■TRAVEL
Pet food not for import
Quarantine authorities yesterday advised people against bringing pet food to Taiwan from abroad because some of the products may include ingredients that are barred from entering the country. The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) made the announcement after inspectors from the Consumer Production Commission and the Taipei County Government found pet food at a pet store in the county containing US beef and offal. An investigation found the store owner was smuggling the products from the US into Taiwan for sale, a BAPHIQ official said.
■TRAVEL
Free Thailand visas end
Thailand resumed a policy of charging NT$1,100 for tourist visas yesterday after its visa-free policy, in place over the past year as part of its tourism stimulus measures, expired a day earlier. Officials at the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Taipei office said they could not comment on the possibility that the free visa policy would be extended into next year, because they had not received any official instructions on the matter. The Thai government has agreed to extend the tourism stimulus measures from April 1 to March 31 next year, but before the extension takes effect, Taiwanese will still have to pay for a visa to visit the country. The Tourism Authority said details related to the measures, proposed by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, still needed to be discussed with the Thai foreign ministry and immigration bureau before they are implemented by the government. In addition to the visa fee exemption for foreign tourists, visitors will be granted US$10,000 in riot insurance covering any harm or delays they face while in Thailand because of political demonstrations or riots.
■CRIME
MOJ plans female jail
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday said it would establish the nation’s first women’s detention center in July in line with its policy of protecting women’s rights. Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) told a press conference that the detention center, to be built in Shilin (士林), Taipei City, would house female detainees from Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan. The ministry has tried to improve prison and detention center facilities amid criticism that they are overcrowded. Wang said the ministry plans to build more detention centers and prisons for female detainees and inmates to safeguard women’s rights. Starting in January, all prisons and detention centers must add hot shower time for female detainees and prisoners and arrange for doctors to conduct periodical cervical screening tests, Wang said. She added that the ministry was adding female members to its parole review committee.
■TRANSPORTATION
Ships collide near Kinmen
A Taiwanese naval supply vessel collided with a Chinese freighter in thick fog near Kinmen on Thursday, Navy Fleet Command said that day. The supply ship Chung Pang, part of the Navy’s 151st Fleet, was on a routine mission when it was involved in a glancing collision with the Shunlong No. 6 5 nautical miles (9.3km) off Kinmen’s Liaoluo Port, the fleet command said. The Chung Pang was on its way from Taiwan to Kinmen, while the Chinese boat was heading south to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, from Zejiang when the incident took place. The Coast Guard Administration was investigating the cause of the collision.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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