Although the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has decreed that airline passengers can only carry spare lithium batteries in carry-on luggage, many travelers are not aware of the regulation, resulting in about 3,700 violations of the regulation at the two main international airports last month.
The CAA amended related regulations on carrying lithium batteries in 2009, in line with a request by the International Air Transport Association (IATA),
To prevent accidents caused by short-circuiting batteries, the regulations state that passengers carrying spare lithium ion batteries with a watt-hour (Wh) rating of between 100 and 160 should report them to airline authorities and should carry no more than two batteries.
As for consumer electronic devices containing lithium or lithium ion batteries (such as batteries in watches, cameras, cellphones or laptops) with no more than 2g of lithium content and 100Wh of power, they may be carried on board, but spare batteries should be enclosed in separate cases to avoid short-circuiting.
Despite the regulations, statistics from the Aviation Police Office showed that last month, about 2,500 cases of passengers leaving their lithium batteries in checked luggage were found at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and about 1,200 cases were found at Kaohsiung International Airport.
According to the IATA’s Lithium Battery Guidance Document, based on its revised Dangerous Good Regulations for next year, methods to protect against short circuits include packing each battery in fully enclosed packaging made of non-conductive material (such as plastic bags), separating batteries to prevent contact with other batteries or other conductive materials and protecting the battery terminals with non-conductive caps or tape.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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