ENVIRONMENT
Kaohsiung wetland honored
A wetland area in Kaohsiung was recently listed by BirdLife International as one of the world’s 12,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs). The recognition of Cieding Wetland (茄萣濕地) by the world’s largest partnership of conservation organizations brings the number of IBAs in Taiwan to 54, Council of Agriculture officials and conservationists said yesterday. The most valued aspect of the wetland area is that it hosts the endangered black-faced spoonbill, the Taipei-based Chinese Wild Bird Federation said, adding that the number of black-faced spoonbills recorded in the wetland in the five years to last year was five, 55, 56, 154 and 285 respectively. Last year’s figure was a record high, conservationists said, adding that the wetland is home to more than 150 bird species.
SPORTS
Nation hosts female boxers
The AIBA Women’s Junior and Youth World Championships, which is to be hosted by Taiwan for the first time, will be open to the public free of charge, New Taipei City’s Sport Office said. The bouts take place from tomorrow to Saturday next week, with 342 fighters from 44 nations competing for 23 titles, the office said. In the youth category, boxers aged 17 to 19 are to compete in 10 weight divisions, ranging from 45kg to 81kg and above, while in the junior category fighters aged 15 to 16 will compete in 13 weight divisions, ranging from 44kg to 80kg and above, the office said. Taiwan will be represented by 15 fighters and is expected to win at least one or two gold medals, the office said. City officials said the city government has been striving to promote the internationalization of combat sports, particularly women’s amateur boxing.
TOURISM
Delayed passengers flown in
TransAsia Airways yesterday brought 97 passengers from Japan after their flight had been severely delayed due to mechanical problems. The flight departed from Chitose Airport at 10pm on Wednesday, landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 1am yesterday. The 97 passengers were some of the 192 passengers who were scheduled to travel to Taiwan on TransAsia flight GE671 at 1:15pm on Tuesday. The plane developed problems with its hydraulic braking system and had to be towed off the runway upon landing in Japan on an earlier flight. TransAsia denied Japanese media reports that the plane had to make an emergency landing. TransAsia said 85 of the 192 passengers booked on the return flight to Taiwan took other airlines on Wednesday afternoon, while 10 changed their return date and the remainder waited for TransAsia to provide a new flight.
IMMIGRATION
Woman hides in ceiling
A Vietnamese woman caught hiding in a ceiling partition at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday said she was attempting to illegally overstay in Taiwan because she felt the country is “too nice to leave.” Retail staff at the nation’s main gateway first detected something strange after part of the ceiling in a women’s restroom near boarding gate A6 collapsed. Police later found the woman, who has been a migrant worker for the past few years, hiding in the false ceiling. The woman said she was scheduled to depart that afternoon, but changed her mind at the last minute because she “felt Taiwan is a good place,” police said. The woman climbed into the ceiling space, only to realize that it led nowhere, leaving her stuck there until the ceiling eventually collapsed, police said.
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
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
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner