TRANSPORTATION
Light rail passes EIA
A light rail transit (LRT) system under construction in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) yesterday passed an initial environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the first phase of the system might begin service in late next year, the contractor said. The Danhai LRT System passed initial review at the second joint conference of a special panel under the Environmental Protection Administration, Hsinchu-based Taiwan Rolling Stock Co said. The light rail will encompass two lines — the Green Mountain line and the Blue Seaside line — along with one depot. A total of 13.99km of track will be laid as part of the project and 20 stations will be constructed along the two lines, the company said. If the project passes subsequent EIAs, the first phase of the LRT — the Green Mountain line which is to run from the Hongshulin MRT station to the Danhai New Town project — is expected to start operations late next year to help relieve some of the traffic congestion on the Tamsui-Jinshan highway, the company said. The phase-one line is expected to handle 40,000 passenger rides per day in the initial period of its operations, the company added.
Photo: CNA
SOCIETY
Amendment passes review
The penalty for filming or photographing children or adolescents engaged in sexual intercourse or obscene acts would be increased if an amendment, now before the Legislative Yuan, passes its third reading. The proposed amendment to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) yesterday passed a review at a meeting of the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee. The proposal would increase the punishment for producing photographs, film, videotape, compact disks, electronic files or other medium that show adolescents engaged in sexual intercourse or obscene acts from up to five years in prison to up to seven years in prison. The fine for the acts would be doubled to a maximum of NT$1 million (US$33,275), according to the amendment.
TOURISM
Footbridge to be repaired
A landmark footbridge in Taitung County’s Sansiantai Beach (三仙台) scenic area will be closed for renovation for three-and-a-half months from June 1, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. The bridge, known as the Bagong Bridge (八拱橋, Eight Arch Bridge), will remain closed until Sept. 15, the East Coast National Scenic Area Administration said. Built in 1987, the bridge connects the coast with the Sansiantai area. After 30 years of service, it is being closed to repair cracks and conduct a comprehensive check of its earthquake resistance, the agency said. The renovation will also include improving drainage and painting the bridge, it said, adding that the work is aimed at improving the scenic area’s quality. Sansiantai had once been an elongated cape that stretched into the Pacific Ocean, but the central part of the cape was eroded by tides, leaving an island separated from the coastline, the Taitung County Government said.
SOCIETY
‘Garden city’ results shared
The Taipei City Government on Sunday held an event to announce the results of its “garden city” policy and mark yesterday’s World Urban Farmers Day. Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said that since Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) launched the policy in 2015, 402 community gardens and city farms have been opened by ward chiefs, schools, businesses and volunteers. The next step is to promote organic farming, Lin said. The policy is not only about vegetable gardens, but also other elements, including education, social care and spiritual therapy, with the aim of creating dialogue among people, Lin said.
CRIME
Violent crimes declining
The police investigated 417 cases of violent crimes from January to last month, down 22.35 percent from the same period last year, according to statistics released by the National Police Agency. During the period, police received 16,520 reports of theft or burglary, down 11.65 percent from a year earlier, according to the agency. The number of road accidents and deaths caused by drunk driving also fell, from 560 and 30 respectively last year, to 504 and 20. The agency quoted an American Chamber of Commerce survey as saying that most US expatriates listed “safety” as the top reason for choosing to live and work in Taiwan. A Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation survey released last month listed police as the most trusted among seven categories of public servants, with an approval rating of 74.1 percent. By comparison, tax officials had an approval rating of 55.8 percent, followed by military personnel (55.6 percent), administrative officials (44.4 percent), prosecutors (43.6 percent), intelligence and national security agents (38.5 percent), and judges (24.5 percent).
Staff writer, with CNA
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching