SOCIETY
Fire breaks out at hotel
Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Regent Taipei hotel early yesterday morning after a fire broke out in the five-star hotel’s basement floor, the Taipei City Fire Department said. The fire started at about 3am in a stockroom belonging to a luxury boutique in the hotel’s shopping arcade, resulting in thick smoke billowing through parts of the building, the department said. The fire was extinguished in about an hour, it said, adding that authorities are investigating the cause. Some guests had to be rescued from their rooms due to the smoke, the department said. Most of the merchandise stored in the shop’s stockroom was destroyed in the fire, but there were no injuries, it added.
DIPLOMACY
License agreement signed
Taiwan and the US state of Kentucky have signed an agreement to allow licensed drivers from either side to obtain a driver’s license without having to take a road test, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Kentucky became the 21st US state to enter into a driver’s license agreement with Taiwan, it said, adding that Taiwan was the first nation to sign such an accord with the US state. The agreement will make it easier for Taiwanese working or studying in Kentucky, as well as those who go there for academic exchanges, to obtain a driver’s license, the ministry said, adding that Taiwanese holders of a residency permit or a non-immigrant visa will be exempted from road and written tests when applying for a driver’s license in the US state.
INTERNET
Web site features TV anchor
A US news site called the Moth Daily, which delivers news in video using American Sign Language as well as text, recently published a story about PTS TV news anchor Wang Shiao-su (王曉書). “In Taiwan — there is a deaf woman who works as a TV news anchor. Her name is Sue Wang (45). She works for a public, government-funded TV program that airs 8-8:30am daily. She signs out the news by reading a teleprompter — using the same content as what hearing anchors use,” reported the Web site, which is run by Alex Abenchucan. It also published a 15-minute video, which can be viewed at www.dailymoth.com/single-post/2017/02/21/The-Daily-Moth-2-21-17. The segment about Wang starts at the 14:25 mark, with photographs and videos of the news anchor. Abenchuchan said it was the first time that a report about a deaf Taiwanese was published on the Web site.
SOCIETY
City fights food waste
The Hsinchu City Government on Friday launched a “communal refrigerator” program that allows retailers to share excess food in a bid to reduce food waste and help people in need. Food donated by retailers, such as supermarkets and bakeries, will be collected and stored in communal refrigerators, which are open to people who need it, the city’s Department of Social Affairs said. The first batch of refrigerators were unveiled in the Minfu Community (民富) in the city’s North District (北區) and more will soon become available in two other locations, the department said, adding that the refrigerators will be open on Monday to Friday, from 4pm to 5pm. Expressing appreciation to Cotton Field Organic Co for donating six commercial refrigerators, Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) said the communal refrigerators can serve 800 people per month and prevent about a tonne of food from going to waste.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
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
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard