SCIENCE
Chiayi skeletons analyzed
Archeologists have unearthed human remains belonging to the earliest known residents of Chiayi, with an analysis showing that squatting and chewing betel nuts were common among the area’s people 2,500 years ago. The Tainan Branch of the National Museum of Prehistory this week said that two out of 13 skeletons discovered during work on the Chiayi railway elevation project were 2,500 to 2,700 years old. The two skeletons fully examined so far are believed to belong to a 35-year-old man and a 20-year-old whose sex could not be determined, it said. Squatting facets were found on the tibia of the male skeleton, indicating that Chiayi’s earliest residents habitually squatted, it said. A tooth belonging to the other skeleton was stained a brownish-red color, which the museum said was thought to have been caused by chewing betel nuts.
DIPLOMACY
Portuguese group arrives
A seven-member Portuguese parliamentary delegation arrived in Taiwan on Friday for a six-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The delegation is expected to exchange views with government officials and lawmakers on issues such as Taiwan-Portugal relations, economic resilience and regional situations, the ministry said. The delegation is led by Paulo Rios de Oliveira of the Social Democratic Party, and is made up of politicians who are firm friends with Taiwan and have continuously pushed for the nation’s participation in the World Health Assembly each year, the ministry said.
GOVERNMENT
Tsai touts women’s policy
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday highlighted her administration’s efforts to empower women, saying that women are encouraged to participate in public affairs and run their own businesses. Women comprise 42.9 percent of legislators, the highest percentage in Asia, while more than 37 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises in the country are managed by women, Tsai said in a recorded speech at the opening of the Zonta Asian Inter-District Meeting in Kaohsiung. That is because of Taiwan’s gender-friendly environment, which motivates women to enter public office or start their own businesses, she said. In 2021, her administration launched the Women’s Empowerment Project in collaboration with Taiwan’s democratic partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to help women enhance their vocational skills, and to provide consultations and other resources to help them start a business, she said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Taipei concert promoted
Musicians taking part in a project collecting Austronesian music are to perform in Taipei today. Baobao Chen (陳玟臻), producer of the Small Island Big Song LIVE concert at the National Concert Hall, said that six core members of the project, including Taiwanese musicians Souljaljui, a Paiwan, and Putad, an Atayal, would perform. The other four musicians are Manu Desroches and Emlyn from Mauritius, Sammy from Madagascar and Richard Mogu from Papua New Guinea, Chen said. They would be joined by New Zealand-born singer-songwriter, director and dancer Olivia Foa’i, she said. Audiences would hear live music, and see dance performances and sceneries of the island nations represented projected onto the stage, while performers would share stories about the eight-year journey of the Austronesian project cofounded by Chen and Australian music producer Tim Cole, she said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS