National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday decided to refer a doctoral candidate to the school’s disciplinary committee after the student allegedly blocked an ambulance on purpose, an incident which has ignited a public fury.
The student surnamed Hsiao (蕭) could be reprimanded or expelled, said NTU dean of student affairs Joyce Feng (馮燕), adding that the committee will make a decision after the judiciary system investigation into the alleged incident is completed.
Under the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic (道路交通管理處罰條例), anyone who refuses to yield to ambulances, fire trucks or police cars is liable to a fine between NT$600 and NT$1,800.
Hsiao, a 33-year-old history doctoral candidate, was accused of deliberately stopping his car in the middle of the road in New Taipei City’s (新北市, the proposed English name of the upgraded Taipei County) Sindian District (新店) on Friday night, blocking an ambulance transporting an 86-year-old woman in critical conditions.
The woman died shortly after being rushed to the hospital.
Footage from the ambulance’s camera showed the driver also giving the ambulance the middle finger after he blocked the ambulance.
Police were later able to identify Hsiao as the driver from the car, but Hsiao said he suffered an attack of manic-depressive psychosis when hearing the ambulance’s siren.
Despite his defense, his behavior prompted an outcry after the footage was uploaded to the Internet.
Netizens on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board system launched a search for the driver, identifying him as a doctoral candidate in NTU’s Graduate Institute of History.
Feng said Hsiao has shown remorse for his behavior, adding that the school would offer him legal aid and counseling.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS