■ CRIME
Teen arrested in drugs probe
Police arrested a 19-year-old senior high school student implicated in the smuggling of more than 6kg of marijuana into the country, Taipei County authorities said on Friday. The aviation police discovered the marijuana in items registered as snow boots shipped from Canada at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Following the delivery of the drugs to Taipei County, the police arrested the student, identified only by his last name, Wang, when he went to pick up the package. Wang told police that he was paid NT$50,000 (US$1,550) to handle the pick-up for a man nicknamed "Ah Kuang," and that he did not know the shipment contained marijuana.
■ ENERGY
Wind-power subsidiary opens
Leading wind-power firm Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark opened a subsidiary company in Taiwan on Thursday, saying the nation was an "ideal place" to develop the alternative energy source. "Taiwan relies on imports for its energy needs, has environmental concerns and has a shallow seashore on its west coast, so it is an ideal place to develop wind power," said Thorbjorn Rasmussen, president of Vestas Asia Pacific. Taiwan has great potential for this "modern energy" as it is hoping to install 2,000 megawatts in wind-power projects by 2010, he said. "The purpose of launching Vestas Taiwan Ltd as a subsidiary is to further develop a local organization, including a larger after-sales and service department, for maintaining turbines in Taiwan," Rasmussen said.
■ AGRICULTURE
Premier urges tea protection
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday urged tea farmers not to let the nation's top-quality tea sprouts and tea producing technology flow overseas in order to protect Taiwan's competitive advantage in the industry. Chang made the comments while presenting awards at a ceremony in Taichung County on the opening day of a tea culture festival. The festival is being sponsored by the Taichung Tea Commercial Association with the aim of promoting the county's tea produce. Chang said the nation produced a total of 19,000 tonnes of tea last year, with a production value of NT$4.35 billion (US$135 million). He expressed hope that the nation's tea industry would develop based on the principles of "quality, sanitation and safety" in line with government policies to promote food safety in the agricultural sector. He urged domestic tea farmers to work to produce a wider variety of top quality teas in order to help "Taiwan tea become the best in the world."
■ AGRICULTURE
Fair promotes local produce
A traveling fair featuring fruits and other agricultural products is being held at a number of supermarkets in Indonesia, introducing Taiwanese produce to the southeast Asian nation's upper middle class and Chinese-speaking groups, a spokesman for the event's organizers said yesterday. The fair runs through Feb. 19, the spokesman said. The exhibition displays a wide range of foods, including fresh fruits, organic produce and processed food. Fruits such as Ponkan mandarin oranges, bell fruits, grapes, pineapples and persimmons have been included in the fair, the spokesman said. The event marks the beginning of the government's plan to promote agricultural produce in ten potentially lucrative markets, the spokesman said. The other nine countries targeted by the government are Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia, Turkey, Vietnam and Spain.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
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