TRAVEL
US visa group on its way
A delegation from the US Department of Homeland Security will soon visit Taiwan to evaluate the country’s bid for entry into the US Visa Waiver Program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The ministry hopes the delegation would come to Taiwan “as soon as possible,” said Remus Chen (陳立國), deputy director-general of the Department of North American Affairs. The sooner the evaluation, the sooner Taiwanese passport holders would be exempt from needing visas for trips to the US, Chen said. He would not confirm speculation that the visit has been set for next month. Taiwanese Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) said in Washington that he expected the visit to take place as early as next month or in February.
WATER
Feitsui Reservoir 91% full
After steady rainfall in northern Taiwan since November, the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) now holds enough water to supply greater Taipei until March next year, the Taipei Feitsui Reservoir Administration said yesterday. The administration said the water level yesterday was 166.9m, filling an effective 30.71 billion cubic meters of water storage capacity, with an effective storage rate of 91.52 percent. The current water level is 4.42m higher than the average of 162.49m, with 38.2 million cubic meters more water in the reservoir than the average for this time of year. The second phase of the water supply improvement project for Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts in New Taipei City (新北市) is scheduled to be finished in 2014, the administration said. It added that the two areas, which now depend on the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) for their water, will then receive water from the Feitsui Reservoir.
CONSERVATION
Spoonbill numbers drop
The peak number of black-faced spoonbills migrating through southern Taiwan this year dropped by more than 200 from a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by a local conservation group. Taijiang National Park, located in Greater Tainan, said the last count of the year was taken by the group on Saturday and a peak number of 1,399 black-faced spoonbills was recorded. A total of 1,200 were seen in Tainan, 190 in Chiayi and nine in Greater Kaoh-siung. According to park officials, the data showed that spoonbill numbers this year peaked a month later than the peak of 1,671 recorded in November last year.
EDUCATION
Miaoli helps with exchange
The Miaoli County Government will sponsor less privileged students to participate in an exchange program with a sister school in Japan. Five students and two teachers each from Houlong Elementary School in Miaoli County and Nakaminami Elementary School in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture would take part in the annual exchange program, the Ministry of Education said, adding that participants would stay with host families to gain a deeper understanding of the local culture. The two institutions formally forged sister-school ties earlier this month after some students from Houlong Elementary took part in the Asia-Pacific Children’s Convention in Fukuoka in July during a two-week exchange. Chang Kuo-en (張國恩), principal of Houlong Elementary, said the students managed to communicate with their counterparts from other countries in Mandarin, English and Japanese and formed close links with their host families.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
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