The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday inaugurated Earth and Environment Season, which will last from Earth Day on April 22 to World Environment Day on June 5.
“Environmental protection should transcend ethnicity, age, skin color, occupation and gender. Everyone should be involved in protecting the only Earth we have,” EPA Comprehensive Planning Department Director-General Yeh Jiunn-Horng (葉俊宏) said yesterday at a press conference.
Yeh said that the EPA had decided to provide people with the chance to really participate in this year’s events for Earth Day and World Environment Day, adding that in the past, environmental events were more ceremonial than interactive.
“Beach cleaning will take place along the coastline, green film festivals will take place in 25 cities and counties and there will be a competition for ‘innovative king of environmental protection for public servants,’” Yeh said, adding that Penghu County had planned a “beach cleaning week” for its citizens.
Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) has also announced that people can accumulate “Happy Go” card points from Saturday until the end of this month by bringing plastic drink bottles to any of the eight Far Eastern department stores or 15 Geant hypermarkets across the nation.
Happy Go is a card that lets people accumulate points with purchases in a number of stores, including Far Eastern Department Store, Sogo Department Store and Kingstone online bookstore, to use as cash rebates for later purchases.
They can also use the points to collect prizes.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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