■ TRANSPORTATION
Kaohsiung ends free buses
Kaohsiung City’s free bus rides will be terminated at the end of this month, the city’s Transportation Bureau said. Wang Kuo-tsai (王國材), director of the city’s Transportation Bureau, said Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had approved the bureau’s plan to stop the service. Wang said the nine-month service had cost the city government a total of NT$75 million (US$2.2 million), adding that the rest of the budget — estimated at NT$10 million — would be spent on shuttle buses for the World Games. Wang downplayed the impact of the termination on the city government’s efforts to boost the utilization rate of the city’s mass transit system.
■ DIPLOMACY
Panama receives funds
Taiwan Ambassador to Panama Simon Ko (柯森耀) donated US$5 million to the Central American nation on behalf of the government on Thursday to help renovate a highway and construct a tap water supply system. The donation was accepted by Panamanian Minister of the Presidency Rafael Mezquita at the Presidential Office. Expressing his country’s gratitude for the donation, Mezquita said the money would be of great help in improving the livelihoods and living conditions of the people of Panama. Describing Taiwan as not only a generous donor but also a good partner, Mezquita said, “Taiwan is Panama’s staunch sponsor.” To highlight the government-to-government nature of the donations and the Panamanian government’s transparency in using the funds, Mezquita said that the money has gone into the country’s national treasury, that the use of the money would be scrutinized by parliament and that it would be audited. His remarks were in response to previous reports that said Taiwan had given a US$5 million private donation to Panamanian first lady Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos.
■ ANIMALS
Chihuahuas available
Animals Taiwan (AT) on Thursday sent out a request urging the public to help find adoptive families for more than 25 dogs that were secretly bred in a cage by a man outside his property. AT said all the dogs, mainly Chihuahuas and Daschunds, had had their vocal cords cut. Two female dogs with puppies were also found at the site. The incident has been reported to the Taipei Animal Health Department. AT said the department had refused to take the dogs in. AT plans to take all of the dogs to be neutered but will need to find homes for them. Those who are interested in providing a temporary or permanent home for the dogs, please visit www.animalstaiwan.org for further details.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Incinerators create income
Two incinerators operated by the Kaohsiung City Government have created extra income of more than NT$150 million (US$4.45 million) each year by generating electricity from the heat produced by the incineration process, city government sources said yesterday. The incinerators, attached to the two garbage centers in the city, incinerate an average of 240,000 tonnes of waste and garbage a year out of a total of approximately 298,000 tonnes of waste treated, officials from the Kaohsiung Department of Environmental Protection said in a report to the Kaohsiung City Council. The 298,000 tonnes of waste also included garbage collected from Penghu County, as well as from Kaohsiung County and Yunlin County.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
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