DISASTER RELIEF
Taiwan, Japan to collaborate
Taiwan and Japan yesterday signed an agreement to share information on disasters caused by earthquakes, typhoons and landslides and exchange opinions on landslide prevention measures and on post-disaster reconstruction experiences. The agreement was signed by Taiwan’s East Asian Relations Commission Chairman Peng Run-tsu (彭榮次) and Hatakenaka Atushi, chairman of the Japan’s Interchange Association, in Taipei. Authorities in charge of disaster prevention are entitled to make contact with each other to collect related information. Both countries will dispatch experts to the other’s territory to conduct research, attend conferences and to develop technologies in the areas.
EDUCATION
Cadets graduate in Honduras
Three cadets from Taiwan graduated from Honduran military academies recently with remarkable academic performances, Taiwan’s embassy in Honduras said yesterday. Tien Chien-min (田健民), Chang Shuo-fang (張碩峰) and Chi Fei (齊飛) were among 89 military school graduates who were awarded bachelor degrees and the rank of second lieutenant or ensign during a ceremony on Wednesday, the embassy said. Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, who presided at the graduation ceremony, congratulated the new officers on their achievements and praised the Taiwanese graduates for their outstanding performance. He also expressed hope that the Taiwanese graduates would help in the future to promote military interactions between Taiwan and Honduras.
CRIME
Pilfered goods returned
Ten years after stealing a cup, a blanket and a set of dining utensils from a Cathay Pacific plane, the repentant passenger sent them back to the airline, along with NT$900, airline sources said on Thursday. The airline’s Kaohsiung office received the package on July 19, but as they were unable to contact the sender, who called himself Chiu Chan-ho (邱禪荷), they initially did not open it. Finally, one staffer’s curiosity got the better of her and she opened the package. Lee Hsiung-ta (李雄達), a manager in charge of the carrier’s business in southern Taiwan, speculated that Chiu might be a frequent flyer who took the objects some time ago and was now sending them back after being struck with remorse. Lee said all the items were no longer in production and could be seen as collector’s items. Since the staff could not reach the sender, they decided to donate that NT$900 “interest payment” to the UN Children’s Fund.
POLITICS
Taipei Metropolis proposed
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday submitted a proposal to have Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung merged into a single administrative district in a bid to improve Taiwan’s international competitiveness. KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said the merger was originally part of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign platform in early 2008, but never materialized for a variety of reasons. Taipei County will be upgraded to a municipality and renamed Sinbei City on Dec. 25 — making it part of a twin city with the capital, Taipei, along with the much smaller neighboring Keelung, Hsieh said. If Taipei, Sinbei and Keelung were to be merged, it would have a population of more than 7 million, constituting nearly 30 percent of Taiwan’s population. Such a merger would definitely make the northern area, to be known as the Taipei Metropolis, into a world-class city with high competitiveness, Hsieh said.
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
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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