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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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