■ TRAVEL
Taitung-Japan flights set
Direct round-trip charter flights from Taitung to Japan are scheduled to start in May to boost tourism in eastern Taiwan. From May 1, travelers will be able to fly direct from Hokkaido to Taitung and vice versa on five-day package tours, which will cost less and offer shorter travel time than other routes, Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-Chen (鄺麗貞) said. In addition to Green Island and Orchid Island, the county's cultural heritage and festivals are major attractions for Japanese tourists, Kuang said. He also vowed to promote visits to Taitung in other countries and territories in the region, including Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asian nations.
■ SCIENCE
FAO okays screening tests
Screening techniques for foot-and-mouth disease that were developed by researchers at a laboratory run by the Council of Agriculture have won the approval of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and have proven to be capable of determining infection within a short time, council officials said yesterday. The techniques, which were developed and refined by the council's Animal Health Research Institute, employ state-of-the-art gene chips to provide accurate and timely screening services, the officials said. Gene chips, which are also known as DNA microarray, are a miniaturized device designed to analyze DNA sequences. They are used in drug development and quarantine screening. The method was certificated by the UK-based Pirbright Laboratory last year as part of the FAO's quality reviews for screening techniques used in some 40 labs worldwide.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
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