ENVIRONMENT
Kentucky scraps straws
US fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken on Tuesday said that it has stopped offering plastic straws at its restaurants in Taiwan. The firm said customers are encouraged to drink from the cup, but those with special needs would be given paper straws upon request. Stainless steel straws would be available for purchase, it added. The decision was made in compliance with the Environmental Protection Administration’s plan to ban the use of plastic straws in venues at government agencies, public and private schools, department stores and shopping malls, as well as fast-food stores, from July 1.
DIPLOMACY
Andrew Lee given Brunei job
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) has been named the nation’s new representative to Brunei, the ministry announced on Tuesday. Lee, 54, who has held the spokesman job since September 2017, is to replace Representative to Brunei William Lin (林維揚), who is to return to the ministry’s headquarters in Taipei. Lee, whose previous overseas posts include New York and London, is to take up his new post in August.
IMMIGRATION
Record number sent home
A total of 268 illegal immigrants were last month sent back to their home countries, the highest number under an amnesty program that was launched at the beginning of the year, the National Immigration Agency said. The program runs until June 30 with the aim of reducing the number of illegal immigrants in the nation, a figure that was approaching 90,000, it said. During the amnesty, illegal immigrants who turn themselves in face a maximum penalty of NT$2,000 and a limited re-entry ban or suspension of visa-free privileges, the agency said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
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