WEATHER
WMO retires ‘Morakot’
The name “Morakot” has been retired by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a Pacific typhoon name because of the extensive damage and casualties it caused in 2009, particularly when it struck Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The name has been replaced on the list of acceptable names by “Atsani,” which means “lightning” in Thai, the bureau said. Typhoon names are generally retired for one of two reasons — either because they were particularly damaging or particular deadly. The bureau said the decision was made in January by the WMO’s committees for the Western North Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The Regional Specialized Meteorological Center, located in Japan, did not make an official announcement of the change until recently. The deadliest typhoon to affect Taiwan in a century, Morakot killed more than 600 people and caused more than NT$19.5 billion (US$682.13 million) in damage.
EDUCATION
Tuition to remain the same
The Ministry of Education said on Tuesday that 72 universities would not raise tuition or miscellaneous fees during the next academic year, silencing skepticism that the fees would increase. Thirty-five public universities, including National Taiwan University, as well as 37 private universities will have a “zero percent” tuition increase, the ministry said. According to 2003 to 2004 statistics released by the ministry, tuition and fees at local universities are not only far lower than those of the US and Japan, but are also the lowest among the four Asian tigers — Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.
SOCIETY
Photographer wins in UAE
Fan Hui-ling (范慧玲), a Taiwanese photographer, has emerged as the top winner of an international photography contest in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), capturing the award for best photographer, as well as two silver medals. Fan, who has pursued a career in photography for more than five years, won 30,000 dirham (US$8,165) in prize money in this year’s International Emirates Photography Competition, the Government Information Office (GIO) said. Two of her works also won nominations in a competition sponsored by the International Federation of Photographic Art and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, GIO officials said. The competition drew entries from 139 countries on a theme of “Black and White through creative eyes,” the officials said.
POLITICS
Vote buyer gets jail time
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Wu Kuang-hsun (吳光訓) was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison by the Taiwan High Court’s Greater Kaohsiung branch yesterday for vote-buying, a violation of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法). Wu may appeal the case to the Supreme Court. In 2004, Wu represented the KMT in an election bid for a legislative seat in then-Kaohsiung County. The ruling said Wu handed more than NT$2 million (US$70,000) to two members of his campaign staff and directed them to buy votes in then-Cishan (旗山) and Neimen (內門) townships. The duo gave NT$500 bribes to 4,000 people to vote for Wu, the ruling said. The ruling said investigators learned of Wu’s vote-buying by monitoring his telephone calls after they received a tip that Wu was buying votes in his campaign. The ruling said the two campaign staffers had also been found guilty.
“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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