SOCIETY
Pangolins debut in Prague
Two Formosan pangolins on loan from Taipei Zoo on Sunday debuted at Prague Zoo, with Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib praising the cities’ ties. Prague Zoo named the male and female pangolins Hugo and Fazolka respectively, following the results of an online poll, Hrib said at a welcoming party. Representative to the Czech Republic Ke Liang-ruey (柯良叡) joined Hrib and zoo director Miroslav Bobek at a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of the pangolins’ enclosure. Prague Zoo is the second zoo in Europe to host pangolins from Taiwan, after Germany’s Zoo Leipzig. Taipei Zoo spokesman Eric Tsao (曹先紹) said the loan of the pangolins to Prague was aimed at creating a breeding network in Europe. The pair arrived in the Czech Republic last month.
WEATHER
Rain lowers temperatures
A stationary front in the Bashi Channel, coupled with increased moisture arriving from southern China, yesterday brought downpours across the nation, particularly in western and northeastern areas, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. As of 3pm, Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) accumulated the most rainfall at 134.5mm, the bureau said. Temperatures yesterday fell slightly nationwide due to a persistent northeasterly wind, with highs of 18°C to 20°C and lows of about 16°C to 18°C forecast for northern and northeastern Taiwan. At 8am, Miaoli County’s Sihu Township (西湖) and New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) had recorded nationwide lows of 14.7°C, followed by Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) with 15°C.
SOCIETY
Event highlights photography
An exhibition of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs is to open next month at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正), event organizer Media Sphere Communications said. The event, titled “Shooting — The Pulitzer Prize for Photojournalism’s 80th Anniversary,” is to showcase 13 images that won the prize in photojournalism to mark the anniversary, it said. The display would include photos of scenes of daily life in India amid the COVID-19 pandemic and chaos during the US’ departure from Afghanistan, which won the prize in the feature and breaking news categories respectively, it said. Scenes of the pandemic from around the world are to be featured in a special collection at the exhibition, it added. The event is to run from June 3 to Sept. 25.
HEALTH
No radiation in imports
Japanese food shipments from areas recently removed from an import ban, which was implemented following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, have all passed radiation inspections since February, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday. The imports from Fukushima and four nearby prefectures have been inspected batch-by-batch at the border for radioactive residue since Feb. 21, when the ban was lifted after 11 years, he said. As of Friday, about 180 shipments of food products have arrived from the prefectures, and none of them have been found to contain excessive levels of radioactivity, he said. Twenty-two batches of food imports from the areas failed inspections, but not because of radioactive contamination, he added. One shipment of strawberries was found to contain high levels of pesticide, while the others were rejected because they failed to meet standards for Chinese-language labeling, he 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.
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
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
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