SOCIETY
Drugs seized in Indonesia
Taiwanese and Indonesian authorities seized 88 packets (89kg) of amphetamines worth about US$4.5 million in Indonesia in a joint operation on Friday last week, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The operation began after Taiwanese law enforcement was tipped-off several months ago that a criminal gang was trying to smuggle amphetamines in a stacker machine shipped from Kaohsiung to Indonesia, the bureau said. The container had been held in customs in Indonesia since March because of a lack of proper documentation, CIB International Criminal Affairs Division 1st Investigation Corps acting chief Yang Kuo-sung (楊國松) said. Three Indonesian suspects were arrested in a raid last month and the CIB is investigating the source of the drugs, which is likely in the south, he said, adding that police have identified a suspect they want to question.
EARTHQUAKE
Two quakes hit Taitung
Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.3 and 4.9 occurred within one minute of each other in Taitung County yesterday morning, the Central Weather Bureau said. The first quake struck at 10:48am and the second at 10:49am, and they were felt across parts of Taitung, Pingtung, Chiayi, Yunlin, Tainan and Kaohsiung. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter of the first earthquake was about 36.8km north of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 5km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The second temblor centered 33.6km west of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 6.5km and created widespread tremors across the center and the south. Seismology Center section chief Lin Tzu-wei (林祖慰) said the quakes were the result of energy released from shifting tectonic plates. “They were typical earthquake swarms, which could strike in a short period of time on a relatively moderate scale,” Lin said.
NATIONAL PARKS
Yushan trashed by tourists
Yushan National Park management on Thursday said that littering has become a problem, as people have been leaving immense amounts of trash when they visit the area. Since 2014, volunteers have cleaned up about 1,057kg of trash in the park, an average of 250kg per year, the management team said, citing figures from last month. About 1 million people visit the 103,121 hectare park every year and its environment and ecology could come under great strain if people continue to leave behind plastic bottles, food waste, toilet paper, cigarette butts and other types of trash, the management said, adding that visitors to Yushan National Park are asked to take their trash with them when they leave. Visitors are also reminded to use bathrooms so as not to contribute to pollution of the natural habitat, the management team added.
TOURISM
Kinmen visitor numbers jump
About 545,000 tourists visited Kinmen County in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 51 percent from the same period last year, data from the county government showed on Wednesday. Most visitors were Taiwanese, followed by Chinese tourists and international visitors, data showed. The county government has developed themed travel tours, music festivals and mountain hiking for domestic and foreign visitors, the Kinmen County Tourism Department said, adding that the county government would continue efforts to boost tourism and offer visitors a better experience.
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
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
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