CRIME
Drug crackdowns bear fruit
The Taipei City Police Department’s increased efforts to combat illegal drugs are making great progress, with more cases resolved over the past two months, the Criminal Investigation Division said yesterday. The department launched two programs against illegal drugs in July and last month, which resulted in 1,805 drug-related cases and the arrest of 1,849 people for drug offenses, up 19.9 percent and 18.2 percent respectively from the same period last year, division anti-drugs center head Huang Ren-jian (黃壬鍵) said. With the help of big-data analytics, officers raided 91 hot spots known for drug crimes and conducted more inspections on roads frequented by people associated with drugs. A total of 263 spot checks were carried out over the period, leading to 823 cases and 831 arrests, the center said.
SOCIETY
Tsai visits injured soldier
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday visited Chin Liang-feng (秦良丰) at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei ahead of Armed Forces Day today. The paratrooper is recovering from critical injuries sustained in a May 17 drill rehearsal accident, and Tsai said that he has come a long way toward recovering and is in good spirits. The president posted photographs of her visit on Instagram and said that she hoped the 26-year-old would continue his rehabilitation efforts and would use his recovery period to enrich himself. Chin was badly injured after his parachute failed to fully open when he jumped from a C-130 plane at a height of 396m. He was in a coma for several days. Neurological surgery department head Chen Yuan-hao (陳元皓) on Aug. 16 said that that Chin had been moved from intensive care to a regular ward on Aug. 13 and had been doing well with rehabilitation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
TRAVEL
Airport MRT ranked fourth
Taiwan has the fourth-fastest connection between a major airport and commercial district in Asia, according to a list by Klook, a Hong Kong-based booking platform. It takes 1.2 minutes per kilometer to travel from the Taipei City Hall MRT Station to Taipei Main Station, transfer to the airport MRT line and arrive at the check-in counters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 1, Klook said on Friday. Malaysia topped the list with 0.53 minutes per kilometer from downtown to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, followed by South Korea, where it takes 0.9 minutes per kilometer to reach Incheon Airport from central Seoul. Hong Kong placed third, with Airport Express trains taking 1.18 minutes per kilometer to travel to Hong Kong International Airport, Klook said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Zhao wins best director
Myanmar-born Taiwanese director Midi Zhao (趙德胤) took home Best Director on Saturday night from the 58th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF) in Taipei for his drama The Road to Mandalay (再見瓦城). The Road to Mandalay is a story about two Burmese who flee their country’s civil war in search of a new life in Thailand. It premiered at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in 2016. Garth Davis’ Australian drama film Lion took home the festival’s biggest prize, Best Feature Film. Best Actress went to Hong Kong’s Teresa Mo (毛舜筠) for her role in Tomorrow Is Another Day (黃金花), while Amir Ali Danaei of Iran won Best Actor for his role in Appendix. Malaysian Dain Said’s 2016 fantasy-noir thriller Interchange won the Best Visual Effect.
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
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS