TRANSPORTATION
Rail services reduced
High-speed rail services would be reduced from April 18 to June 21 amid falling demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp said yesterday. The reductions would apply from Friday to Sunday during off-peak hours, the company said. About 41 services would be cut each week, or 4 percent of the weekly total of 1,016, it said. At least three trains would run every hour during operation hours, it added. Services would return to normal before the Dragon Boat Festival on June 25-28 and is expected to cause a surge in demand, the company said. It said it would monitor passenger volume and make adjustments to its services if necessary. By the end of next month, all 12 stations on the high-speed rail network would be equipped with infrared thermometers and people with a temperature of more than 37.5°C would not be allowed to board trains and would be given a full refund, it said.
SOCIETY
Taichung clubs shut down
Taichung’s five major nightclubs have agreed to shut down for 14 days to support the city’s efforts to contain COVID-19, the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. The decision came after officials from the city’s Civil Affairs Bureau and Health Bureau visited several bars, clubs and other entertainment venues on Sunday to persuade them to close their doors, as the nation continues to battle the spread of COVID-19, police said. Those that agreed to shut down for 14 days are Muse, Alta Club, Show House, 18TC and X-Cube, the five most popular nightclubs in the city, they said. Some of them decided to the close immediately, while the others said their shutdown would take effect yesterday, police added.
LOTTERY
Special prizes unclaimed
Five receipts that each won NT$10 million (US$328,893) in the November-to-December draw of the Uniform Invoice Lottery have yet to be claimed, the Ministry of Finance said on Sunday. The deadline for claiming the prizes is May 5, the ministry said. Thirteen receipts with the number 59647042 won the special NT$10 million prize and eight of them have been claimed so far, it said. Of the five that have yet to be claimed, three were for purchases under NT$100, it added. One winner bought a pack of dried berries from a 7-Eleven convenience store for NT$35, another spent NT$79 on gas and the other bought a matcha latte for NT$80 at a fast-food chain, the ministry said. Eighteen receipts with the number 01260528 won the NT$2 million prize, but only eight of them have been claimed, it said.
LOGISTICS
Postal services suspended
Chunghwa Post on Friday announced that postal services to 102 countries have been suspended due to flight cancelations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Postal services would not resume until flight services provided by the nation’s carriers return to normal, it said. The countries affected by the disruption include India, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan, Oman, Bahrain, Brunei, Laos, Armenia, Turkey, Israel, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Luxembourg, Spain, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Russia, South Africa, Senegal, Brazil, El Salvador, Chile and Mexico.
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
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
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