■ Earthquake
Quake in Kaohsiung County
An earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale jolted the nation yesterday but there were no reports of damage or casualties. The tremor hit at 4:17am, with its epicenter 16km south of Chiahsien in Kaohsiung County and 6.9 kilometers underground, according to the Seismology Center. A quake with a magnitude of 5.8 shook the nation on May 1, killing two and injuring a Canadian tourist.
■ Environment
Spoonbills moving on
All the black-faced spoonbills that wintered in Taiwan are expected to leave within two weeks as summer approaches, a spokesman for the Tainan Black-Faced Spoonbills Conservation Association said yesterday. At the moment, there are more than 40 black-faced spoonbills in the Tainan area. The vast majority of the roughly 700 specimens of the endangered species that had been in the nation left after the weather began to warm up, the spokesman said.
■ Exports
Taiwan's food goes Brit
A shopping center in north London plans to sponsor a Taiwan food exhibition this November featuring Taiwan's agricultural products and canned and frozen foods. Yeh Ming-shui (葉明水), an official in charge of marketing at the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), called on Phoebe Lim, president of the Oriental City shopping center, on Friday to finalize the agreement. After visiting Oriental City's supermarkets, Yeh decided that Taiwan's agricultural products were comparatively higher in quality to similar products imported from Southeast Asian nations. Yeh said that Taiwan's lychees, pineapples, guavas, wax apples, Buddha-head fruits and teas have the potential to make inroads in British markets. Some brand-name canned foods also could compete with similar products from Southeast Asian countries.
■ Hakka affairs
7-11 launches Hakka foods
The convenience store chain 7-11 launched a line of traditional Hakka foods yesterday as part of its collaboration with the Council of Hakka Affairs to promote Hakka culture during the council's Hakka Tung Blossom Festival. The foods include Hakka lunchboxes and other items such as Hakka-style moichi (glutinous rice balls), laichai popsicles, garlic blossom tea and garlic pig intestine potato chips. The limited food line will be available in 7-11s across the country from May 11 to June 8. The food line is part of the council's effort to enter into promotions with private entities during tung blossom season. The festival, in its third year, has become a major business generator as people flock to view the white tung blossoms.
■ Religion
Falun Dafa hails mothers
The Taiwan Falun Dafa Society is sponsoring activities today in Taipei to celebrate Mother's Day and the twelfth anniversary of the establishment of Falun Dafa. In Taipei, the organization is hosting a carnival with food and crafts stands at National Taiwan University's gymnasium, next to Drunken Moon Pond. The carnival will also host demonstrations of Falun Gong and a calligraphy competition along with an exhibition of photos of Falun Gong being practiced worldwide. The society will also show a videotaped statement by Falun Gong's founder, Li Hong-zhi (李洪志). Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, was established in China by Li in 1992 and combines meditation and physical movement.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
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