■ CRIME
Taxi killer sentenced
The Taiwan High Court yesterday sentenced a taxi driver to life in prison for killing his passenger after driving directly at the victim and sending him flying into the air. The court said 39-year-old Lin Yuan-sheng (林淵晟) killed the passenger and has not shown any remorse for his actions. The Taipei District Court had earlier sentenced Lin to life and the High Court upheld the ruling yesterday. Lin may appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court. On the morning of Oct. 20, Lin got into a heated argument with 51-year-old passenger Tu Tsan-hsiu (杜讚修) over whether the driver purposely took a longer route than necessary. Moments later, after Tu got out of the taxi on Taipei's Bade Road, the driver backed up his cab a short distance, waited for Tu to turn his back, then stepped on the accelerator and rammed the victim, sending him flying several meters into the air and killing him on the spot. The taxi driver turned himself in at Songshan Police Station a day later, but claimed he had “mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.”
■ TRAVEL
Bangkok alert downgraded
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday downgraded its travel alert for Bangkok to orange from red for Taiwanese planning to travel to Thailand. The ministry advised Taiwanese nationals to avoid going to Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Ayutthaya and if they must visit those areas, to remain vigilant. The downgrade came as the confrontation between the Thai government and protesters diminished. The ministry called on travelers to stay away from the hub areas surrounding the Phan Fah Bridge and Ratchaprasong, which are still occupied by protesters. Those who encounter an emergency situation in Thailand can dial a hotline operated by Taiwan's representative office in Thailand at 002-66-81-666-4006.
■ TRAVEL
Kaohsiung flights resume
Taipei-based TransAsia Airways will resume Taipei-Kaohsiung flights from May 1 for the convenience of southern Taiwan travelers who need to make transit stops at Taipei Songshan Airport during direct cross-strait flights, an airline spokesman said yesterday. Initially, the spokesman said, the carrier will offer one flight in each direction daily, using a 70-seater ATR-72 turboprop. The northbound flight will take off from Kaohsiung at 6:45am and will land at Taipei Songshan Airport at 7:45am, the spokesman said. The southbound flight will take off from Taipei at 8pm and is scheduled to arrive at Kaohsiung International airport at 9pm.
■ SOCIETY
Parlor accused of bribery
A funeral parlor allegedly bribed police officers and firefighters for tip-offs about sudden deaths to get an edge over the competition, local media reported yesterday. The Te Sheng Funeral Parlor in Taipei County is alleged to have paid up to NT$20,000 for tips, enabling it to be first to handle a body at the scene of a crime or an accident, local media reports said. Six police officers and firefighters face corruption charges and are likely to be jailed for at least seven years if convicted, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported. It did not specify which charges may be brought against staff at the funeral parlor. Prosecutors investigating the case were not immediately available for comment.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
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