DEFENSE
New frigates launched
The coast guard inaugurated two frigates yesterday to boost efforts to deter illegal fishing boats, mainly from China, officials said. One of the frigates, the 2,000 tonne Tainan, was put into service after a ceremony presided over by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in Greater Kaohsiung. The frigate, capable of cruising up to 12,070km, will be used to patrol waters around Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea, the coast guard said. “Over the past two years, the government’s efforts have helped lead to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Ma said according to a statement from the coast guard. “[However,] the maintenance of security in waters around Taiwan has emerged as one of the most important tasks.”
PHOTO: CNA
LABOR
CLA supports extension
Council of Labor Affairs Minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) yesterday reiterated her agency’s support for legislation that would extend the maximum length of time foreign laborers are allowed to work in Taiwan from nine to 12 years. Manufacturers and employers of foreign caregivers are among those eagerly anticipating an extension, Wang said. She said Taiwanese firms told her they would hire workers who had to return home after spending nine years here because their skills were mature. If foreign workers had the opportunity to stay in Taiwan longer and were able to contribute to the country’s economic development, “we would support this kind of direction,” Wang said. She said extending the maximum length of stay would not hurt domestic workers’ rights because the long-term migrant workers were already part of the foreign workforce import quota.
SOCIETY
Expo visitor wins air ticket
A Hsinchu resident yesterday received a round-trip air ticket between Taipei and Hong Kong, and a potted orchid when she became the 1 millionth visitor to the Pavilion of the Future at the Taipei International Flora Expo. The 25 year-old winner, surnamed Lin (林), was clocked in as the 1 millionth visitor at 2:10pm. She said it was her first visit to the expo and that she decided to see the Pavilion of the Future first because she was interested in green technology. Lin, who was attending the expo with her mother, said she would buy her mother a ticket so they could go to Hong Kong together.
CRIME
Fraud ring cracked
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it cracked a criminal ring made up of medical suppliers and hospitals that allegedly defrauded the National Health Insurance system of NT$2.3 million (US$79,223) by falsely reporting drug prices. Investigators seized accounting documents and files from eight pharmaceutical firms and 11 hospitals and clinics in Taipei, Taichung, Yunlin, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the office said. Fifty-one people were held for questioning, although 11 were later released on bail. Prosecutors alleged the companies and hospitals had been colluding since 2007 to make false health insurance claims. The hospitals paid low prices to the suppliers than they claimed in refunds from the health insurance system, prosecutors claimed, as well as hiding discounts and free drugs they received.
TRAVEL
Tourists treated for injuries
Five Taiwanese tourists who sustained minor injuries in a traffic accident in Hokkaido, Japan, have been discharged from hospitals after treatment, Taiwan’s representative office in Sapporo said yesterday. The tourists were hurt when a tour bus in which they were traveling overturned yesterday while trying to avoid an oncoming vehicle, the office said. They were part of a Taiwanese tour group that arrived in Hokkaido on Tuesday.
TRAVEL
CAL launches Wuhan flights
China Airlines (CAL) yesteday launched non-stop services between Taiwan and the city of Wuhan, its 16th destination in China. The first flight to the central China transportation hub took off from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport early yesterday. The airline is using Airbus A330-300s on the route and offering flights between the two every Wednesday and Saturday.
CRIME
Man sentenced to death
Yu Chih-wei (余智維), 25, was given a death sentence yesterday by the Taiwan High Court for killing his foster mother. The court ruling said Yu was adopted by a couple when he was five years old and that the couple raised him and treated him very well. The ruling said in order to please a 16-year-old girl surnamed Hu (胡) that he was dating, Yu borrowed money from loan sharks to buy a car. However, as the loan sharks asked Yu to pay his debts, Yu threatened his foster mother in an effort to get a property ownership document as security to apply for a bank loan. On March 28 last year, Hu used a scarf to strangle his foster mother, while Yu stabbed her 11 times because she refused to give him the document, the court found.
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
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS