SOCIETY
Gay union certificates issued
The Taipei City Government on Monday began issuing same-sex partnership certificates that allow gay couples to apply for family care leave and sign surgical or medical treatment consent forms for each other. The certificate evolved from an A4-sized official document that the Department of Civil Affairs began issuing on June 17 last year. After some people complained that the size of the document made it difficult to carry, the department created the certificate that is the same size as a personal ID card, it said. Taipei is the second city in the nation to issue same-sex partnership certificates, following Kaohsiung. According to Taipei City Government statistics, 272 couples applied for registration as of the end of last month. On Monday, seven couples applied for the new certificates, the department said.
CRIME
Alleged dog killers indicted
Kaohsiung district prosecutors yesterday indicted three soldiers on charges of violating the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) in connection with the killing of a dog in June that sparked a public uproar. The soldiers are Chen Yu-tsai (陳祐才), Chang Feng-yu (張峰瑜) and Hu Chia-wei (胡嘉瑋), who serve as military police at the Republic of China Marine Corps’ Air Defense Group. Chen allegedly instructed Chang to kill the dog because he did not want to see it again, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said. Chang and Hu put the dog on a chain leash, took it to an embankment and hit it with a wooden club, prosecutors said. After the animal lost consciousness, Hu pulled it down the embankment, hanged it to death and dumped the body into the sea, they said. The three recorded the killing on video, said the prosecutors, who asked the court to deliver an appropriate penalty. According to Article 25 of the act, people found guilty of killing a cat or dog without reason can face a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine between NT$100,000 and NT$1 million (US$3,097 and US$30,977). The incident caused an outcry after Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Hsin-yu (陳信瑜) posted the 80-second video on YouTube on June 26 and condemned the incident.
TRANSPORTATION
Renovated station to open
Badouzih Station (八斗子) on the border between New Taipei City and Keelung is to resume services on Saturday, the Taiwan Railways Administration said. The station overlooking the Pacific Ocean is an extension of Haikeguan Station (海科館) on the 4.7km Shenao Branch Line (深澳). To celebrate the reopening of the station, 1,000 commemorative ticket sets will go on sale at Ruifang Station (瑞芳) from 8:30am on Saturday, the administration said. The sets, which cost NT$100 each, consist of one round-trip ticket between Ruifang and Badouzih and one platform ticket for use at Badouzih, it said.
AVIATION
Battery warning issued
Placing lithium batteries in checked baggage might pose a flight safety hazard, the Aviation Safety Council said yesterday. About 150,000 pieces of checked luggage are found containing lithium battery packs during security checks in the nation’s airports each year, council director Huang Huang-hui (黃煌輝) said. If the batteries were to catch fire during flight, the consequences could be horrific, the council said, advising people to carry their lithium battery packs with them at all times.
HEALTH
Taoyuan urges vaccinations
Taoyuan’s Public Health Bureau advised elderly people and those in other high-risk groups to receive flu vaccinations as early as possible because infections tend to reach a peak in winter. On Tuesday last week a 49-year-old man in Taoyuan died of complications from type A (H3N2) influenza, in the city’s first fatal case of flu this year, the bureau said. The man, who was diabetic, developed flu symptoms on Nov. 26 and was rushed to a local hospital for emergency care after passing out at work two days later. The man had a poor record of controlling his diabetic condition and had never received a flu vaccine, the hospital said. Health authorities urged the city’s elderly people and children to take advantage of Taoyuan’s free flu vaccination program. The bureau advised those with chronic illnesses, including diabetes, heart and lung disease, or with a body.
HEALTH
Taoyuan urges vaccinations
Taoyuan’s Public Health Bureau advised elderly people and those in other high-risk groups to receive flu vaccinations as early as possible because infections tend to reach a peak in winter. On Tuesday last week a 49-year-old man in Taoyuan died of complications from type A (H3N2) influenza, in the city’s first fatal case of flu this year, the bureau said. The man, who was diabetic, developed flu symptoms on Nov. 26 and was rushed to a local hospital for emergency care after passing out at work two days later. The man had a poor record of controlling his diabetic condition and had never received a flu vaccine, the hospital said. Health authorities urged the city’s elderly people and children to take advantage of Taoyuan’s free flu vaccination program. The bureau advised those with chronic illnesses, including diabetes, heart and lung disease, or with a body mass index of more than 30 to get vaccinated, as they belong to high-risk groups.
SOCIETY
Festival uniforms unveiled
The Yunlin County Government on Monday unveiled the uniforms that will be worn by receptionists at next year’s Lantern Festival and showed off the results of its training of foreign-language guides. Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said that the receptionists and guides would mainly be students from three universities and several senior-high schools in the county. Guides speaking English, Japanese, Malay, Vietnamese and Thai will be available, the county government said. The uniform for female receptionists is a deep pink blouse and a purple skirt, while male receptionists are to wear black suits. They were designed by Yunlin-born fashion designer Goji Lin (林國基). The festival runs from Feb. 11 to Feb. 19 in Huwei (虎尾) and Beigang (北港) townships.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
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