TOURISM
Lightning strikes aircraft
A Hong Kong Express Airways flight carrying 129 people to Greater Taichung made an emergency return to Hong Kong shortly after takeoff yesterday, after it was reportedly struck by lightning. The plane, a Boeing 737, took off from Hong Kong International Airport at 12:56pm, but the pilot contacted the airport and requested permission to return shortly after takeoff, saying it seemed that the aircraft had been struck by lightning. The plane landed in Hong Kong at 1:59pm with all the passengers safe and unhurt. It took off again at 4:08pm for Greater Taichung and arrived at 5:42pm.
EMPLOYMENT
Cafe chain gets fine
The 85oC cafe chain has been fined for violating the Employment Services Act (就業服務法) for refusing to hire a Chinese woman with a residency permit, Taipei City’s Department of Labor said on Wednesday. After a complete investigation following a complaint from the Chinese woman, the cafe chain was fined NT$100,000 for discrimination in its hiring practices at a store in Taipei City, the department said. According to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Chinese nationals are able to work legally in Taiwan after receiving residency certificates. In response, 85oC spokeswoman Kathy Chung (鐘靜如) said the branch’s superintendent has been given administrative demerits because of the case. She said the company would file an appeal with the city government about the incident, since the rejection was a result of poor communication. Chung added that over the past eight years, the company has hired hundreds of foreign workers, including many from China and Vietnam.
ESPIONAGE
Alleged China spy detained
A Taiwanese businessman based in China was detained early yesterday after being questioned a day earlier on suspicion of spying for China, officials said. The suspect, surnamed Cheng (鄭), was first questioned by the Investigation Bureau and then handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for more questioning. Prosecutors gained court approval to detain Cheng on grounds that he might escape to China, where his wife owns property and Cheng has a business in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Cheng’s wife was also summoned for questioning as a witness. The investigators said they received a tipoff from a military source that Cheng had been seeking to meet one of his previous schoolmates, now a military officer, since last year. Cheng reportedly attempted to lure the officer to a third country to meet with Chinese individuals, investigators said. Instead of leaving for China with Cheng, the officer reported the case to his superiors.
SEISMOLOGY
Hualien quake shakes Taipei
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan at 9:58am yesterday, according to the Central Weather Bureau. The quake’s epicenter was about 16.9km north of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 23km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The strongest tremors, with an intensity of four on a five-point scale, were felt in Hualien County’s Taroko and Hualien City areas, as well as in Nanao (南澳), Yilan County, the center said. The temblor was felt with an intensity of three in several regions of central and northeastern Taiwan, and two in other regions in northern and southern Taiwan.
CRIME
Police hunt diplomat killer
Dominican Republic police will spare no effort to apprehend the person who killed a Taiwanese diplomat there earlier this week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The police have appointed a special commission to deal with the case, which will notify the Republic of China embassy about the progress of the investigation, ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said. “The police chief has noted that they will keep in close contact with Taiwan’s embassy and inform it of the investigation results,” he said. Ambassador Thomas Hou (侯平福) has also called on the police authorities to solve the case as soon as possible, Chang said. The body of Julia Ou (區美珍), a second secretary at Taiwan’s embassy in the Caribbean country, has been sent for a post-mortem examination at a national institute, Chang added. Ou was found stabbed to death in her apartment on Tuesday morning after she failed to show up at work.
EDUCATION
Taiwan Academy in accord
Officials from the Autonomous University of Hidalgo State in the City of Pachuca in northern Mexico signed an agreement yesterday to form a partnership with the Taiwan Academy. Andrea Lee (李新穎), Taiwan’s representative to Mexico, and Humberto Veras Godoy, president of the university, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions. Taiwan is Mexico’s seventh-largest source of imports and its ninth-largest export trading partner, Lee said, adding that Taiwanese high-tech firms have invested over US$600 million and have created about 30,000 jobs in the country. In the field of education, Taiwan has been providing scholarships to more than 160 Mexican students each year allowing them to study in Taiwan, Lee added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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