■ DIPLOMACY
MOFA offers condolences
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed condolences for the deaths of Guatemalan Interior Minister Vinicio Gomez and Vice Interior Minister Edgar Hernandez, who died in a helicopter crash in northern Guatemala. MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that the Taiwanese ambassador to Guatemala, Sun Ta-chen (孫大成), had immediately contacted the Guatemalan government after the crash to offer condolences on behalf of Taiwan and foreign minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), who was the ambassador to Guatemala prior to his appointment as minister. Guatemala is one of Taiwan’s 23 allies and one of its 12 in the Central and South American region. The two countries forged relations in 1935. In related news, Carlos Esteban Larios Ochaita, who is secretary-general to Guatemalan President Alvara Colom, will arrive in Taiwan tomorrow for a six-day visit.
■ FISHING
Tuna accord signed
An agreement aimed at suspending longlining for tuna was signed by fishery groups in Taiwan, Japan, China and South Korea amid soaring fuel prices, a report by Japan’s Kyodo News International said on Friday. The accord was also signed with the intention of restoring tuna resources that are in decline, it said. The groups belong to a Tokyo-based organization that covers most of the world’s tuna fishing boats and is tasked with promoting responsible tuna fishing. The report said that 204 of 387 Taiwanese longliners, 40 of the 120 Chinese boats, and some 10 percent to 20 percent of the 160 South Korean longliners had suspended operations as of Friday. Under the framework of the agreement, some 30 percent of a total of 1,200 tuna fishing boats around the world are expected to eventually stop fishing. If fuel prices continue to rise, the report added, the scale of the suspensions might also be expanded.
■ EVENTS
Foundation plans forum
The Foundation of International and Cross-Strait Studies announced yesterday that it would hold the “Taiwan-Japan Forum” Taipei 2008 International Conference on July 20. The conference, to be held at a Taipei hotel, will focus on the topics of “building a framework for order in the East Asian region,” “trends on the Korean Peninsula,” “the United States’ position in Asia” and “the development of Taiwan-Japan-China relations,” the foundation said. Participants will include Japanese Senator Hayashi Yoshimasa and Japanese House of Representatives member Seiji Maehara. This year’s gathering will be hosted by Chang King-yuh (張京育), chairman of the Taiwanese foundation, and Yoshio Ookawara, head of the World Peace Research Institute.
■ RELIGION
Buddhists to walk up hill
The Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society is scheduled to celebrate its 25th anniversary today, with an expected 1,000 followers walking up the hill on which the monastery sits to “experience the hardship of its founding.” The group was founded in 1983 in Taipei County by Buddhist Master Hsin Tao (心道法師) with the aim of promoting Buddhism as well as harmony and co-existence of different religions and communities. The celebration will start with the welcoming of a statue of a golden Buddha to the monastery, followed by an activity in which 1,000 followers will hike from the foot of the hill to the monastery, which is situated on the top of the ridge. A hall in the monastery that followers are normally not allowed to enter and a grotto where Hsin Tao practiced Buddhism will be open to the public.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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