TRANSPORTATION
‘Road smoking’ fines start
People who smoke while driving or riding a motorcycle may be fined NT$600 beginning today, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The fine is to be applied when a complaint is filed against a motorist for smoking and potentially endangering public safety. Smoking while driving or riding a motorcycle endangers the safety of other road users because cigarette butts or ashes can fly in the wind and burn or affect other road users, and smoke can also affect motorists’ ability to see, the ministry said. In principle, the law has set the range of the potentially dangerous effects of cigarette smoking at 3.5m, but if people who file complaints can prove they were affected beyond this distance, the smoking motorists would be fined, it said.
TRANSPORTATION
THSRC details new service
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THRSC) yesterday said that the introduction of three new stations on its transportation route later this year will not slow down train services, since a new service is to be added. At a stockholders’ meeting, THSRC chief executive Jeng Kuang-yeun (鄭光遠) said that when the stations in Miaoli, Changhua and Yunlin counties are opened on Dec. 1, the company would start a new service between Taipei and Kaohsiung, with stops at all stations on the route, including the new ones. That route would take 138 minutes, while existing express and regular trains would continue to operate, taking 96 and 120 minutes respectively between Taipei and Kaohsiung, he said. The express usually makes two stops along the way, in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and Taichung, while the regular service stops at all six stations. With the introduction of a third service operating at least one train per hour, trains would stop at all nine stations, Jeng said.
TRANSPORTATION
NCKU touts eco two-seater
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) yesterday unveiled the nation’s first home-grown electric vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries. The university said it has applied for patent protection and is prepared to transfer the technology to a vehicle manufacturer and bring the product to the market. According to Lai Wei-hsiang (賴維祥), director of NCKU’s Advanced Propulsion and Power System Research Center, lithium batteries can provide high power output, while hydrogen-powered fuel cells can supplement power and supply stable electricity. He said the vehicle has a range of 150km and does not generate any carbon emissions. Europe, the US and Japan have launched fuel cell electric vehicles on the market, but while those are four-seat models, NCKU’s offering is a two-seater.
SOCIETY
Equality march on Saturday
The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights on Monday said that it would hold a protest march on Saturday to fight for marriage equality. The alliance decided to hold the march after the US Supreme Court on Friday ruled that same-sex marriage was legal. On Saturday, the protesters plan to march to the headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei to demand that the parties include a marriage equality bill in the final session of this legislature, the alliance said. The alliance said it would not rule out taking more drastic action if the move fails.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by