The 2,500 tonnes of rice donated to Iran by the government was delivered to an Iranian cargo ship in the Kaohsiung Harbor yesterday.
The rice was donated by the Council of Agriculture to help victims of an earthquake that rocked the historic Iranian city of Bam in late0 December.
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation -- Taiwan's largest charity, which has sent volunteers to assist in post-disaster relief work in the southeastern Iranian city since early January -- arranged for the delivery of the rice. Fifteen Tzu Chi volunteers assisted in loading the rice onto the Iranian freighter.
A Tzu Chi spokesman said its volunteers in Bam will also assist in distributing the rice to earthquake victims when the rice arrives in Iran in early March.
The aid program is expected to meet the rice needs of more than 80,000 quake victims in Bam for the coming three months, the spokesman said.
Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, the government has donated US$100,000 in post-quake relief aid to Iran, in addition to sending a 61-member rescue team to assist in relief operations immediately after the Dec. 26 earthquake.
The Taiwan Red Cross Society also collected 30 tonnes of relief goods, including jackets, blankets, wool socks and wool hats for Iranian quake victims. The goods were delivered by a China Airlines cargo plane in early January.
More than 26,000 Bam residents were killed and at least 30,000 others injured in the earthquake.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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