Three people were indicted in Greater Taichung yesterday for their alleged roles in a deadly fire that engulfed a pub earlier this year.
Nine people were killed and 12 injured in an early-morning blaze at the ALA Pub in Greater Taichung on March 6, making it one of the nation’s deadliest fires in recent years.
During a performance, dancer Chu Chuan-yi (朱傳毅) had accidentally set fire to the ceiling of the pub with a torch, triggering the blaze at about 1:30am.
Greater Taichung Prosecutor Wu Tso-yen (吳祚延) announced yesterday that Chu and Wang Ming-che (王銘哲), the owner of the bar, were charged with accidental homicide by the Taichung District Court.
Wu said prosecutors were seeking a six-year prison sentence and a fine of NT$2 million (US$66,000) for Wang and three-and-a-half-years for Chu.
Chang Shang-yi (張尚義), an employee with the municipality’s government, was charged with corruption and faces five years in jail.
Wu said the pub was in violation of zoning regulations because it was operating in a residential district, and when the municipal government became aware of the violation in 2008, water and electricity supplies to the pub were stopped.
Wu said Wang then applied to have the services restored and hired a worker named Chiu Ching-fa (邱進發) to do the work.
Chang, who worked at the municipality’s Urban Development Department, oversaw the application and reportedly told an intermediary contact that Wang needed to pay him NT$5,000 to ensure water and electricity supplies would resume, which Wang allegedly did, Wu said.
In a historic first, Taiwanese officials participated in this year’s Riga Strategic Communications Dialogue in Latvia from Wednesday to Friday last week, which debuted a breakout session focused on Taiwan The event organizer, the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, displayed Taiwan’s national flag and the officials’ formal titles on their Web site. Taiwanese attendees included National Security Council (NSC) Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and deputy head of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK, Chiang Ya-chi (江雅綺). In addition to the session discussing Taiwan titled “Taiwan: Navigating Strategic Communication in a Tense Environment,” the dialogue also included sessions
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
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