■ Society
Sexy vegetarian sought
What do Taiwanese singer Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒), Filipino model Isabel Roces and Hong Kong actress Maggie Q have in common? They don't eat meat and they're vying to be the world's sexiest vegetarian. The stars are among many others from the region competing in the contest organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. Taiwan had two more entries -- actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) and singer Meng Ting-wei (孟庭葦). But stars in the hugely popular TV dramas from barbecue-loving South Korea were conspicuously absent from the list. Hollywood actresses in the race included Alicia Silverstone, Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman. The meatless men included Alec Baldwin, Paul McCartney, Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Harrelson. To vote in the PETA contest: www.peta.org/feat/sexyveg05/.
■ Agriculture
Flood damages hit US$68m
Agricultural losses caused by torrential rains over the past week have hit NT$2.14 billion (US$68.38 million) as of 11am yesterday, according to the Council of Agriculture (COA). Tallies released by the COA show that more than 42,802 hectares of agricultural land, mainly rice paddies and vegetable fields, have been damaged or destroyed in central and southern Taiwan in the downpours which have dumped more than 1,000mm of rainfall on some areas. Many fisheries in Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Tainan and Chiayi were also heavily damaged or destroyed, while large numbers of livestock have died in the flooding. The COA said it is providing financial assistance to farmers who have suffered serious damage to their land and crops in areas hit by flooding and is offering soft loans to those who have suffered minor losses.
■ Society
Man jumps in front of train
A 60-something elderly man, identified by his last name Wang, was killed by intentionally jumping in front of a train at 8:08am yesterday at Yuanshan MRT station. Wang was fatally injured and when the ambulance arrived, he showed no signs of life, the police said. The MRT's Danshui Line was temporarily interrupted and the line did not begin to operate until after 10:24am. Meantime, the transportation between Shilin and Minquan W Road station was substituted by buses. The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation's surveillance video showed Wang lingering in the station, before jumping down and being hit by a southbound train. A student who witnessed the incident immediately reported it to MRT personnel. The report said that the train attempted to make an emergency stop, but that it was too late to prevent the tragedy from happening.
■ Diplomacy
New center opens in US
Taiwan's representative office in the US will have a new cultural center to serve Taiwanese expatriates in the greater Washington area. The new facility, located in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland, was to be formally inaugurated yesterday. David Lee (李大維), the top Taiwanese representative to the US, and Chang Fu-mei (張富美), chairwoman of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, will jointly preside over the inauguration ceremony. The new cultural center has a large auditorium capable of accommodating an audience of 500, as well as conference rooms, a library, show rooms, classrooms and other facilities. Construction began in February last year and was completed earlier this month.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
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