducive for living.”

The commissioner called on the residents “to always do the needful by desisting from polluting the environment with garbage and faeces, or particles obstructing free flow of water system which may eventually cause stagnation, breed mosquitoes and make the roads inaccessible.”

Leader of the delegation, Mrs. Scholastica Umejesi, said they were at the Commissioner’s Office to congratulate him on his appointment and intimate him about some environmental issues about the area for urgent government intervention.