SOCIETY
Cecilia Koo retracts request
Former National Women’s League chairwoman Cecilia Koo (辜嚴倬雲) yesterday unexpectedly retracted her request that the Taipei High Administrative Court halt the execution of a Ministry of the Interior order on Friday last week to remove her from the organization’s leadership. The ministry issued the order after the league failed to sign an agreement that would have required it to undergo drastic structural reforms. Koo’s decision came only one day after she said in a statement that she would take legal action against the ministry. “The purpose of the request was to defend the league’s reputation and legal rights, and to protect it from further defamation,” said Koo’s attorney, Chen Pei-chen (陳佩貞). As the public apparently has a different interpretation of Koo’s intent for filing the request, she decided to retract it, Chen said. “Koo thinks it is comforting that the league is now headed by its new chairwoman, Joanna Lei (雷倩),” Chen said.
SOCIETY
Anger at legislators: poll
The word nu (怒, anger) received the most votes in Citizen Congress Watch’s annual poll for one Chinese character that is most representative of the public’s perception of the legislature’s performance over the past year. In a demonstration of the public’s anger, the group yesterday posted the character on the front door of a building in the legislative complex in Taipei. Nao (鬧, ruckus) and wan (彎, curved or a policy U-turn) finished in second and third place respectively. However, nu far outstripped the other choices from the start, receiving a total of 229 votes, while nao received 149 and wan 145. A total of 1,021 people chose one character out of a pool of 20 in the poll, which was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 14.
TRANSPORTATION
City to share data with oBike
The Taipei Department of Information and Technology yesterday said it would allow Singaporean firm oBike to use the city’s public information platform to locate bicycle parking zones. The platform, called Data Taipei, includes live GPS tracking of buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, the estimated time of arrival for trains at MRT stations and passive data regarding traffic conditions, department Director Chen Wei-yi (陳崴逸) said. Maps of bicycle parking zones are to be converted into a geographical data file format and uploaded to public domains, Chen said, adding that such maps, when used in tandem with oBike’s mobile app, could help ameliorate the problem of oBikes being left everywhere in the city.
CRIME
Court boosts punishments
The Taiwan High Court yesterday handed down heavier punishments for 33 defendants in the second ruling of the beating death of off-duty police detective Hsueh Chen-kuo (薛貞國) at a Taipei nightclub in 2014, while 35 other defendants received either lighter or identical sentences. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office had asked that participants in Hsueh’s beating be charged with murder, but the collegiate bench found they had no motive to murder him, court spokesman Chou Ying-wen (周盈文) said. As the defendants did not mean to kill Hsueh, the incident could only be considered involuntary manslaughter, the bench said. Of the 68 defendants, 40 were sentenced to between seven and 13 years in prison, including Tseng Wei-hao (曾威豪), the instigator of the incident, Chou said, adding that they can still appeal the ruling. The remaining 28, who were charged with complicity to involuntary manslaughter, received jail terms of two to seven months, he said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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