EARTHQUAKES
Quake jolts Hualien
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan at 2:41pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 103.9km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 98.7km, the bureau’s Seismological Center said. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges its actual effect, was highest in Hualien County, where it measured level 3 on the seven-tier scale. The intensity reached level 2 in New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Taichung, as well as Yilan, Nantou, Hsinchu, Taitung, Miaoli and Changhua counties.
TRANSPORTATION
YouBike changes charges
The first 30 minutes of renting a YouBike would soon no longer be free in New Taipei City and Kaohsiung. The New Taipei City Transportation Department said that users of the public bike-sharing system in the city would be charged NT$5 for their first 30 minutes from tomorrow. From Thursday, YouBike riders in Kaohsiung would also have to pay NT$5 for their first 30 minutes, Kaohsiung’s Transportation Bureau said. However, in New Taipei City, YouBike riders who are transferring to a bus or the MRT or light rail system would still not have to pay for their first 30 minutes of use, as part of the city’s efforts to encourage the use of public transportation, authorities said. People who buy the NT$1,280 monthly tickets for bus, MRT and light rail rides would also not have to pay for the first 30 minutes, they said. The bureau said that YouBike users in Kaohsiung who use iPASS cards to pay for their bike rentals before or after using the bus, MRT or light rail would also not be charged for the first 30 minutes.
SOCIETY
Events to fight stereotypes
A series of events are to be held over the next few months to challenge stereotypes of migrant workers in Taiwan, non-governmental organization One-Forty said. The events would feature migrant workers’ talents and creativity in music, art and food, One-Forty cofounder Kevin Chen (陳凱翔) said. Citing the results of a recent survey by the organization, Chen said that 97 percent of the 345 Taiwanese respondents had difficulty imagining migrants having roles other than as blue-collar workers. The events are to begin with a music festival dubbed “Mixed” on April 4, which would feature a band made up of six Indonesian workers and showcase a Filipino worker who uses recycled materials to design clothes. On April 25, Umy, an Indonesian, and Taiwanese pastry chef Huang Jie (黃偈) are to exchange recipes and cooking stories. There were about 710,000 migrant workers employed in the household service or manufacturing sectors in Taiwan as of the end of January, Ministry of Labor statistics showed.
ENVIRONMENT
Earth Hour record set
Taiwan saved 125,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, a record high, while observing Earth Hour on Saturday, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said in a statement. Several major landmarks in Taiwan, including the Presidential Office Building and Taipei 101, joined the global event by turning off their lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. The reduction in electricity use in that hour was equivalent to saving 63.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the highest since Taiwan began observing the event in 2010, Taipower said. The second-highest amount of electricity Taiwan saved during Earth Hour was 20,000kWh last year, it said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry