■AGRICULTURE
Papaya farmers struggling
A Chiayi County farmers’ association official urged agricultural authorities yesterday to help the county’s papaya farmers cope with losses suffered as result of a tornado and hailstorm that struck Jhongpu Township (中埔) on Thursday. Chang Han-ching (張漢清), a secretary at the Jhongpu Farmers Association, said the tornado and hailstones damaged about 30 hectares of papaya plantations in villages including Jinlan (金蘭), Fushou (復收), Longmen (龍門) and Sanceng (三層), causing millions of dollars in losses. Screen houses were damaged and fruit trees were either snapped in half or toppled over, Chang said. The Jhongpu Township Farmers’ Association would help the farmers apply for government subsidies and expressed hope that agricultural units would also help to offset the farmers’ losses, Chang said.
■CHARITY
Christian group plans to fast
The Taiwan chapter of World Vision, a global Christian charity dedicated to helping poor children and families, will hold a “Hunger 30” drive in Taipei today, in which participants will fast for 12 hours, the organizer said yesterday. First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) is expected to attend the annual drive, to be held at the National Taiwan University Sports Center, World Vision Taiwan said in a press statement. World Vision Taiwan has been organizing activities to help people experience the pain of hunger and raise their awareness of helping the hungry since March 1, the statement said. The charity has offered assistance to victims of quake-hit Sichuan Province in China and cyclone-ravaged Myanmar.
■TECHNOLOGY
Firms to build electric bikes
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that the government-financed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) would help domestic manufacturers churn out some 100,000 electric motorcycles in four years. Liu made an inspection tour of the ITRI headquarters in Hsinchu, where he was briefed on the progress in the research and development of various high-tech products, including the environmentally friendly electric motorcycles. He said the government would see to it that some 100,000 electric motorcycles, powered by replaceable batteries, are produced by private motorbike manufacturers around the country in four years amid louder calls for energy-saving and carbon-cutting measures.
■RECREATION
Kinmen park extends hours
The Kinmen National Park Administration said yesterday that it had decided to extend the opening hours at its service centers within the park for the duration of the summer season in response to the needs of visitors. Beginning yesterday, the hours of operation at service centers at the park’s main attractions, including the Jhongshanlin Recreational Area, the Chingkuo Memorial Hall, Cih Lake, the Gunington Battlefield Museum and the Aug. 23 Battle Museum, will be extended from 8am to 5pm to 8am to 5:30pm. The agency said many visitors to the park had complained that because of longer daylight hours and more visitors during the summer, the service centers’ hours of operation were not long enough. The service centers’ hours of operation will return to normal on Sept. 16, it said.
■AGRICULTURE
Farms offer DIY tours
Five leisure farms in Tainan County’s Dongshan Township (東山) yesterday started a month-long pick-it-yourself program organized by the county government. Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said visitors to any of the five orchards need only pay an entrance fee of NT$100 (US$3.20) per person, with children under 110cm admitted free. They can eat as many freshly picked longans as they want before taking an additional 1.8kg of the fruit home at no extra charge.
■AVIATION
CAL fuselage cracks
China Airlines (CAL,華航) said last night that flight CI-160, departing from Taipei to Incheon, South Korea, at 8:08am, was found to have a 15cm crack in the fuselage and two damaged tires after landing at Incheon International Airport at 10:50am. The cause of the crack is still under investigation and could be the result of an unknown object on the runway, a statement issued by CAL said. CAL confirmed that Flight CI-160, carrying 245 passengers and crew, landed safely at Incheon. An A330-300 was immediately sent to Incheon to carry the return Flight CI-161 passengers back to Taipei, the statement said.
■POLITICS
Georgia crisis is a warning
Taiwan should learn a lesson from the ongoing conflict in the Caucasus and beware of a similar situation with China, a Taiwanese political analyst said yesterday. “Georgia’s tragedy is a warning for Taiwan. Georgia sees a Russia, which wants to regain its past power. Taiwan sees a China that has already risen,” said political analyst and former Taipei Times editor-in-chief Antonio Chiang (江春男). “Every now and then, thug leaders pick out a weakling and knock his head against the wall, to remind others who is in charge,” he wrote in an article entitled “A Small but Smart War,” in his column in the Apple Daily. “This time Georgia was hit so hard that it suffered a concussion. The whole world saw this. To [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin, this is a small but smart war. He paid a small price but achieved great results.”
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we