■ ENVIRONMENT
EPA urges online worship
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday urged the public to stop burning incense sticks and ritual money to honor the dead and opt instead for online worshipping to better protect the environment. The call came ahead of Monday’s Tomb Sweeping Festival. The practice not only worsens air pollution but could also cause fires, the EPA said. “We can now choose to pay homage to our ancestors in a modern and environmentally friendly way by worshipping online or donating the money meant for the offerings to charities,” it said in a statement. Environmental agencies have also offered to collect the paper money from households and temples to burn in state incinerators that can treat the exhaust.
■ TOURISM
Taiwanese look to heavens
Eight Taiwanese have applied to take part in a space journey at a cost of US$200,000 per person, according to Royal China Express, the Taiwan agent for Virgin Galactic, a space tourism operator affiliated with billionaire Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Group. Virgin Galactic has collected fares from more than 330 aspiring amateur astronauts who are willing to spend big money to experience about six minutes of suborbital spaceflight, the local travel agency said. Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceship SpaceShipOne will be airlifted into the skies for its maiden flight at the end of this year after receiving approval from NASA, it said. The eight Taiwanese aspiring space travelers include a surgeon, engineers at the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, businessmen, and a couple operating a jewelry business, the travel agency said.
■ ARTS
Yo-Yo Ma prepares project
Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) has prepared a “Taichung Project” for his visit to Taiwan later this month that will include an outdoor concert for local music lovers to see “how a cello talks with stars in the sky,” Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) said yesterday. “It is a music project especially for Taichung City,” Hu said as he and organizers announced the concert featuring Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, scheduled for April 24. In addition to the concert, the visit will include two seminars at which Ma will speak with local musicians. One will be aimed at young people between 12 and 18 years old, the organizers said. Hu said he expects the Taichung Project to “trigger a musical fever” in the city. Ma’s Taichung concert will be the only open-air performance of three he will give in Taiwan as part of his “Silk Road Project.” The other two concerts will be held at the National Concert Hall in Taipei on April 22 and at the Jhihde Hall in Kaohsiung City on April 25, the organizers said.
■ EDUCATION
Card goes multi-purpose
The International Student Identity Card (ISIC) issued to students in Taiwan has now become a multi-purpose card, an official of a cultural and education foundation said. The card, which was previously used mainly by students intending to travel abroad to obtain cheaper flights and other savings, can now be used as a student ID, an Easy Card for travel on public transport travel and an I-cash card, for making small purchases. “Five schools in Taiwan have so far signed up to use the ISIC,” said James Tsai, director of the Kang Wen Culture and Education Foundation, adding that more schools plan to adopt the cards. The ISIC is issued by the ISIC Association and is the only internationally accepted proof of full-time student status.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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