TRANSPORTATION
Hochen defuses TRA strike
A potential strike by Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) workers was defused on Tuesday after the Ministry of Transportation and Communications agreed to their union’s demands to raise salaries and hire more workers. Hsieh Sheng-ming (謝省民), head of the Taiwan Railway Union, met with Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) on Tuesday afternoon. According to Hsieh, a long-term worker shortage has resulted in a deteriorating work environment. The union had demanded that by Friday next week the Executive Yuan approve a salary table that would improve wages and allowances. The union also demanded more workers be hired. Hochen supported the union’s demands and pledged to ask the Executive Yuan to approve the additional staff and agree to the salary table within three days.
ENERGY
COA plans to push biogas
The Council of Agriculture (COA) plans to aggressively push the development of biogas from agricultural waste for power generation in the near future, COA Minister Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) said on Tuesday. Addressing Academia Sinica’s two-yearly convocation, Tsao said that to promote the recycling of agricultural and animal waste for biogas power generation, the council would help pig farms increase the number of pigs whose manure is used to produce biogas for power generation to 600,000 next year and to half of the total number of pigs in Taiwan within three years. In addition, some farmland that is not arable could be used for solar power generation, Tsao said. Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said the agency would help promote the council’s biogas power generation project.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
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