WEATHER
CWB issues heat warning
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday issued a “yellow” heat warning — signifying temperatures of more than 36oC in a single day — for Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taitung County. Daytime temperatures in Taipei stayed high due to the city’s location in a basin where heat is not easily dispelled, the bureau said. A lack of conditions to disperse heat also resulted in high daytime temperatures in Kaohsiung, it said. As for Taitung, the high temperatures were caused by foehn winds, which are hot, dry and strong downslope winds. Elsewhere in the nation, daytime temperatures ranged between 32oC and 34oC yesterday, similar to the previous day.
SOCIETY
Thirty-seven win millions
Thirty-seven people became instant millionaires in the March-April uniform invoice lottery, 18 of whom won the NT$10 million (US$317,430) special prize, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The number of winners who won the special prize was the second-highest on record. The bimonthly uniform invoice lottery system is managed by the ministry to encourage consumers to collect their purchase receipts as part of government efforts to prevent tax evasion by retailers. The winning number for the NT$10 million special prize was 03802602 and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize was 00708299. Winners can claim their prizes from Thursday until Sept. 5, the ministry said.
TRANSPORT
TRA to sue train makers
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Sunday said that the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) would file lawsuits to seek restitution from Sumitomo Corp and Nappon Sharyo Ltd — the Japanese manufacturers of Taiwan’s Puyuma Express — for the derailment of the express train in Yilan last year, which killed 18 people and injured more than 200 people. After the deadly accident, the contractors first admitted that they had made mistakes in the maintenance manual for the express train, but now say it was TRA’s poor maintenance that led to the accident, Lin said. The TRA has detained a guarantee fund of NT$430 million that was supposed to be given to the contractors, Lin said, adding that the agency would file lawsuits if they still refuse to offer compensation through the negotiations.
TRANSPORT
Driver fatally hit by two cars
A driver who ran out of gas on a freeway in New Taipei City died after he was struck twice by passing vehicles after running to the middle of the road to seek help, police said. The incident took place in the early hours on Monday last week on the southbound section of the Wuyang Elevated Freeway, which connects the city’s Wugu District (五股) and Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅). Police said the driver stopped on the freeway shoulder after running out of gas and then ran to the middle of the road, into oncoming traffic, hoping to get help. His wife, who remained in the passenger seat, told police that her husband wanted to try and stop a passing vehicle to borrow some gas, after placing an emergency triangle behind his car. The man’s vehicle broke down at the 37.6km marker of the freeway. He was first struck by a car, thrown to the outer lane, and moments later, run over by another passing driver in a sports utility vehicle. Authorities said the man died of severe head injuries and multiple fractures.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
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