SOCIETY
Abuse reports increasing
The number of suspected child abuse cases reported to authorities rose dramatically in the first half of this year compared with a year earlier, indicating increased awareness in society on the issue, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. A total of 13,130 cases were reported from January to June, 40.4 percent more than during the same period last year, and 9,039 of those cases, an increase of 39.77 percent, were confirmed, according to ministry statistics. Those aged six to 11 accounted for 3,305, or 36.56 percent, of the victims, and those aged one to five accounted for 2,262, or 25.03 percent. On the background of the abusers, 6,512, or 75.02 percent, were the victims’ parents or foster parents. The number of abusers who were live-in partners of one of the parents was up 49.3 percent from last year to 212, while the number of abusers who were relatives of the victims but not their parents jumped 42.11 percent to 459.
HISTORY
Sun family friend arrives
A descendant of a close friend of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), the Republic of China’s founding father, will arrive in Taiwan today for a four-day visit, sources from the East Asia Relations Commission said. Sources said Ayano Kosaka, the great-granddaughter of Umeya Shokichi (1868-1934), who forged close relations with Sun and provided generous funding for the latter’s attempted revolts against the Qing Dynasty in the early 20th century, will visit historic places related to Sun. She will visit the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial House, the Presidential Office, the Taipei Guest House, the National Palace Museum and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
CRIME
Former medalist bailed
Tsai Pai-sheng (蔡白生), a former Asian Games shooting silver medalist, was released on bail on Friday night after being detained on suspicion of embezzling funds from the Taipei City Government’s Shooting Association. Tsai, currently a vice president of the Republic of China Shooting Association, is suspected of embezzling NT$60 million (US$2 million) during his term as director of the association. He was released on NT$100,000 bail, with his wife also released on the same bail amount on suspicion of involvement in the embezzlement allegations. Tsai, 75, won the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games shooting silver medal. Taipei prosecutors said they suspected that Tsai, during his stint at the city’s shooting association between 2003 and 2007, forged accounts and embezzled public funds. When Tsai left the city’s shooting association and established a private shooting association in 2007, he left only NT$9 in the account of the city association, prosecutors said.
ECONOMY
Graduates not finding work
Despite a recent drop in the unemployment rate, a high percentage of new graduates have not found their first full-time jobs, according to the results of a survey released yesterday by an online employment broker. The survey by 1111 Job Bank found that 33.8 percent of university graduates last summer remained jobless six month after graduation. The ratio was higher than the 23.5 percent recorded at the same time last year, but lower than the 45 percent in 2008 — when the global financial crisis erupted. This indicates that this year’s graduates have not benefited from the employment promotion measures launched by the government last year, the employment broker said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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