ENTERTAINMENT
Concert Hall to be renovated
The 28-year-old National Concert Hall in Taipei yesterday closed its doors for a four-month renovation project, which is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30. The hall’s seats, floors and sound-proof doors are to be replaced to provide a more comfortable environment for both audiences and musicians, the management said. The shops on the ground floor of the building are to remain open during the renovation. The hall is due reopen in October. The National Theater across Liberty Square from the concert hall is to close for several months next year so it can be renovated.
ENTERTAINMENT
Shone An dies aged 31
Actor Shone An, whose real name was Huang Yi-cheng, (安鈞璨), died of liver cancer yesterday at the age of 31, his management company said. An was surrounded by family and friends when he passed away at his home, Frigga Entertainment said in a statement. He first gained fame as a member of boy band Comic Boyz, which disbanded in 2005. He then turned to acting, appearing mainly in films and television dramas made in China. A memorial service is to be held on Monday, with the time and location to be announced later. “I will forever miss your handsome face, foul mouth and passionate and loyal heart. Love you forever,” television talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), better known as Little S (小S), said in a Sina Weibo post.
SOCIETY
Women having kids later
With more women choosing to delay motherhood, the average age of first-time mothers in Taiwan has increased steadily from 27.4 in 2004 to 30.5 last year, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior. Of the more than 100,000 women who became first-time mothers last year, 57.3 percent were aged 30 or older, the statistics showed. That represents a significant increase of 29.1 percentage points from 2004, when 28.3 percent of mothers giving birth for the first time were aged 30 or older. Of the 109,235 first-time mothers last year, 40.9 percent were aged between 30 and 34; 29.6 percent were between 25 and 29, 14.5 percent were between 35 and 39, and 1.8 percent were aged 40 or older. The statistics show that 211,399 babies were born in Taiwan last year, an increase of 8.4 percent from the previous year.
TRAVEL
V Air stopping Macau route
V Air, a low-cost subsidiary of TransAsia Airways, announced plans to suspend its service between Taipei and Macau from July 10, three months after it launched the route on April 10. The airline said that tickets for flights to Macau would be available until July 10. With a passenger load rate of just 40 percent on the route, V Air said it decided to suspend the service. However, its Bangkok route, which was launched in December last year, has proven to be very popular and has an average load rate of 80 percent, the airline said. It said its flights to Bangkok are to increase from one per day to 10 flights per week on July 2.
AGRICULTURE
Kyoho grapes Dubai-bound
The first 300kg batch of Kyoho grapes from Changhua County was shipped to the Middle East yesterday as part of the government’s efforts to help local farmers explore overseas markets. The county’s Bureau of Agriculture said the grapes were headed for supermarkets in Dubai and Bahrain, where they would sell for more than double local prices.
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
An electric bus charging facility at Taipei Metro’s Beitou Depot officially opened yesterday with 22 charging bays to serve the city’s 886 electric buses. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) told a ceremony to mark the opening of the facility that the city aims to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2030. The number of electric buses has grown from about 650 last year to 886 this year and is expected to surpass 1,000 by the end of the year, Chiang said. Setting up the charging station in a metro depot optimizes land and energy use, as the metro uses power mainly during the
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
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