ANIMAL WELFARE
Free pet grooming available
The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it is sponsoring free grooming sessions for pets at 31 animal stylist venues across the nation today and tomorrow. The ministry’s Department of Animal Welfare and the Kennel Club of Taiwan are jointly organizing the event at partner locations in the six special municipalities, and Yilan, Hsinchu, Changhua, Yunlin and Pingtung counties, it said. Each venue would trim the hair and nails of up to 10 pets as a treat to animal lovers. The animal protection offices of Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung are also to provide free health check-ups for cats and dogs at select locations, it said. The health examinations for the northern region are to be held from 10am to midday and 2pm to 4pm today at Taipei World Trade Center’s Exhibition Hall 1. For the central region, it is to be held today at 10am to midday at the Kenkou Borough Office (坑口) and at 1pm to 3pm at the Liougu (六股) community activity center, which are both in Taichung’s Wufeng District (霧峰), it said. The southern region’s event is to be held at 2pm to 6pm today and tomorrow at the Dream Mall in Kaohsiung, it said.
Photo Courtesy of the Ministry of Agriculture
TRANSPORTATION
More trains added
Twenty-four additional trains are to run during the Lunar New Year period, with reservations to open on Tuesday next week, the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) said yesterday. To accommodate the demand on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25, and from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, 24 trains are to be added, of which 16 are to have reserved seating and eight would have non-reserved seating, the TRC said. Eight Tze-Chiang Express (自強號) trains with 12 carriages of non-reserved seating, which are to travel between Qidu (七堵) and Kaohsiung, are to be added on Jan. 25 and between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, it said. A total of 39 trains are to run directly between Taipei Station and Taichung Station during the Lunar New Year, shortening the travel time to within two hours, the TRC said.
POLITICS
Sports ministry on track
Provisions paving the way for the establishment of a new sports ministry cleared the legislature on Tuesday. The provisions would allow the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration to be upgraded to a ministerial agency. The tasks of the planned sports ministry include formulating and implementing sports-related policy, popularizing different sports, promoting the development of the sports industry and fostering collaborations with other countries through “sports diplomacy.” It would be headed by a minister, with two deputy ministers and one vice minister. A Sports Industry Development Center would also be created as one of three public bodies under the ministry, in addition to the National Sports Training Center and the Taiwan Institute of Sports Science. The Executive Yuan began preparations for the planned ministry in August last year, in line with a policy pledge made by President William Lai (賴清德) in his inaugural speech on May 20 last year.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS