SPORT
Yang statement removed
A statement by the president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) expressing support for a referee’s decision to disqualify a Taiwanese taekwondo athlete at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, was removed from the OCA Web site yesterday. Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) used “unfair technology ... it was a very fair suspension,” OCA chief Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah said on Saturday at a press conference. The OCA removed the statement from its official Web site after the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee expressed concern. Yang was accused of wearing illegal sensors in her socks in a match on Nov. 17. She was disqualified on the grounds that she was trying to cheat. Video footage revealed that Yang was not wearing the sensors during the bout.
CULTURE
Exhibition showcases Yilan
An exhibition featuring a total of 117 of Yilan County’s most symbolic and significant people and events opened yesterday, the Institute of Yilan County History said. Inspired by a previous exhibition called “Taiwan No. 1” that highlighted Taiwan’s numerous economic and international achievements, the institute is using the exhibition to showcase the county through historical photos and picture captions. Yang Yen-li (楊廷理), the county’s first tong pan — the county official in charge of administering lawsuits in ancient China, and Yu Shyi-kun, the first Yilan-born premier of Taiwan, were selected along with 33 other people as the most significant to the county. A total of 22 significant events, including an anti-pollution movement launched from 1987 to 1991, the first Yilan International Children’s Folklore and Folkgame Festival in 1996, and the opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel in 2006, are highlighted at the exhibition, which will run until April.
SOCIETY
Guide dog arrives in Taiwan
The first guide dog to take a flight between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan) arrived in Taiwan on Friday as part of a foundation’s campaign to bring more guide dogs to Taiwan. The four-month-old female Labrador, named Dior, will first be sent to a family in Yilan County to start its socialization until it is able to receive more training, said William Chen (陳長青), general manager of the Taiwan Guide Dog Association. After that, an instructor will be in charge of client training and will introduce the dog to its owner. Taiwan hopes to gain training experience from countries like Japan, which has worked with guide dogs for more than 70 years.
TRANSPORT
System targets jams
The Automotive Research and Testing Center (ARTC), a non-profit research center established by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said it has developed a driving management system for electric vehicles that can advise drivers about traffic jams. The system, integrated with prizewinning Electric Power Steering System and Driver Status Monitor System software, is able to analyze location, engine speed and other information to allow the driver to know the condition of both his car and the road, said Liao Ching-chiu (廖慶秋), an assistant manager with the ARTC’s research and development department. The system is able to detect road conditions and warn the driver of danger, Liao said. It can also warn the driver when his batteries are low and advise where to go for a recharge, he said, adding the system can also inform the driver about a mechanical breakdown before it even occurs.
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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