■ SHIPPING
Nine sailors rescued
Helicopters and ships rescued nine crew members after their ship sank off the north coast in rough weather, the coast guard said yesterday. The ship, registered in the Central American nation of Belize, was carrying steel from Japan to Vietnam when it capsized in heavy seas early yesterday, cable station TVBS said. The ship had refueled in Keelung. The nine crew members, all Chinese nationals, escaped in an inflatable dinghy but drifted for more than an hour before helicopters and ships from the coast guard whisked them to safety, a coast guard official told the cable station. One crew member surnamed Sun, 50, was taken to the Mackay Memorial Hospital in nearby Tamsui (淡水) for treatment, but he was not in danger, the officials said.
■ SOCIETY
Singer in `glass house'
Singaporean pop singer Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) moved into a glass house next to the Taipei 101 skyscraper yesterday for a 24-hour stint to promote her latest CD. Her stay was being broadcast live on the Internet. Sun, 27, planned to spend 24 hours in the glass-and-steel structure. Her hair dyed a fiery red, Sun sat on a brightly colored sofa as photographers milled about. Her fans gathered outside, holding up umbrellas against the pouring rain. Other singers were planning to visit her, she told cable station ETTV. Sun said the temporary structure was more comfortable than she had expected. "I thought it would be a square box with a bed and a lamp," she said. Sun was planning to leave the house early this afternoon.
■ SOCIETY
Railway uses `feng shui'
The main entrance of Taipei Railway Station has been redesigned for better feng shui following a string of derailments and train delays, a railway official said over the weekend. Taiwan Railway Administration director Hsu Ta-wen (徐達文) said the administration had added a glass hallway to the station's main entrance to ward off evil spirits. The renovation was made at the suggestion of Master Hun Yuan (混元禪師), a well-known Buddhist master, Hsu said. The railway administration consulted Hun Yuan after several derailments, train delays and suicides on the tracks. Hun Yuan said the incidents had occurred because the station's main entrance faces a "white tiger demon." To avoid the demon, the main door had to be moved back 6m. The administration installed a glass hallway behind the main door, so that passengers now arriving at the station must enter two doors. Several lawmakers on Friday blasted the administration for squandering money on "superstition."
■ TOURISM
PRC delegation on the way
China's National Tourism Administration (NTA) hopes to send a delegation to Taiwan late this month to look into the local market in preparation for the lifting of restrictions on Chinese tourism, travel sources said. At the invitation of Taiwan's Travel Agent Association, NTA Director Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉) will head a 60-member delegation on a 10-day fact-finding visit, the sources said, adding that the delegation will consist of NTA staff members and tourism chiefs from major Chinese provinces and cities. In addition to touring major scenic spots such as Sun Moon Lake, Alishan and Hualien, the delegation will also visit administrative offices. Applications for the visit have been sent to the Tourism Bureau and the Mainland Affairs Council for approval.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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