TRANSPORTATION
Signal fault delays trains
More than 1,000 rail passengers were delayed yesterday morning because a switch signal near Taipei Railway Station went out of order. The incident, which was reported at 6:40am, forced the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) to run trains between Taipei and Songshan (松山) stations on just a single track. The agency said the switch was located on underground track near Taipei Railway Station, adding it was difficult for its maintenance crew to repair the signaling system because the light inside the tunnel was dim and the switch’s connecting rod was at the lowest point of the railway track. The agency said it decided to replace the connecting rod. The maintenance crew also discovered by using magnifiers that there were cracks on the weld points on the connecting rod, which were believed to have been caused by natural degradation of the parts. Two-way operation on the line between Taipei and Songshan stations was resumed by 8:03am. The incident delayed 11 trains and affected 1,050 passengers.
AGRICULTURE
Chiayi man is ‘banana king’
A Chiayi County banana grower won the title of “banana king” yesterday for his ability to grow high-quality bananas. Liu Jui-yuan (劉瑞源), who has been growing the fruit for about half a century, was named champion in a contest organized by the Jhuci Township (竹崎) Office. More than 40 growers participated in the contest. Liu bags his bananas as they grow to protect them from insects rather than use pesticides. He also credits his use of soybeans as fertilizer for his exceptionally sweet and tasty bananas. Lin Chien-ming (林建明) and Chiu Chuang-ta (邱創達) took second and third places respectively in the contest. Each hand of bananas weighed more than 20kg. The heaviest was 42.5kg. Experts determined the winning fruit by evaluating their appearance, weight, aroma, color, taste and sweetness.
SOCIETY
Divorce statistics released
Thirty percent of the couples that divorced last year had been married for less than five years, according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior on Saturday. The statistics show that 53,599 couples divorced last year, down 4 percent from the previous year. The ministry said that those who had been married for less than five years accounted for the most divorces, at 30.6 percent, followed by those who had been married between five and nine years (24.4 percent). The number of divorces decreased with the increased number of years married, the statistics showed. The ministry said that between 1998 and 2001, an average of 50,567 couples divorced per year. Between 2002 and 2006, the number increased to 63,230 couples, but between 2007 and last year, the number dropped to 56,612.
SPORTS
Lin attends Taoyuan camp
Taiwanese-American NBA star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) attended a basketball camp sponsored by China Airlines in Taoyuan County yesterday to play basketball and share his experiences with children. Lin, who was recently traded by the Houston Rockets to the Los Angeles Lakers, spent one hour as a special coach with 30 students from Jong Jen Elementary School and Kuihui Elementary School, including players who won the national Youth Basketball Championship last year. Lin also answered questions from the children about his experiences in the NBA. Lin is scheduled to participate in a program for GOOD TV and other PR events this week.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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