■ DIPLOMACY
ChthoniC to return from tour
Black metal band ChthoniC is scheduled to return home today from a tour to North America promoting Taiwan's bid to join the UN. The Goth-style rockers were on the road for more than two months, crisscrossing some 60 cities in North America and introducing foreign audiences to the difficulties Taiwan faces in its efforts to join the UN and other international organizations. In a press conference in Washington earlier this month, lead singer Freddy Lim (林昶佐) dismissed the allegation that the band was too political. "I don't feel anything political in our message," he said. "It's a very simple message that we, the citizens of Taiwan, want to have the same rights as the American people and those of other countries at the United Nations. I don't believe this is too much to ask."
■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan Beer breaks the ice
Taiwan Beer has become popular among WTO representatives in Geneva, Switzerland, Taiwan's representative to the WTO Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said on Sunday. Lin introduced Taiwan Beer to other representatives at the WTO at an unofficial cocktail party on Saturday, which drew more than 100 participants, including mission chiefs of WTO member economies. The party followed a friendly golf match among representatives on the same day, Lin said. In order to raise Taiwan's profile, Lin decided to include Taiwan Beer among the drinks at the party. The beer proved popular among party participants because it was very different from the other beverages, Lin said.
■ TRANSPORTATION
Su-Hua Highway damaged
The Highway Bureau cautioned motorists yesterday about driving on the landslide-prone Suao-Hualien Highway after the road was hit by falling rocks earlier in the day. Bureau road maintenance official Chen Shih-chan (陳世昌) said that over the past few days, intermittent downpours in Ilan County had made the highway more precarious for traffic. Chen said that in the early hours yesterday, a 30m span of the roadway at Wuta, Nanau Township (南澳), Ilan County, had been washed out. Road maintenance personnel had begun to clear the road, but more time was needed to repair the heavily damaged roadbed, he said. At around 5am yesterday morning, a sedan carrying two people encountered a washout and slid 130m down the side of a mountain, Suao police reported. The driver and his 81-year-old mother were rescued about an hour after the accident and rushed to a nearby hospital, the report said. The driver injured his forehead and shoulders, while his mother sustained a fracture to the right arm.
■ WEATHER
CWB warns of torrential rain
The Central Weather Bureau maintained its warning of heavy rains yesterday evening, saying eastern Taiwan and the southern mountain regions could expect torrential rain during the night, while mountainous areas in the north could also receive heavy rain. The bureau said the east coast can expect showers throughout the day today, while the mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan could see thunderstorms and rain in the afternoon. Toward the evening, eastern and southern Taiwan will be overcast, while Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu will be overcast to clear, with a chance of a visible full moon in the evening.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed
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