The legislature yesterday revised rules to more harshly penalize individuals who drive under the influence in a bid to curb alcohol-related car accidents.
Under the approved amendment to the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulations (道路交通管理處罰條例), fines were raised from NT$60,000 to NT$90,000 for drivers who exceed the blood-alcohol content limit or are under the influence of narcotics.
The amendments added a paragraph to the article to stipulate that drivers who commit violations two or more times within five years would also be fined an additional NT$90,000. The maximum penalty for those who refuse to stop for sobriety checks was raised to NT$90,000, from the current NT$60,000.
Meanwhile, the current penalties for refusing to take a breathalyzer test were retained under the amendment so that drivers face having their driver’s licenses suspended and their vehicles impounded.
The legislature also approved an amendment to Social Assistance Act (社會救助法) to expand social welfare benefits to more disadvantaged people.
The amendment stipulated that living allowances granted to vocational education students for joining school-industry industry partnerships were not a source of family income. The current rule has discouraged parents in low and low-to-medium income families from sending children to participate in the programs to avoid being disqualified from receiving benefits.
The amendment extended the coverage of the government’s housing allowances from low income families to low-to-medium income families.
The legislature also approved an amendment to the Enforcement Act of Conscription Act (兵役法施行法) to bring the act in line with the Act Of Military Service System (兵役法), which was revised in late 2011 to reduce the period of temporary mobilization from one year and 10 months to one year.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai