■ENVIRONMENT
Kaohsiung's air gets worse
Air pollution got worse in Kaohsiung last month, with the smoke stacks of factories in the neighboring counties and cities of Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan blamed for fouling the air, city officials said yesterday. Quoting an Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) report on air quality in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung area, officials from the city's Department of Environmental Protection indicated that the frequency of poor air quality in Kaohsiung City stood at 12.5 percent last month, meaning that there were four or five days when air quality in the city was significantly below standard. That percentage surpassed the single-month average of the first 10 months by 2.5 times, the officials said, noting they believe the deteriorating air quality was caused by emissions of waste gas from petrochemical factories in Yunlin County's Mailiao Township (麥寮). In the presence of sunshine certain waste gases change into harmful ozone, which the wind blows away from the area where it is produced, said department Director Hsiao Yu-cheng (蕭裕正).
■ EDUCATION
Study in US grows
The number of Taiwanese students enrolled at US colleges and universities grew by 4.4 percent last year, making the country the fifth largest source of foreign students in the US, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday. The AIT issued a statement saying that a new annual report published by the Institute of International Education with support from the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs indicated that the number of Taiwan students increased to 29,094 last year, overtaking Canada with 28,280 students.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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