DIPLOMACY
Guatemala touts coffee
Guatemalan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Karla Samoyoa on Thursday said she hoped Taiwan can help the Central American country’s coffee industry reach new heights. In a prerecorded video message at a tasting event in Taipei, Samoyoa said that Guatemala’s coffee exports to Taiwan increased 46 percent over the past two years to become Taiwan’s fourth-largest supplier of beans. Samoyoa also praised bilateral ties with Taipei, saying that diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Guatemala were “stronger than ever.” The tasting event was organized by the Guatemalan embassy and the government-funded Central America Trade Office (CATO) to promote Guatemalan coffee. Attendees at the fourth edition of the event sampled brews using industry-standard cupping techniques that measure the body, sweetness, acidity and aftertaste of coffee beans. Representatives and tasters from more than 30 Taiwan-based companies sampled and rated 33 varieties of Guatemalan coffee at the event, CATO head Augusto Liao (廖鴻達) said.
EDUCATION
Taiwan rises in reading
Taiwan has moved up one place to rank seventh out of 44 countries and areas that took part in an international comparative assessment of student achievement in reading, the Ministry of Education said on Tuesday. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2021 international assessment of reading comprehension found Taiwan scoring 544 on average, which advanced the country in the rankings relative to 2016, the previous time the study was conducted. The study assesses reading and comprehension at the fourth-grade level of the participating countries and areas. For instance, students were asked to retrieve explicitly stated information, interpret ideas and evaluate content. Singapore ranked first in the survey.
SOCIETY
Tainan to change crossing
An exclusive pedestrian phase is to be added next week at an intersection in Tainan where a three-year-old girl was hit and killed by a car while she was legally crossing the street with her mother earlier this month, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said on Thursday. The phase, which stops traffic in all directions while pedestrians cross, is expected to go into use at the intersection of Chenggong and Xinyi roads on Friday next week, Huang said during an inspection of traffic conditions in the area. The city has launched a plan to improve pedestrian safety at the city’s 100 most dangerous intersections by the end of this year, he said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
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