ENTERTAINMENT
Little Monsters go Gaga
Fans scrambled for tickets to a Lady Gaga concert scheduled for May in Taipei yesterday, with the lower-priced tickets selling like hotcakes. Sales began at 9am at the National Taiwan University Sports Center, where tickets from NT$1,800 (US$61) to NT$2,800 quickly sold out. The most expensive seats for the May 17 concert were priced at NT$12,800, breaking the NT$12,000 record set by US rock band the Eagles last year. One of the “Little Monsters” — as Lady Gaga fans are known — who paid NT$6,000 for a NT$5,800 ticket said he admired Gaga’s talent. The pop diva promised a full-scale gig during her first visit to Taiwan for a mini-concert in July last year. The concert will take place at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall.
WEATHER
Avoid outdoor activity: EPA
A sandstorm from China that arrived in northern Taiwan early yesterday is expected to weaken today and tomorrow, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). The dust was carried by a cold front moving in from China’s Xinjiang region. According to the EPA, the concentration of PM10 (fine particles in the air smaller than 10 micro-meters in size) peaked at 281 micrograms per cubic meter at 4am yesterday. Hourly measurements showed that concentrations in several sites in northern Taiwan as well as Yunlin County, Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County were still above 150 micrograms per cubic meter in the afternoon, which is rated as “poor” on the EPA’s air quality index. The public is urged to avoid outdoor activity today and to beware of exacerbating respiratory complaints in the elderly and children.
TOURISM
Visa waiver makes progress
The evaluation process for the nation’s inclusion in the US visa waiver program is moving in a positive direction, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) said yesterday. The process for Taiwan, which was named a candidate country for the program last year, is going well, following a review visit by US Department of Homeland Security officials earlier this month, Chang added. His remark came after local media reported that the Taiwan Policy Act had been blocked by the US House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee. The act backs arms sales to Taiwan, visa-waiver qualification and its participation in international organizations. It has been passed by the US House Committee of Foreign Affairs and the Ways and Means Committee, Chang said.
INNOVATION
Taiwan wins 80 medals
The nation outshone 16 other countries at a global invention competition in Moscow on Friday, bagging the most medals, with 41 golds, 31 silvers and eight bronzes. It was a new high for Taiwan, which won 17 golds, 20 silvers and nine bronze medals last year at the Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovation Technologies. The Taiwanese delegation, comprising college professors, college deans, physicists and top students, also won a judges’ award and two special honors during the four-day event. Taiwan had the highest win rate among all participating countries, gaining prizes for 80 percent of its nearly 100 entries, Chinese Innovation and Invention Society chairman Wu Kuo-chun (吳國俊) said. By comparison, the average win rate among the other countries was about 50 percent, he added.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
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