TRAFFIC
Scooter exams expanded
People with vehicle licenses who wish to obtain a scooter license would from May 3 no longer be allowed to skip the written test, the Directorate-General of Highways announced on Thursday. The regulation also applies to light and heavy motorcycles, it said. Currently, holders of vehicle licenses can skip the written test and obtain a scooter license after a road test, which is usually conducted on a closed road. They were exempted because the questions in the tests for different licenses are similar, the agency said. The level of difficulty for scooter exams has also been raised, as part of the government’s effort to reduce motorcycle crashes, it said, adding that more situational questions have been added to differentiate the exam from other licensing tests. About 260,000 people apply for scooter licenses in Taiwan every year, and 50,000 of them already hold other licenses, agency statistics showed.
CULTURE
Ang Lee to get fellowship
Film director Ang Lee (李安) is to become the third Asian ever to receive a fellowship at the British Academy Film Awards tomorrow, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced on Tuesday. “Lee is one of the world’s most pioneering and revered contemporary filmmakers whose groundbreaking films are highly acclaimed spanning multiple genres throughout his producing, writing and directing career,” the academy said on its Web site. Lee has won several BAFTA awards for his movies Sense and Sensibility; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and Brokeback Mountain. He also won the award in the best director category at the Oscars for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi. Lee said that “it’s a tremendous honor to receive the BAFTA Academy Fellowship and be counted among such brilliant filmmakers,” who have previously been awarded the fellowship.
SOCIETY
Agency promotes trails
The Forestry Bureau has selected three of the about 130 trails it operates — the Cypress Forest Trail in the Taipingshan (太平山) area, the Tefuye Historic Trail in the Alishan (阿里山) area and the Nenggao Cross-Ridge Old Trail in Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園) — for special promotion, the bureau said at an event last week. “These trails are unique and represent different challenges, which we think will meet the interests of different hikers,” bureau General Secretary Lin Hao-chen (林澔貞) said. Some other remarkable trails are eco-craft trails, which are built with on-site materials and maintained using techniques that minimize effects on the environment, she added. The Taiwan Thousand Miles Trail Association, which shared its knowledge of local eco-craft trails with bureau officials, said it would work with the bureau to promote the techniques in other countries.
DEFENSE
Navy expects gun system
The navy expects the delivery of 13 sets of the MK15 Block 1B Phalanx advanced radar-controlled gun system from the US in the first half of this year, military sources said on Thursday, citing a delivery notification. The guns would be mounted on ships that are mostly equipped with the outdated Block 1A Phalanx systems, the sources said. The Ministry of National Defense has said that the new system is for short-range defense against small ships or missiles. It features a 20mm cannon with a rotating cluster of six barrels that can fire 4,500 rounds per minute and has a range of 1.5km. It is also equipped with radar and an infrared sensor.
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
ASEAN BATTLEGROUND: Japan and Australia could be drawn into Pacific tensions as China sets its sights on the Diaoyutai Islands and further beyond the first island chain Tensions between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to intensify, the National Security Bureau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, recommending that Taiwan continue to emphasize its shared values and interests to encourage resistance to Chinese aggression. US commitments in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to continue unabated despite the war in Ukraine, as Beijing takes advantage of the conflict to expand its influence in the region, the agencies said in reports delivered to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Sunday, ahead of a hearing yesterday on regional developments and trends. Although Russia’s invasion of
ONLINE REPORT: Confirmed cases filling out the online contact tracing report can check a box to indicate that a close contact had received a booster dose, an official said The guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 have been revised to include people aged 65 or older who test positive with a rapid test that is confirmed by a healthcare worker, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 65,794 new local infections. The CECC had first announced the change on Monday, before publishing the new guidelines. Starting today, people aged 65 or older, regardless of whether they are undergoing home quarantine, home isolation or self-disease prevention, can be classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case by a healthcare professional, based on a positive result from an antigen rapid test, said
INFLUENCERS: The Chinese Communist Party uses social media to paint itself in a positive light, while promoting historical ties between Taiwan and China Government agencies are considering measures to counter China’s use of Taiwanese Internet celebrities to conduct “cognitive warfare” campaigns in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. China has trained local Internet celebrities to help it spread propaganda as part of its “united front” efforts against Taiwan, the source said, adding that Beijing was also using TikTok, a Pinterest-like app called Xiaohongshu (also known as Little Red Book) and other social media to influence young Taiwanese. Citing the Mainland Affairs Council, the source said that officials had warned people cooperating with China that they could face fines or other punishments. Stipulations under the Act Governing Relations
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