ENVIRONMENT
Taiwan observes Earth Hour
Several of Taiwan’s major landmarks, including the Presidential Office Building and Taipei 101, joined cities around the globe to observe Earth Hour by turning off their lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm yesterday. The observance of Earth Hour in Taiwan last year saved about 120,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of 60 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, which equates to planting nearly 5,800 trees, Taiwan Power Co said in a press release. A total of 900,000kWh of electricity has been saved since Taiwan began observing Earth Hour in 2010, it added. The annual global event encourages individuals, communities and businesses to turn off non-essential lights for one hour as a symbol of their commitment to help the planet.
WEATHER
Temperatures to rise
With easterly winds bringing warm air, temperatures in central and southern Taiwan were as high as 32°C yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. Daniel Wu (吳德榮), a former director of the bureau’s Weather Forecast Center who is now an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, said that temperatures across Taiwan are expected to rise further over the next few days. Wu said that a front is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Sunday next week, but it could be mild, so temperatures would only drop slightly. The weather system is also unlikely to bring heavy rains, he added. Meanwhile, due to a lack of wind, air quality in west Taiwan was poor yesterday, the Environmental Protection Administration said. Air quality could deteriorate early this morning, triggering a “red” alert — which signals unhealthy air quality — in some parts of Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan counties, it said.
TRANSPORTATION
Green Line ‘improved’
People in Taichung have expressed satisfaction with the city’s new MRT Green Line, which resumed trial runs on Thursday after a four-month suspension due to mechanical problems. Some passengers said that the stability of the ride has improved, and the overall service is better than when the first trial runs were launched in November last year. The Green Line, the first line on Taichung’s MRT system to be completed, was forced to halt its initial test run six days after it began on Nov. 16 last year. The city government said that couplings between the cars had not been assembled properly. A new date, April 25, has now been set for the start of commercial services, and free rides are being offered from 6am to midnight daily until April 23, the city government said.
TOURISM
Flight offers views of Japan
EVA Airways conducted a one-off flight over Japan yesterday, offering passengers a view of Emihe Prefecture in partnership with the local government, the carrier said. Before the flight departed Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), the prefecture’s mascot, Mikyan, performed at a ceremony to welcome the 180 passengers before they boarded an Airbus A321-200 for the five-hour round trip. Passengers viewed Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, including several volcanoes, such as Mount Aso and Sakurajima, before flying over Emihe on Shikoku Island, EVA Airways spokesman David Chen (陳耀銘) said. They saw the bridges that connect Shikoku and Honshu islands, as well as Matsuyama Castle, he said. The tour also included a view of the Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, EVA said. It was EVA’s second such flight over Japan.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a