■ Society
Police may get electric prods
Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) yesterday announced that his ministry will consider the idea of equipping the nation's police with electric prods and tear gas. That way, should police need to confront suspects in crowded areas, they would be able to bring them under control without using their guns. The use of electric prods or tear gas could also prevent bystanders from being accidentally injured, the minister said. Lee said the ministry will review the proposal and map out details on the project's budget and whether electric prods should be assigned to all police or just patrol units.
■ Foreign Affairs
Hong Kong praised for rescue
The nation's representative office in Hong Kong conveyed Taiwan's gratitude to the Hong Kong government over the weekend for having rescued three crewmen from a sinking Taiwan freighter in waters off Hong Kong's outlying islands of Kwo Chau (果洲). The Shun Fa No. 16 freighter was hit by rough seas on Tuesday while sailing past the Kwo Chau Islands, suffering serious damage. The three Taiwanese sailors contacted Hong Kong's marine rescue center for help. The center dispatched a helicopter to the scene, rescuing the Taiwanese before the ship sank. The three men all suffered minor injuries. They have returned to Taiwan after receiving medical treatment in Hong Kong.
■ Food
Japan food fair coming up
More than 50 Taiwanese businesses from the food industry will attend this year's Japan International Food Exhibition to be held in Tokyo from March 14 to March 17. Foodex Japan 2006 is the largest food fair of its kind in Asia and the world's third largest, officials from the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday. Foodex Japan, held every two years, is expected to attract the participation of thousands of companies from 80 countries and areas this year. Japan is Taiwan's largest agricultural export market, according to the COA. Taiwan exported nearly US$1.3 billion worth of agricultural products to the country last year, an amount accounting for 36 percent of Taiwan's total agricultural exports for that year. A wide variety of Taiwan-produced premium agricultural goods -- such as tea, fruits and vegetables, rice, frozen foods, as well as processed foods and various meat products -- will be on display at the March fair, COA officials said.
■ Tourism
US tourists on the rise
The number of US citizens visiting Taiwan has been on the rise as efforts to promote such trips in the US have begun to bear fruit, officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York reported. The number of US citizens who visited Taiwan in January totaled 31,248, marking an increase of 7.43 percent over the level of the same month a year earlier. Of the total US visitors, 20 percent were tourists, representing a remarkable increase over the average figure of 9 percent seen over the past three years, said Chang Cheng-yuan (張政源), director of the tourism section of TECO's New York office. Chang attributed the growth in the number of US tourists to Taiwan in January mainly to efforts made by Taiwan's government and private sector in attracting US tourists by increasing tourism publicity around the US in the past year. Chang said the TECO's New York office, China Airlines and two Taiwanese travel agencies jointly participated in the recent New York Times Tourism Show.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS