■AGRICULTURE
Papaya farmers struggling
A Chiayi County farmers’ association official urged agricultural authorities yesterday to help the county’s papaya farmers cope with losses suffered as result of a tornado and hailstorm that struck Jhongpu Township (中埔) on Thursday. Chang Han-ching (張漢清), a secretary at the Jhongpu Farmers Association, said the tornado and hailstones damaged about 30 hectares of papaya plantations in villages including Jinlan (金蘭), Fushou (復收), Longmen (龍門) and Sanceng (三層), causing millions of dollars in losses. Screen houses were damaged and fruit trees were either snapped in half or toppled over, Chang said. The Jhongpu Township Farmers’ Association would help the farmers apply for government subsidies and expressed hope that agricultural units would also help to offset the farmers’ losses, Chang said.
■CHARITY
Christian group plans to fast
The Taiwan chapter of World Vision, a global Christian charity dedicated to helping poor children and families, will hold a “Hunger 30” drive in Taipei today, in which participants will fast for 12 hours, the organizer said yesterday. First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) is expected to attend the annual drive, to be held at the National Taiwan University Sports Center, World Vision Taiwan said in a press statement. World Vision Taiwan has been organizing activities to help people experience the pain of hunger and raise their awareness of helping the hungry since March 1, the statement said. The charity has offered assistance to victims of quake-hit Sichuan Province in China and cyclone-ravaged Myanmar.
■TECHNOLOGY
Firms to build electric bikes
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that the government-financed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) would help domestic manufacturers churn out some 100,000 electric motorcycles in four years. Liu made an inspection tour of the ITRI headquarters in Hsinchu, where he was briefed on the progress in the research and development of various high-tech products, including the environmentally friendly electric motorcycles. He said the government would see to it that some 100,000 electric motorcycles, powered by replaceable batteries, are produced by private motorbike manufacturers around the country in four years amid louder calls for energy-saving and carbon-cutting measures.
■RECREATION
Kinmen park extends hours
The Kinmen National Park Administration said yesterday that it had decided to extend the opening hours at its service centers within the park for the duration of the summer season in response to the needs of visitors. Beginning yesterday, the hours of operation at service centers at the park’s main attractions, including the Jhongshanlin Recreational Area, the Chingkuo Memorial Hall, Cih Lake, the Gunington Battlefield Museum and the Aug. 23 Battle Museum, will be extended from 8am to 5pm to 8am to 5:30pm. The agency said many visitors to the park had complained that because of longer daylight hours and more visitors during the summer, the service centers’ hours of operation were not long enough. The service centers’ hours of operation will return to normal on Sept. 16, it said.
■AGRICULTURE
Farms offer DIY tours
Five leisure farms in Tainan County’s Dongshan Township (東山) yesterday started a month-long pick-it-yourself program organized by the county government. Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said visitors to any of the five orchards need only pay an entrance fee of NT$100 (US$3.20) per person, with children under 110cm admitted free. They can eat as many freshly picked longans as they want before taking an additional 1.8kg of the fruit home at no extra charge.
■AVIATION
CAL fuselage cracks
China Airlines (CAL,華航) said last night that flight CI-160, departing from Taipei to Incheon, South Korea, at 8:08am, was found to have a 15cm crack in the fuselage and two damaged tires after landing at Incheon International Airport at 10:50am. The cause of the crack is still under investigation and could be the result of an unknown object on the runway, a statement issued by CAL said. CAL confirmed that Flight CI-160, carrying 245 passengers and crew, landed safely at Incheon. An A330-300 was immediately sent to Incheon to carry the return Flight CI-161 passengers back to Taipei, the statement said.
■POLITICS
Georgia crisis is a warning
Taiwan should learn a lesson from the ongoing conflict in the Caucasus and beware of a similar situation with China, a Taiwanese political analyst said yesterday. “Georgia’s tragedy is a warning for Taiwan. Georgia sees a Russia, which wants to regain its past power. Taiwan sees a China that has already risen,” said political analyst and former Taipei Times editor-in-chief Antonio Chiang (江春男). “Every now and then, thug leaders pick out a weakling and knock his head against the wall, to remind others who is in charge,” he wrote in an article entitled “A Small but Smart War,” in his column in the Apple Daily. “This time Georgia was hit so hard that it suffered a concussion. The whole world saw this. To [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin, this is a small but smart war. He paid a small price but achieved great results.”
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
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS