■ 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.
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
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
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
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