Taipei’s Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) yesterday became the first night market in the city to ban smoking.
Volunteers holding poster-boards stood guard at the night market’s entrances, with anti-smoking emblems plastered on the market’s stalls and tables, and banners hanging strategically along its length.
“The night market is an open public space and we hope as many people as possible can enjoy it,” Ningxia Night Market Tourism Association director Lin Ting-kuo (林定國) said. “We shouldn’t allow a small number of smokers to influence the majority of our customers.”
The move is part of a broader city policy to ban smoking in public spaces and constrict it to designated areas, Taipei Department of Health Commissioner Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) said.
Taipei’s Department of Information and Tourism commissioner Sun Ting-long (孫廷龍) said the ban is just the latest in a series of policies that are setting Ningxia Night Market apart from the capital’s other night markets.
In addition, the suppliers of vendors and the nutritional information of food sold can be viewed by scanning QR codes printed on vendor stalls, he said.
According to the association, the smoking ban will be enforced from 6pm to midnight, with violators fined a minimum of NT$2,000.
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
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
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
RSS