TOURISM
Taiwanese hurt in bus crash
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) yesterday said that nine Taiwanese tourists were injured in a bus crash in which four people died in Bandung, Indonesia, on Monday night. Lin said that the staff of the ministry’s mission in the country has been sent to help the injured. Non of the Taiwanese were in mortal danger, while one has already been discharged from hospital, Lin said, in response to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) at the legislature. According to the ministry, the bus was carrying Taiwanese and Chinese tourists when it overturned on a mountain road, killing three Chinese and one Indonesian.
SCIENCE
France honors local scientist
Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), a former president of Academia Sinica and a winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was honored by the French government yesterday for his contribution to scientific exchanges between Taiwan and France. Lee was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit. Presenting Lee’s medal, the French Office in Taipei praised Lee for helping to strengthen scientific ties between the two countries. Lee has been an example of the saying “science has no boundaries,” French office director Olivier Richard said. As a result of Lee’s efforts, the two countries now work together on more than 160 scientific projects each year, the office said. In an interview earlier this week, Lee said his two goals in life were to “become a good scientist” and “create a beautiful world with people who share the same beliefs.” To this end, he is leading a project called “Future Earth” as president of the International Council for Science, a non-governmental organization.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday held a ceremony marking the delivery of its 11th Anping-class offshore patrol vessel Lanyu (蘭嶼艦), saying it would boost Taiwan’s ability to respond to Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. Ocean Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chang Chung-Lung (張忠龍) presided over the CGA event in the Port of Kaoshiung. Representatives of the National Security Council also attended the event. Designed for long-range and protracted patrol operations at sea, the Lanyu is a 65.4m-long and 14.8m-wide ship with a top speed of 44 knots (81.5kph) and a cruising range of 2,000 nautical miles (3704km). The vessel is equipped with a
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
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