■ ECONOMY
Food pricing criticized
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday criticized the government for failing to stabilize food prices. DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said that while the government had allowed food price increases in line with oil prices in previous months, it had done nothing to bring food prices down, adding that an increasing number of people were facing hardship because of the high prices. “Is the Cabinet’s price stabilization taskforce sleeping?” Yeh asked. DPP Legislator Cheng Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said the DPP caucus had recently found that while the price of some vegetables at the point of production remained stable, their price on the market had risen several times. Unscrupulous businesspeople are profiting from this, but the government continues to let consumers suffer, Cheng said.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Eco-friendly worshipping
Taipei City’s Civil Affairs Department began a series of activities yesterday to promote environment-friendly measures that can be applied to traditional religious rituals. The department will invite folk culture and religious ritual experts to discuss creative rituals and the history of worship in a forum yesterday and today from 9am to 5pm at Taipei NGO Center. An exhibition on Taiwan’s worship culture will be held at Taipei City’s Zhongzheng Public Assembly Hall from today through Dec. 23. The exhibition will feature environment-friendly measures presented by municipal temples and residents. Ghost money and products made with recycled materials, for example, can be seen at the exhibition, which is open to the public and free of charge.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Nanjenshan to reopen
The Nanjenshan Ecological Reserve Area in Kenting National Park, a low-lying, pristine slice of nature in the south, will be reopened for limited visits beginning on Jan. 1, after being closed for seven months for maintenance. In a statement, the Kenting National Park Administration Office said the area was closed on May 1 because of ground bed relocation that damaged hiking trails within the rain forest. During the closure, new hiking paths were built and the fauna and flora in the more than 5,800-hectare forest were left to flourish without human disturbance, the statement said.
■ EDUCATION
Summer program announced
The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced next year’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program and is accepting applications for US graduate students to do research in Taiwan for eight weeks next summer. The Summer Institute in Taiwan program is a joint program between the NSF and the National Science Council (NSC). The program provides US graduate students in science, including social and humanity sciences, and engineering, with an opportunity to come to Taiwan in the summer for eight weeks to participate in research projects in the areas of their studies at the participating host institutions. Awardees will receive a US$5,000 stipend and a round trip ticket, while the NSC will provide additional support to cover living expenses during the period of the program. All applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents enrolled in research-oriented masters or doctoral programs at a US institution. The deadline for submitting application for next year’s program is Dec. 9. Detailed information on the program and the application process is available at the NSF Web site at www.nsfsi.org.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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