■ EARTHQUAKES
Quake off Ilan County
A 5.3-magnitude temblor struck off the east coast of Ilan County early yesterday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake hit at 3:41am and was centered 99km southeast of Suao, the USGS said. It struck at a depth of 10km.
■EVENTS
Michael Nobel in Taiwan
Michael Nobel, a great grand nephew of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize awards, will come to Taiwan to take part in a forum on energy-saving awareness and carbon dioxide-reducing initiatives. Nobel, who will deliver a speech during the forum tomorrow at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, is expected to share his perspectives on building energy-management platforms for higher energy efficiency and developing alternative energies, said the Taiwan Architecture and Building Center, one of the two sponsors of the forum. The 68-year-old Nobel, a citizen of Sweden and Switzerland, has international scientific and commercial experience in fields such as life sciences, satellite communications, Internet services for finances and investment, information management and crisis management. He participated in the introduction of magnetic resonance imaging at Fonar Corp in 1980 and has since maintained his interest in the field. He is also a chief executive officer of a group of companies that perform diagnostic imaging services. In addition, he is on the board of 12 international companies in diagnostics, treatment, investments and information systems in the medical field.
■SOCIETY
Make your wedding legal
Couples were urged yesterday to register to make their marriage legal under new marriage regulations that will come into force later this month. Under an amendment to the Civil Code taking effect on May 23, marriages will only be legal after the newlyweds register with local household registration offices, said Yang Yi-teh (楊義德), director of the Taipei County Bureau of Civil Affairs. In other words, Yang said, a marriage will not be considered legal if one partner fails to register with the authorities for any reason, even if they were married in a public wedding or at a ceremony witnessed by a judge or a notary. Yang said couples should register their marriages before the wedding ceremony takes place. Registrations can be made via telephone, the Internet or in writing.
■DEFENSE
Nation ready to buy F-16s
Taiwan is ready to buy 60 F-16C/D aircraft from the US and will pass the budget for the purchase as soon as Washington approves the sale, a lawmaker said yesterday. Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), a member of the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, made the remarks in response to a report by the Chinese-language China Times that said a US official would visit later this month to persuade president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to approve the purchase. Lin said the newspaper was wrong as the legislature had already passed the budget, but later froze it “to save face” because the US kept delaying the sale. “So as soon as the US approves the sale, we will un-freeze the budget. This has nothing to do with whether Ma approves or disapproves the purchase,” he said. “Actually, with the exception of the eight submarines, the legislature has approved the budget for the other major arms purchases from the US,” he said. Taiwan is seeking to buy 12 P-3C marine patrol, eight diesel-electric submarines, six PAC-III anti-missile batteries and 60 F-16s.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
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
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