First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) appeared as a “mystery guest” at a World Vision Taiwan rally at Linkou Gymnasium in Taipei County yesterday to lend support to the charity’s 30-Hour Famine campaign aimed at raising awareness of global poverty.
More than 13,000 people participated in yesterday’s event, which was opened by its ambassadors — entertainers Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Stanley Huang (黃立行). The 30-hour fast ran from noon Saturday to 6pm yesterday.
During the rally, Chow talked about a visit she and a group of children, who were sponsored by World Vision Taiwan, made to children in Typhoon Morakot-ravaged Pingtung County a day before the storm’s one-year anniversary.
Chow said she was pleased to see that the children were so optimistic and had not given up on their dreams and hopes despite the difficulties they face.
Other participants at the event yesterday included residents and children from areas in southern Taiwan devastated by last year’s destructive typhoon.
Lin Yiu-chen (林宥蓁), a nine-month-old baby girl, was the youngest participant at the poverty awareness campaign. The girl’s mother, Hsieh Hsiu-feng (謝秀汾), who was participating in the event for the first time, said she hoped to instill in her child the concept of “helping others and helping yourself” by participating in charitable activities.
A series of activities were held throughout the day, including a donation event, film screenings and a forum for the discussion of natural disasters, wars, food crises and HIV/AIDS.
The campaign was to culminate with a concert by pop singers including Rachel Liang (梁文音), Fan Wei-chi (范瑋琪) and Drifters (浪花兄弟).
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost