■ Weather
Mercury to plummet
The mercury is expected to drop sharply in the next few days with the approach of a cold front from China, the Central Weather Bureau reported yesterday. The cold front arrived over northern Taiwan late yesterday. Temperatures in coastal areas north of Chiayi County and on Kinmen and Matsu are expected to plummet to 8?C between tomorrow and Thursday, the bureau said. It called for the farming and fishery sectors to be on guard against frost damage. It also called for fishing boats operating to the north and northeast of Taiwan, as well as those in the Taiwan Strait, to be on the alert for strong winds and high tides as the strong northeast monsoon is sweeping in.
■ Travel
Beijing flight a hot ticket
Tickets for the Beijing-Taipei Lunar New Year charter flight scheduled for this Saturday proved to be best-sellers. All tickets for the 125-seat charter flight scheduled to depart Beijing for CKS International Airport have been booked, according to Chen Kuo-yuan (陳國原), secretary-general of the Taiwan Business Association in Beijing. There will be three more flights until Feb 20 for the convenience of Beijing-based Taiwanese businesspeople and their relatives during the Lunar New Year period, Chen said. Demand has been higher than expected, Chen said. Seven charter flights operated by six Chinese carriers arrived in Taiwan from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on Saturday, the first day of the charter services, carrying about 1,700 Taiwanese home for the holidays.
■ Politics
Lien willing to visit HK
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has said he would be glad to visit Hong Kong at the invitation of academic institutions, a Hong Kong-based Taiwanese business executive said yesterday. Chen Zi-chuang (陳自創), managing director of the Taiwan Industrial and Business Association in Hong Kong, said he had conveyed a university's invitation to Lien during a recent visit to Taipei. Lien said that if he can obtain a visa this year, he will accept the invitation to deliver a speech, according to Chen. Lien was last in Hong Kong on Oct. 11, 2003, but only for a transit stay of a few hours.
■ Politics
Kaohsiung deputy named
Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday that he has invited Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆), vice chairman of the Public Construction Commission, to serve as his deputy. Chen said he had decided to name Cheng as his deputy because Cheng is an engineering expert. "I need his assistance to oversee construction of the city's mass rapid transit system and a number of sporting facilities for the 2009 World Games to be held in Kaohsiung," Chen said. He said that Cheng had agreed to join his team.
■ Cross-strait Ties
Russians praise charters
An influential private radio station in Russia said several times on Saturday that the launch of direct cross-strait charter flights for the Lunar New Year holiday is an important matter of "the two countries" across the Taiwan Strait. According to the Echo Radio Station in Moscow, Taiwan has been a sovereign and independent state since former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) fled to Taiwan from China in 1949. The reports ran counter to the Kremlin's policy, which recognizes Beijing as the sole ruler of China and does not recognize Taiwan.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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