ENTERTAINMENT
‘Instant Noodles’ a hit
A group of Taiwanese students in Los Angeles has made it into the final eight on America’s Best Dance Crew, a dance reality television series that features street dance crews. The six-member team, known as Instant Noodles, avoided being eliminated in its first appearance on the show on Thursday night in the US, performing to the song Dirty Picture by Taio Cruz. Lee Shen-yu (李深鈺), one of the team’s dancers, said the group’s members regularly practiced street dance during their spare time in Taiwan and after coming to Los Angeles, but stepped up their training to almost daily work outs prior to the competition. “We want to prove that Americans aren’t the only ones who are good at street dance. Taiwanese can perform good street dance, too,” Lee said. America’s Best Dance Crew airs once a week and will determine its winner on June 2. Viewers can vote online for their favorite acts, and Lee hoped that Taiwanese would support them.
SOCIETY
Homeless figure falls
The number of documented homeless people in Taiwan totaled about 3,000 as of Feb. 28, according to a Ministry of the Interior official. The number was down from about 3,700 at the end of last year, said Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), director of the ministry’s Department of Social Affairs. However, Huang said it is difficult to tally exact figures for the homeless, as they tend to not to stay in the same place. Huang suggested that local governments emulate Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市) by calculating the number of homeless people in their jurisdictions by contracting volunteers to search for the homeless zone by zone. Huang said the ministry allocated NT$24.25 million (US$836,200) last year as subsidies for local governments to help homeless people.
TOURISM
Kaohsiung gets new cruise
The Kaohsiung City Shipping Co said it would launch a harbor cruise on Monday that offers breathtaking views as well as fine food and music. The renovated cruise ship Glory will depart from the harbor’s Love Pier at 5pm daily for a two-hour trip around the harbor area, the city government-owned company said. Company chairman Chang Ching-chuan (張清泉) said that in addition to the harbor tour, the Glory will offer other services, such as serving as a “love boat” for courting couples, and catering for engagement and wedding parties, as well as birthdays and family or class reunions. The city’s Transportation Bureau said Kaohsiung Harbor has always been a charming seaport with great tourism potential, boosted by the Love River and canal resources nearby.
CRIME
Wang admits Chen funding
Chinese dissident Wang Dan (王丹) admitted that he received US$400,000 in subsidies from former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when Chen was in power between 2000 and 2008, according to a Central News Agency report yesterday. The report said Wang made the admission at a Taiwan High Court session investigating Chen and his family for allegedly embezzling money from the state affairs fund. Wang told judges that he received two remittances, each worth US$200,000, from Chen. Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), were accused of stealing more than NT$100 million (US$3.45 million) from the state affairs fund when Chen was in office. Chen has argued that parts of the fund were used to finance Chinese activists, including Wang, in his effort to spread democracy to China. Wang was one of the student leaders in the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement. After serving more than five years in jail, he was exiled to the US in 1998.
TOURISM
Alert lowered for Thailand
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lowered its travel alert for Thailand yesterday, from “orange” to “yellow,” as the southern regions of that country were gradually recovering from floods that began last month. However, travelers to Thailand are advised to exercise caution as weather conditions there are still unstable, the ministry said. The 10 affected Thai provinces are Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Phatthalung, Ranong, Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang, Satun and Songkhla, the ministry said. Taiwanese can contact the nation’s representative office in Thailand if they encounter any emergencies there, the ministry said.
POLITICS
‘Slap’ comment recanted
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) yesterday made a public apology over her previous comments that a student who remained seated while speaking to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should be slapped for showing disrespect to the president. Kuo made the initial comment when she noted that Ma had to bend from the waist to talk to a student who remained seated during a talk with students at St John’s University in Tamsui (淡水) last Sunday. Kuo said yesterday she was not aware the Presidential Office and the school administration had already agreed on how the event would proceed. “I’m willing to take back what I said about giving the student a slap in the face and extend my apologies to students who were present,” she said. Nevertheless, Kuo added she felt students should be mindful of their manners when speaking to their elders.
CROSS-STRAIT
Chinese trawler caught
A Chinese fishing boat was caught off Kinmen yesterday for trespassing and poaching in Taiwanese waters. According to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), the 109 tonne iron-hulled trawler from Fujian Province was intercepted at 1:44am yesterday while fishing illegally in waters about 200m off Kinmen’s Jhaishan (翟山) area. Two CGA cutters stationed in Kinmen and two multifunction vessels tried to detain the trawler. When the vessel tried to flee, the CGA boats gave chase, during which a CGA cutter ran into the trawler’s sprawling net and nearly capsized. The CGA then fired two warning shots into the air before the trawler stopped. CGA officers found on the trawler about 20kg of catch that included stingrays and a protected species of horseshoe crabs.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
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