■ CRIME
School blackmailed
Tunghai University in Taichung City suspended the campus water supply yesterday morning after a blackmailer threatened to poison the school’s supply network. The school administration had received a threatening letter on Thursday, demanding NT$5 million (US$150,800) and 2.5kg of gold. After reporting the threat to the police on Thursday, the university yesterday received a telephone call from the blackmailer, who threatened to poison its water supply system if it refused to pay. The police said they found a fingerprint on the envelope that had been used to mail the letter and were investigating. The water supply is expected to be re-established on Monday, the school said. The school’s Department of Environmental Science and Engineering will monitor the campus’ water quality over the weekend, it added.
■TOURISM
Chinese flock to Taipei 101
The number of Chinese tourists visiting Taipei 101, the world’s tallest occupied skyscraper, has risen sharply with the influx of sightseers from China, a Taipei 101 official said. Taipei 101 acting chairman and president Harace Lin (林鴻明) said that in the middle of last month alone, Chinese tourists made 17,000 visits per week to the landmark building, about seven times more than in the past. Lin said that prior to last July, the number of Chinese visitors to Taipei 101 was several thousand per month, but the number began to climb in October. Seven out of 10 Chinese visitors want to go to the observatory on the 89th floor to get an aerial view of the metropolis, Lin said.
■ENVIRONMENT
Battery recycling expanded
An additional 2,000 collection points for used batteries have been set up in public bathrooms around the country, making it more convenient for people to return used batteries for recycling, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday. The bathrooms in government agencies, public enterprises, libraries, hospitals, cultural and recreational establishments and transportation facilities were selected because they are heavily frequented venues, EPA officials said. The EPA said Taiwan produces or imports approximately 9,000 tonnes of batteries every year. Last year 5,470 tonnes of used batteries, or 60 percent of new battery production and imports, were returned for recycling, exceeding the target of 45 percent that the EU hopes to reach by 2016, the officials said. Used batteries are also collected at supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, drug and cosmetic chain outlets and retailers of mobile phones and cameras.
■SOCIETY
Voucher deadline passes
Less than 1 percent of Taiwanese did not pick up their government-issued consumer vouchers as of Thursday’s collection deadline, the state-owned Chunghwa Post Co reported yesterday. The company said 134,974 people, or 0.58 percent of Taiwan’s total population, did not collect the NT$3,600 in vouchers the government issued in mid-January for each citizen as part of a stimulation package to boost the domestic economy amid the global economic downturn. The remaining vouchers will be sent back to the Ministry of the Interior, which will be responsible for destroying them after May 12, a Chunghwa Post executive said. Ministry data indicated that as of April 20, more than NT$65.53 billion (US$2 billion), or 78.26 percent of the total of NT$83.73 billion in vouchers issued, had been cashed.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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