SOCIETY
‘Dog ambassador’ wanted
Non-profit group Animal Rescue Team Taiwan said on Monday it needs help delivering a former stray dog to its new home in Vancouver, Canada. The young dog named Fico was rescued by the team from Taiwan Power Co’s Taichung Thermal Power Plant late last year. At the time, Fico was seriously ill with a skin infection, the team said, adding that the dog has recovered after more than four months of care. Through the group’s efforts, a dog lover in Vancouver has agreed to adopt Fico, but the team said it is having trouble finding someone to take the dog to its new home. The group posted an emergency notice on its Facebook page yesterday seeking a “dog ambassador.” The team said it would pay the air cargo cost of slightly more than NT$10,000 (US$340) and provide all necessary documents, including quarantine papers.
SOCIETY
Evergreen donates US$10m
Chang Yung-fa (張榮發), the founder of Evergreen Group, donated US$10 million to China’s Sichuan Province on Saturday to support relief efforts following a deadly earthquake. A donation ceremony was held at the Sichuan Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday. Chang urged the public to help quake victims rebuild their homes and asked that a concert, scheduled for May 7 at Peking University, be turned into a charity event, according to a statement released by the group on Saturday. Students from the province will read memorial verses at the concert, the statement added. The magnitude 6.6 earthquake, which struck Yaan City on April 20, left 196 people dead, 21 missing and 13,484 injured, official figures showed. Chang also donated US$10 million to relief efforts following a devastating earthquake in Sichuan in 2008, which killed about 70,000 people.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
A New York-based NGO has launched a global initiative to rename the nation’s overseas missions, most of which operate under the name "Taipei," to "Taiwan Representative Office (TRO)," according to a news release. Ming Chiang (江明信), CEO of Hello Taiwan, announced the campaign at a news conference in Berlin on Monday, coinciding with the World Forum held from Monday through Wednesday, the institution stated in the release. Speaking at the event, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said she believed this renaming campaign would enable the international community to see Taiwan
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
TOO DANGEROUS: The families agreed to suspend crewed recovery efforts that could put rescuers in danger from volcanic gases and unstable terrain The bodies of two Taiwanese tourists and a Japanese pilot have been located inside a volcanic crater, Japanese authorities said yesterday, nearly a month after a sightseeing helicopter crashed during a flight over southwestern Japan. Drone footage taken at the site showed three bodies near the wreckage of the aircraft inside a crater on Mount Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, police and fire officials said. The helicopter went missing on Jan. 20 and was later found on a steep slope inside the Nakadake No. 1 Crater, about 50m below the rim. Authorities said that conditions at the site made survival highly unlikely, and ruled
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