TRANSPORTATION
MRT to offer discounts
Passengers traveling to and from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport who transfer between the MRT Circular Line and the Taoyuan Airport MRT line would be given a 20 percent discount on their fares starting on Thursday, when national borders are to reopen, Taoyuan Metro Corp said. The promotion is to run until Nov. 12. It would apply to passengers transferring at New Taipei Industrial Park Station, where the two lines intersect, the company said. Express train services would also resume on weekends and during weekday off-peak hours beginning on Thursday, it said last week, adding that express trains would depart at 30-minute intervals. During peak hours, trains would depart at 15-minute intervals, it added.
CRIME
Six held over altercation
Taitung County police on Saturday took six people into custody over an attack at a restaurant that stemmed from an earlier traffic dispute. Police said that a tourist, surnamed Chien (簡), and an Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) resident, surnamed Shih (施), got into an altercation in front of an elementary school at about 11am due to a traffic dispute. Chinese-language media reported that Chien allegedly threatened Shih with a knife before the two left the scene. Following the incident, a group of local residents surrounded a restaurant where Chien was believed to be and demanded that staff hand him over, a video showed. The group then stormed the restaurant and attacked an unidentified man, and injured a tourist, surnamed Huang (黃), the Taitung Police Precinct said in a statement.
SOCIETY
Rules to cover restrooms
A new regulation in Taipei is to ensure that public restrooms are safe, clean and user-friendly, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said on Friday. The new rules are to take effect on Wednesday. They would cover 13 types of public or private areas, including parks, convenience stores, gas stations, chain restaurants, tourist spots, hospitals and government agencies, the department said. Agencies responsible for restrooms would be required to keep the facilities clean and functional, and provide basic supplies, including tissue paper, toilet seat disinfectant wipes, shelves or hooks, soap hangers or dispensers, and an alarm system for use in an emergency, it said. The regulation has a one-year grace period for administrative agencies to make sure the necessary equipment is installed in the restrooms, which can be extended for a second year if approved by the department, it added.
SOCIETY
Events to mark Girls’ Day
Educational events are to be launched to celebrate the 10th Taiwan Girls’ Day, the Gender Equality Commission said on Saturday. An exhibition featuring works by Asali Sun (孫傳莉) would run from Saturday to Oct. 31 at the National Taitung Living Art Center, the commission said. The National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra is to hold a concert honoring women, while the Taiwan Women’s Film Association, the Ministry of Education and other sponsors would present films on gender equality and feminism at this year’s Women Makes Waves International Film Festival from Friday to Oct. 23, the commission said. Nineteen local governments are to hold events, including fun runs, markets and gender equality workshops, to mark Taiwan Girls’ Day, it said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
China’s newest Type-076 amphibious assault ship has two strengths and weaknesses, wrote a Taiwanese defense expert, adding that further observations of its capabilities are warranted. Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), an assistant researcher at the National Defense and Security Research, made the comments in a report recently published by the institute about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military and political development. China christened its new assault ship Sichuan in a ceremony on Dec. 27 last year at Shanghai’s Hudong Shipyard, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. “The vessel, described as the world’s largest amphibious assault ship by the [US think tank] Center for Strategic and International
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