New diesel vehicles are set to face tougher emissions regulations, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
The new rules are expected to come into effect by 2012. The EPA stated that the changes are modeled on the Euro5 regulation that came into effect in EU member states late last year.
The percentage of diesel cars sold in Taiwan has been steadily growing since the government lifted a ban on small diesel vehicles in 2004. The EPA estimated that more than 10,000 diesel vehicles are sold annually.
Regulations allow diesel vehicle exhaust emissions to contain up to 25 percent smoke. This will be cut to 15 percent for new vehicles and 20 percent for older vehicles when the new rules come into effect. The EPA stated that the amount of carbon dioxide and other emissions permitted will also be lowered.
The EPA also announced tougher restrictions on diesel fuel. The new rules limit sulfur content to 10 parts per million (ppm), down from the original 50ppm.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,
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