■ TRANSPORTATION
Free bus trial to begin
Starting tomorrow, the Kao-hsiung City Government will begin offering free bus rides on Thursdays on a trial basis, the city government said yesterday. The city’s Transportation Bureau issued a press release saying that bus rides on the city’s 82 bus routes would be free of charge every Thursday for three months. It said the city hopes to encourage more residents to use public transportation. The city government will also offer passengers free rides on six of the city’s holiday sightseeing bus routes, including one along the city’s coast line, one to the city’s Cijin District (旗津) and one to the city’s old neighborhood in Yencheng District (鹽埕). The buses will operate every Saturday and Sunday, the bureau said. The bureau said that although both free ride schemes are expected to increase the city government’s expenditure by NT$30 million (US$988,000), the plans are expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emission by 170 tonnes.
■ POLITICS
Exam yuan may face cuts
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday urged the Presidential Office to support his proposal to halve the size of the Examination Yuan. Tsai highlighted the financial benefits to the public if the Examination Yuan were downsized from 21 people to 9 people. He said the annual salary of each member of the Examination Yuan is about NT$5 million. Halving the government branch would help the government save about NT$50 million every year, he said. Given the Presidential Office’s promotion of government frugality, the Examination Yuan should also be halved “like the Legislative Yuan was,” he said. Tsai said legislators across party lines had reached a consensus regarding the proposal, but the legislature had yet to schedule the bill for a preliminary review because of opposition from the Presidential Office.
■ DIPLOMACY
Ma meets Holy See officials
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) met the Holy See’s new charge d’affaires in Taiwan, Monsignor Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, and his predecessor, Monsignor Ambrose Madtha, at the Presidential Office yesterday. During the meeting, Ma said that relations between Taiwan and the Vatican have been harmonious, adding that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited the Holy See in May 2005 to attend the late Pope John Paul II’s funeral. Fitzpatrick Russell was named the Vatican’s new diplomatic representative to Taiwan early last month, after Madtha was named Apostolic Nuncio to Ivory Coast in West Africa. Ma said that relations between Taiwan and the Vatican were very close during Ambrose’s five-plus years as the Holy See’s representative, adding that he would be missed by everyone in Taiwan. The president also welcomed the new representative. The Vatican is the only state in Europe that diplomatically recognizes Taiwan.
■ HEALTH
Boy dies of enterovirus
A two-year-old boy in Taichung County has died of serious enterovirus infection, making him the country’s fifth victim of the disease so far this year, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday. The DOH’s Centers for Disease Control was expected to hold a news conference later yesterday to announce whether an enterovirus outbreak alert would be issued with an increased response level. Enterovirus is a virus that enters the body through the gastrointestinal tract, where it thrives.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
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