■ ENVIRONMENT
Agencies black out
The Presidential Office and several government agencies switched off their lights at 8:30pm yesterday for one hour as part of the global “Earth Hour” campaign observed by more than 120 countries. Wu Chia-ling (鄔嘉綾), an executive at the Society of Wilderness, which is leading a carbon-reduction drive in Taiwan, said that aside from the government, the private sector, including prominent buildings in Taipei City such as Taipei 101, the Grand Hyatt Taipei hotel and NEO19, also took part in the activity. Wu said the one hour lights-out campaign in Taiwan would save between 250,000 and 280,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is equivalent to cutting 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Hundreds of thousands of individuals also took to the streets in eastern Taipei City yesterday afternoon in a show of support for the campaign, she said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Tung visits Taiwan: report
Former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a six-day visit, a local report said yesterday. Tung is now vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The CPPCC has no legislative power, but in theory advises China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress. The former shipping magnate is expected to visit the nation’s largest port in Kaohsiung and meet Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), the United Evening News quoted unnamed sources as saying. However, in a bid to keep his trip low-profile because of the political sensitivity associated with his position, Tung is not scheduled to meet any government officials, the report said. Tung lead the former British colony from its handover to Chinese rule in 1997 until his resignation in 2005. He never visited Taiwan during his terms.
■ TOURISM
Thai office holds food fair
A food and products fair was launched yesterday in Taipei as the final event in “Thailand Week 2010,” which aims at promoting better understanding of the Southeast Asian country. At the fair, 20 booths set up in the plaza in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei offered food, handicrafts and tourism and visa services. “The purpose of this event is not only to promote Thailand tourism and food, but also to showcase every aspect of Thailand to the people of Taiwan and others who are currently in Taipei,” said Arbhorn Manasvanich, executive director of the Thailand Trade and Economic Office.
■ CRIME
UK citizen detained
A British-Indian businessman was in police custody yesterday over his alleged involvement in a hit-and-run in Taipei City. In the early morning on Thursday, scooter rider Huang Chun-te (黃俊德), 32, was hit from behind and killed at the scene. Video clips from a nearby security camera showed a black Mercedes hit him from behind and immediately left the scene. Chen Wen-chih (陳文智), deputy chief for Taipei City Police Department’s Da-an Precinct, said Yang Sheng-hung (楊盛宏), a retired sergeant from the Taipei City Police Department, took his car to a car maintenance shop and saw the Mercedes, which was also there for maintenance. Chen said Yang felt there was something wrong with the Mercedes and called police to tip them off. At press time, the businessman was being interviewed at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Prosecutors have barred him from leaving the country.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
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