ENTERTAINMENT
TWICE coming in November
South Korean pop group TWICE is to perform in Kaohsiung on Nov. 22 as part of their 11-city THIS IS FOR world tour, the group announced on Sunday. It would be TWICE’s first performance in Taiwan after debuting 10 years ago, with local fans especially excited to see the group’s Taiwanese member, Chou Tzuyu (周子瑜). Chou is from Tainan, and became the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. The announcement drew excited comments such as: “Finally! We’ve been waiting for TWICE,” and “Tzuyu finally comes back for a concert in Kaohsiung!” Along with Blackpink’s concert on Oct. 18 and 19, Kaohsiung is to host two big-name girl group performances this year. The upcoming performances would also make Blackpink the first girl group to perform twice at the Kaohsiung National Stadium. It would be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert.
Photo: screen grab from TWICE’s X account
TRAVEL
Tigerair adds three routes
Tigerair Taiwan is to launch three new international routes — two to South Korea’s Jeju Island and one to Japan’s Ishigaki Island, as summer vacation nears. The Kaohsiung-Jeju route is to begin on June 30, followed by Taichung-Jeju on July 1 and Taoyuan-Ishigaki on July 17, the Taiwan-based low-cost carrier said in a statement yesterday. With the additions, Tigerair Taiwan would become the first domestic carrier to offer direct flights to Jeju from northern, central and southern Taiwan. The Ishigaki route would also bring the number of Japanese destinations served by the airline to 23, the statement said. The Kaohsiung-Jeju and Taoyuan-Ishigaki routes are new, while the Taichung-Jeju route would be a revival of an old route, the airline said. Tigerair plans to operate four weekly flights on the Kaohsiung-Jeju route, and two per week each on the other two routes, with adjustments being made depending on demand. A two-day promo — tomorrow and on Thursday — offers a base fare of NT$500 for the Jeju route and NT$1,599 for the Taoyuan-Ishigaki route, the airline said.
SOCIETY
Vietnamese’s body found
The body of a 32-year-old Vietnamese migrant worker who reportedly fell into the Houlong River (後龍溪) in Miaoli County on Sunday was found after emergency services resumed their search of the area yesterday, local authorities said. The man, surnamed Nguyen, was discovered at about 12:20pm, trapped between concrete blocks at a check dam near the border of Miaoli City and Gongguan Township (公館), the Miaoli County Fire Bureau said. The bureau was notified at about 6pm on Sunday that Nguyen had fallen into the river while barbecuing near the riverbank with four other Vietnamese, said Cheng Sheng-feng (鄭勝峰), head of the bureau’s first disaster relief unit. Nguyen slipped on a concrete block near the check dam and fell into the river, his companions said. The bureau immediately dispatched more than 10 firefighters and volunteer rescuers to the scene, along with a drone camera, Cheng said. However, the search was called off at night due to poor visibility and the strong current. Nguyen’s body was found near the spot where he fell, the bureau said, adding that he might have been pulled under by a whirlpool and trapped on the riverbed. Local prosecutors and police are taking over the case to investigate the cause of death, the bureau added.
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.
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