NATURE
Pygmy hippo born at zoo
A pygmy hippopotamus was born at Taipei Zoo on Jan. 31, the first new arrival for the zoo in the Year of the Dragon, a zoo official said yesterday. The birth was not announced by zoo authorities at the time because they had no timeline for when the animal would make its public debut. The calf, a female with a birth weight of 6.01kg, was delivered while Yoshio Yamaguchi, director of Kushiro Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan, was visiting the zoo to sign a friendship agreement. Yamaguchi named the newborn Hsiao Chuan (小釧), based on the Chinese translation of Kushiro Zoo, the official said. In September, the Japanese zoo gave Taiwan a pair of red-crowned cranes — Kika and Big — as a symbol of Japan’s gratitude for Taiwan’s generous aid in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
WEATHER
Heavy fog affects traffic
Fog affected the normal flow of air and sea traffic around northern Taiwan early yesterday, hampering departures and arrivals at the country’s main airport and harbor. A total of 39 outgoing and incoming flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were delayed because of the heavy fog, officials said. Five incoming flights were diverted — one to Pudong International Airport in Shanghai and four to Kaohsiung International Airport, the officials said. The fog dispersed later in the day, but some flights were still being affected. The disruption was the second in as many days caused by fog.
SOCIETY
Age not a concern in Taiwan
Taiwanese and Japanese are the two peoples in Asia that care the least about age-related issues, a survey released yesterday shows. The survey was conducted by the Anti-aging and Health Society of Taiwan earlier in the month among 1,800 adults in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Only 21 percent of respondents from Japan and 23 percent from Taiwan said they were concerned about aging problems, compared with about 50 percent in Shanghai, the results showed. Physical, brain and memory decline are the three age-related conditions of greatest concern among all the respondents, except for those from Thailand and South Korea, who care most about wrinkles. Seventy-three percent of all respondents identified the brain as the organ that needs the most protection against the effects of aging, topping the chart in China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan and taking second place in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
AVIATION
Garuda to reopen flights
Garuda Indonesia said yesterday it would resume flights to Taiwan in May after a break of almost eight years. The Indonesian carrier said it would offer one round-trip flight per day between Taipei and Jakarta starting on May 25 and would use a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the route. In September 2004, Garuda withdrew from the Taiwanese market after three decades of service. At the time, Taiwan and other countries in the region were struggling with the effects on their tourism and economy caused by an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The reintroduction of Garuda Indonesia’s service in Taiwan will take place in tandem with an effort by Tourism Indonesia to promote some of the less well-known attractions in the Southeast Asian country. One such site is Komodo Island, the natural habitat of the world’s largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, Indonesian authorities said.
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
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