SOCIETY
Smoking ban announced
Taichung is to ban smoking on covered walkways outside about 1,400 convenience stores and coffee shops beginning next month, after similar measures were implemented in Taipei, New Taipei City and Kaohsiung this year. Stores covered by the ban include 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK Mart, Simple Mart, Starbucks, 85°C Bakery Cafe and Louisa Coffee, the city’s Health Bureau said yesterday. Anyone caught smoking in the covered walkways in front of these shops would be fined NT$2,000 to NT$10,000 in accordance with the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法), the bureau said. The measure aims to limit the exposure of pedestrians and store visitors to secondhand smoke, it said.
SOCIETY
Students given permit option
From tomorrow, foreign students in Taiwan are to have the option of using electronic work permits, the Workforce Development Agency said. The agency said that while international students have been able to apply for work permits online since February, the new measure would give them the choice of using either card or electronic permits. Previously, students received only card permits even if they applied for them online. Students who choose the electronic version would be able to access their permits through the agency’s EZ Work Permit Web site by entering their account information and a verification code, the agency said. When selecting a “review on mobile device” tab, the permit holder’s phone would display their personal information when held horizontally, and a QR code that could be used by employers as a means of electronic verification when held vertically, the agency said.
ASTRONOMY
Meteor shower to peak
Astronomy buffs in Taiwan would soon have a chance to spot shooting stars as the annual Quadrantid meteor shower nears its peak, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The best time to observe the Quadrantids would be from 11pm on Saturday into the early hours of Sunday, when an average of 120 meteors per hour could flash through the sky in the north. With no interference from the moon, the view of the Quadrantids could be very promising, the museum said, particularly because the meteor shower is known for producing bolides — extremely bright shooting stars. The fireballs should be easy to spot with the naked eye as long as skywatchers head to mountainous or suburban areas where there is less light and air pollution. The Central Weather Bureau has forecast mainly clear skies across the island during the celestial event, except for areas in eastern parts of the country and outlying islands.
ENTERTAINMENT
Chou Tzu-yu tops ranking
Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the Taiwanese member of South Korean girl group Twice, was named the “most beautiful face of 2019” in a ranking released on Friday by US film review site TC Candler. The 20-year old Tainan native was the only Taiwanese who made it onto this year’s list, which has been presented annually since 1990. It was her fifth consecutive appearance on the prestigious global list, having placed 13th in 2015, eighth in 2016, third in 2017 and second last year. This year, Israeli model Yael Shelbia was No. 2 on the list, followed by Thai singer and model Lalisa Manoban, French model Thylane Blondeau and English actress Naomi Scott.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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