■ 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.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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