TRADE
Fruit exports double
Exports of lychees, mangoes and dragon fruit to Japan and South Korea more than doubled this year, thanks to relaxations in those nations’ qualification requirements, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said. Last year, the nation exported 1,817 tonnes to Japan and South Korea, while this year it exported 2,760 tonnes, the bureau said in a statement released on Friday last week, the date on which export of the fruits to Japan and South Korea ends each year. Exports of mangoes to South Korea saw 94 percent growth this year, from last year’s 911 tonnes to a record-high 1,767 tonnes, the bureau said, adding that exports to Japan have remained stable in recent years.
SOCIETY
Jobs stressing fathers: poll
With Father’s Day approaching, it might be a good idea for working fathers to seek a source of serenity. Human resource agency 1111 Job Bank yesterday said that according to a survey, up to 88 percent of working fathers are enormously stressed by job-related worries. 1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said that a particular demographic that stands out is fathers born in the 1990s. Commonly paid well below the national average, these fathers tend to suffer the greatest financial pressure. According to the survey, the most prevalent sources of stress are “financial burdens at home” (76.3 percent), “parenting problems” (39.8 percent) and a “lack of pay raises” (38.3 percent). The type of occupation matters greatly as well, with some fields inducing more stress than others. An analysis of the results showed that fathers in human services shoulder the most pressure in the workplace, closely followed by workers in department stores, medical services and agricultural services.
TRAVEL
Peach launches Tokyo flights
Peach Aviation is to launch direct flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Saturday to further tap the budget travel market, the Japanese carrier said yesterday. The new route would be Peach Aviation’s fourth air link between the two nations, after introducing services between Taoyuan and Osaka, Taoyuan and Okinawa, and Kaohsiung and Osaka, it said. Peach Aviation is initially offering six round-trip flights per week (excluding Tuesdays) that leave Taoyuan at 12:30am and depart from Haneda on the return leg at 5:55am, chief executive Shinichi Inoue told a press conference in Taipei. Daily flights would start on Oct. 24, the carrier said. Inoue said the schedule should work out well for young Taiwanese, who can travel to the airport after work to catch a flight with plenty of time to spare.
HEALTH
Poultry culled due to H5N2
Taitung authorities on Monday culled hundreds of chickens, ducks and geese at a farm in Taimali (太麻里) after it was confirmed to have been infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza virus. Authorities said they had received reports from the farm, which had about 600 chickens and more than 100 ducks and geese, that chickens had been dying in large numbers since early last month. The 170 chickens left after the massive die-off were culled, along with the ducks and geese, although they had not been infected. Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said the avian flu is an H5 subtype that poses no threat to humans. Shih added that avian flu outbreaks have been reported every two or three days on average since the beginning of the year, mainly in Changhua and Yunlin counties.
ENTERTAINMENT
Maroon 5 tickets go on sale
Fans of US band Maroon 5 who missed the chance to buy tickets to the band’s Sept. 14 concert in Taipei have another chance to watch them perform when tickets to the group’s extra concert go on sale on Sunday. The band announced on July 25 that it would hold an additional concert in Taipei on Sept. 15, also at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall. Concert tickets are priced between NT$1,800 and NT$6,800, and are to go on sale at 11am on Sunday at ticket.7net.com.tw and 7-Eleven ibon kiosks. When tickets to Maroon 5’s Sept. 14 concert went on sale in April, all 15,000 were snatched up within 20 minutes, concert promoter Live Nation Taiwan said. The concerts are part of Maroon 5’s World Tour, which began in February in the US.
ENTERTAINMENT
Funeral held for actress
Family and friends gathered at a funeral in Taipei yesterday to say farewell to actress Yang Ko-han (楊可涵), who committed suicide last month after battling depression. The 27-year-old tried to kill herself at her home on July 6, but was found by her boyfriend, actor Chang Ting-hu (張庭瑚), who rushed her to hospital. She was declared dead 12 days later after attempts to revive her failed. In a Facebook post yesterday, Chang said Yang’s death left him in anguish. “Thank you all for your encouragement and care. I am sorry that I cannot say: ‘I am fine’ right now, but I will do my best for Ko-han,’” he wrote. Yang’s death came less than three months after the suicide of 24-year-old model and actress Cindy Yang (楊又穎), who allegedly killed herself because of cyberbullying. The public were urged to gain a better understanding of depression and to stop stigmatizing the illness.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition