Wed, Jan 26, 2011 page2

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  SPORTS

  Taipei to host 4CC this year

  This year’s Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) will be held in Taipei from Feb. 15 to Feb. 20, the Chinese Taipei Skating Union said yesterday. Huang Ying-po (黃瑛坡), press service director of the organizing committee, said it would be the first time the nation hosts such a high-profile international figure skating competition, which required authorization from the International Skating Union. About 3,000 figure skating fans from Japan are planning to come to cheer for Japanese figure skaters, including last year’s Winter Olympics silver medalist Mao Asada, Huang said. Aside from Japan, 33 countries are participating in the event, the union said. More than 300 print and TV journalists will be on hand to cover the event, including from Japan Broadcasting Corp and Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

  TRANSPORTATION

  TRA meal sales up 30%

  A more flexible sales strategy led to a 30 percent increase in catering service revenues last year, Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said yesterday. Only a quarter of the 4.7 million lunch box meals that the TRA sold last year were bought onboard its trains, and total sales amounted to NT$320 million (US$11 million), an official with the TRA’s catering service department said. “Although our department has contributed less than 5 percent to TRA’s annual revenues, the box meals we provide remind people of the joy of taking a train,” the official said. Last year, the TRA began setting up more distribution channels to expand its market reach. As part of its sales strategy, the TRA offers customized box meals ranging from NT$80 to NT$500, which it said has helped broaden its customer base and generate more sales.

  ENVIRONMENT

  Spoonbill numbers down

  Greater Tainan, one of the world’s major migratory areas for black-faced spoonbills, has seen far fewer birds this year, according to a regional census. The census by the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society found that only 777 black-faced spoonbills are wintering in Tainan this year, the lowest number in four years. The Wild Bird Society Tainan said yesterday that the spoonbills may be having difficulty finding food. Idle fish ponds in Tainan’s Chigu area are usually the major source of food for birds, but they are increasingly being put to use again, which means less foods for the spoonbills, the Tainan society said. The society said it has yet to determine where the other birds have gone because it was still waiting for the final results of the census.

  TRANSPORTATION

  Airport volume breaks record

  Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the country’s main gateway, saw its passenger and cargo volumes reach a record high last year. The airport recorded 25.11 million visits last year, a 16.2 percent increase from 2009, according to Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chih-kuo (毛治國). Meanwhile, cargo volume hit 1.77 million tonnes, 30.1 percent higher than the previous year, he said. “Both growth rates were the highest among the 15 biggest airports in the world,” Mao said. Airports Council International director General Angela Gittens said recently that a new record was set last year for global airport industry traffic, with an increase in total passenger figures of nearly 7 percent. “Within that overall increase, there are marked regional differences, while the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America-Caribbean regions surged well beyond pre-crisis passenger volumes,” Gittens said.

  SOCIETY

  Pastry chefs a hit in France

  Taiwanese pastry chefs made a strong impression at the World Pastry Cup on Monday in Lyon, France, with desserts that highlighted special ingredients from Taiwan. Pastry chefs Wu Ting-gwo (吳庭國), Chen Li-che and Chang Hsiu-ming (張修銘) finished eighth in the 19-team competition with desserts that featured mountain pepper, a spice widely used by Taiwanese Aborigines. Pineapples, jasmine and passion fruit were also key ingredients in the array of desserts they were required to prepare over a 10-hour period. Spain, Italy and Belgium took the top three places in the competition.

  CRIME

  Swiss bank remits funds

  A Swiss bank remitted US$13,380.65 to the special prosecutors’ account in Taipei on Monday, almost completing the transfer of the US$21 million stashed away in Switzerland by former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) family. With the latest remission, only US$240,000 is left to be sent back to Taiwan in connection with a guilty verdict against the former president. The money was deposited at Merrill Lynch (Suisse) SA and a Swiss branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The US$21 million was frozen at the request of Taiwan’s judicial authorities investigating the roles of Chen and his family in several financial scandals. In addition, the special prosecutors found that the Chens had deposited more money — about NT$570 million (US$19.58 million) — at Wegelin & Co in Switzerland. The prosecution had asked Swiss authorities to freeze the deposits on suspicion that they had been given by Taiwanese bankers as bribes to Chen.
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