The heads of two new ministries, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment, have been selected and are to take office when they officially launch next month, Executive Yuan spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said yesterday.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) is set to lead the agriculture ministry from its inauguration on Aug. 1, while National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) president Hsueh Fu-cheng (薛富盛) is to lead the environment ministry when it launches on Aug. 22.
Environmental Protection Administration Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) is not to assume the upgraded version of his post, as he believes he has achieved all he wanted to with the administration and has no intention of taking up the new post, Lin said.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
Instead, he is to become a minister without portfolio, he said.
Lin said that Hsueh’s credentials for the job include a doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University, alongside his previous positions such as heading NCHU’s College of Engineering and Office of Research and Development.
Hsueh has also served as a materials engineering convener for the National Science and Technology Council’s Department of Engineering and Technologies, Lin said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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