■WEATHER
Meranti warning lifted
The Central Weather Bureau yesterday lifted its warnings for Tropical Storm Meranti as the storm headed toward China, but the bureau cautioned residents in central and southern Taiwan to be on alert for possible heavy rain. Residents in mountainous and low-lying areas in central and southern areas should be on alert for sudden showers, landslides and flooding, the bureau said. Taitung County, which was lashed by Meranti on Thursday, was sunny yesterday morning. Road traffic had resumed and most of the approximately 100 Aborigine residents in the county who had been evacuated had returned home.
■CRIME
Police buy thief a bike
Police who arrested a man for stealing a bicycle discovered he was so poor that they decided to have a whip round to buy him a bike. The man, surnamed Huang (黃), stole the bicycle from a high school near his home in Chiayi City to save his daughter from her daily 5km walk to the nearest bus stop to get to her vocational school, local media reported on Thursday. Huang had told his daughter he bought the bicycle second-hand, but after it was recognized by its former owner, both father and daughter were detained by the police. Once police officers heard about the difficult conditions that the Huang family lived in — with no access to running water or electricity — they organized a collection that was used to buy the girl a new bike.
■AVIATION
CAL encounters second hoax
China Airlines (CAL) says a male passenger was denied boarding after he told luggage inspectors at Sydney Airport that his luggage contained a bomb, the airline’s second such hoax in a week. The airliner says no explosives were found and that airport police were holding the man for questioning. It says Flight CI052 departed for Taipei on schedule on Thursday night with 296 passengers. Another China Airlines flight to Sydney was delayed for several hours at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last week following a bomb hoax.
■TRANSPORT
Taipei mulls free parking
Roadside parking spots in Taipei City could be free of charge on Saturdays beginning next year, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. The city’s Department of Transportation has already cancelled roadside parking fees on Sundays. Department chief Lo Shiaw-shyan (羅孝賢) said a plan is currently being drafted that will cancel roadside parking fees on Saturdays around residential areas and office buildings. Parking fees will remain at locations with greater parking needs, such as Taipei Railway Station, Taipei Zoo and Shilin Night Market, he said. The plan is scheduled to take effect next year, Lo said.
■DIPLOMACY
Yang departs on trip
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) departed Taipei on Thursday night on a diplomatic trip that will take him to Panama, Paraguay and Saint Lucia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Yang will meet leaders of the three Latin American and Caribbean countries, which all maintain formal ties with Taiwan. Yang will review cooperation projects and discuss relations with high-ranking officials of the three countries, the ministry said. During his stay in Panama, Yang will also preside over a meeting that will bring together senior officials from all of Taiwan’s embassies and representative offices in Central and South America and the Caribbean to chart a new regional diplomatic working agenda, the ministry added.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition