■ Cross-strait issues
Fingerprint rule changes
Starting on Sept. 1, Chinese nationals visiting Taiwan will need to have two fingerprints taken. According to regulations introduced in April, a complete set of fingerprints was to be taken from every Chinese national arriving in Taiwan. However, because of human-rights concerns, as well as worries of a backlash if arrivals felt they were being treated like criminals, the head of the Ministry of the Interior's Immigration Office, Steve Wu (吳學燕), said yesterday that only two fingerprints would now be taken.
■ Crime
Girl treated like a dog
A man was accused of abusing his 10-year old daughter in Ilan County after allegedly tying a belt around her neck and walking her like a dog on the street, according to police. Police said the man, surnamed Lin, 52, had a criminal record, and would often beat his daughter after using drugs. They said Lin on Thursday afternoon abused his daughter, then took her to visit his friends, walking her like a dog in public view. Police said the girl had difficulty breathing, cried and asked her father's friends to help her. The friends reported the matter to police. The Ilan County Government's social welfare bureau is now caring for the girl. Police said Lin faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
■ Health
Family have dengue fever
A Taitung County Department of Health official has urged the public to be alert to the danger of dengue fever while visiting Southeast Asian countries, after four members of a Taitung family just back from Indonesia were confirmed to be infected with the disease. An eight-year-old boy was the first in the family confirmed to have contracted the disease -- on Wednesday -- while the father, the boy's younger brother and sister also tested positive on Friday. The mother, of Indonesian origin, said the family visited Indonesia from July 23 to last Saturday. Upon returning to Taiwan, the eight-year-old boy was found to be suffering from fever and a blood sample was taken by quarantine officials. The department then tested samples from the other family members, which also proved positive. As many Taiwanese nationals with foreign spouses will visit Southeast Asian countries during the summer months, the Taitung official reminded them to avoid mosquito bites.
■ Politics
Ma team backs reform
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have proposed that the Central Standing Committee be directly elected by party representatives, a senior KMT official said. KMT caucus whip Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) said that the KMT has seen complete democratization after its party chairmanship election last month, and that the different voices represented the normal functioning of a democratic party. Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), one of Ma's confidants, was also among those supporting a change in the election process for the committee. Wu will present a proposal at the party's 17th congress this Friday. Wu and several other KMT legislators have proposed an amendment to the KMT charter, calling for two-stage elections, with the 1,600 party representatives choosing the 210 members of the Central Committee in the first stage, and then electing the 31 members of the Central Standing Committee from those members in the second stage. Successive committee members are presently chosen by the current membership of the committee.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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