SOCIETY
EATC chair killed in crash
Executive Aviation Taiwan Corp (EATC) chairman Philip Yang (楊宿智) on Tuesday died in a helicopter crash in the US, the company said yesterday. Yang, 61, owned three original equipment manufacturers of electronic devices in China, EATC’s Web site says. He began learning to fly at the age of 40, then received seven aviation certificates in four years and flew his private airplane around the world four times. Established in 2010, EATC is the only aviation company in Asia that offers emergency air medical assistance with its own fleet. In 2017, EATC inked a contract with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to provide air ambulance services for Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, a project that was launched in August last year.
EDUCATION
NTU ranked 69th in world
British education network Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranked National Taiwan University (NTU) 69th in the world, up three notches from last year, in its annual ranking released on Wednesday. Sixteen Taiwanese universities are in the QS World University Rankings 2020, with NTU the only one to rank in the top 100. National Cheng Kung University saw the biggest improvement, rising nine notches to 225th and replacing National Chiao Tung University (227th) as the third-best Taiwanese school. National Tsing Hua University (173rd) is listed as the second-best. The rankings evaluate six metrics: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty ratio and international student ratio. Forty percent of the overall score is assigned to academic reputation. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology retained the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, followed by Stanford University, Harvard University and the University of Oxford.
ENTERTAINMENT
Director wins monthly award
The Oniros Film Awards (OFA) has named Charles Yang (楊孟嘉) best director for last month, according to the organization’s Web site. Yang won the monthly prize for his work on the film Lethe about a fugitive murderer who encounters his daughter at a drug party working as a prostitute. Yang, who also wrote the screenplay, said that he interviewed several fugitives and prostitutes, and researched the life story of a young fashion model who was murdered at a drug party at an upscale hotel in Taiwan in 2016. The OFA is an IMDb qualifying competition based in Italy that awards filmmakers every month. All the winners automatically qualify for the OFA’s “Best of Year” competition and have a chance to win the Annual Finals, which are to be held in August at the Palais Theater in Saint-Vincent, Italy, the Web site says.
ENVIRONMENT
New rules on nitrogen oxide
Regulations aimed at reducing nitrogen oxide emissions to 4,000 tonnes per year in areas that do not meet air quality standards are to be introduced by July 31, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said on Wednesday. Priority would be given to regulating entities that emit more than 40 tonnes of nitrogen oxide per year, including those in the power, cement, steel and waste incineration industries, it said. Factories would be given five years to comply. The public is invited to make comments and suggestions over the next two weeks, the agency said. The nation in 2015 emitted more than 430,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide, government figures showed.
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
Garbage and recycling schedules are to vary from Saturday through Sunday next week over the Lunar New Year holiday period. The following collection information is from the governments of the six special municipalities. Taipei Regular service: Sunday to Monday next week. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Extra service: Friday next week. Regular service resumes: Saturday next week. New Taipei City Extra service: Sunday. Adjusted collection time: Monday next week — garbage collection is to begin in the morning and end at 6pm. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Regular service resumes: Friday next week. Note: Garbage can be dropped off at 70
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
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