CRIME
Man sentenced for attack
A man who assaulted a station master at a Kaohsiung MRT station in August last year after being asked to refrain from smoking was sentenced to three months in jail, the Kaohsiung District Court ruled. According to court documents, it ruled in November that the 56-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), displayed a lack of respect for public authority by assaulting the station master, a woman surnamed Wang (王), who was carrying out her duties as a public servant. The incident happened at the Kaohsiung International Airport Station on Aug. 22 last year when Wang asked Chen to not smoke on the platform. In response, Chen physically attacked Wang, causing injuries to her head, face and left arm. Local law enforcement arrested Chen after being notified of the incident, and following an interrogation, Kaohsiung prosecutors indicted him on charges of causing injury to another individual. The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp through its lawyers said that the violent attack had imposed mental stress on the staff. It said that Chen’s actions were not only disrespectful of public authority, but also posed a threat to social order and eroded public confidence in using the MRT. Chen later acknowledged his wrongdoing and the court sentenced him to three months in jail, which can be commuted to a fine. The ruling is subject to appeal.
CRIME
Aaron Yan’s request denied
The Shilin District Court has dismissed a motion by Taiwanese actor and singer Aaron Yan (炎亞綸) to remove a travel ban that was imposed after he was indicted in November last year on charges of filming and leaking intimate videos of a minor. The court said that the prohibition on Yan, which is in place until Feb. 25, is an appropriate security measure and that his rights to live and work in Taiwan had not been affected. Yan is a suspect in a serious crime, and he is required to be present in court to confirm facts and evidence, the court ruled. It also said that as a well-known celebrity who could work overseas, Yan clearly had the financial means to live abroad, and given those factors, the court dismissed the motion. Yan also asked the court to order the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reverse its decision not to approve the renewal of his passport while the travel ban was in place. The court rejected the request, saying Yan could file an administrative appeal against the ministry. Yan’s recent appeal came due to his overseas jobs scheduled this month, and he said that he did not pose a flight risk as he was not a foreign national, has a permanent residence in Taiwan and was cooperating with the investigation, according to the district court. Yan also said he needed to work overseas to make a living and save to settle this case and to donate to charity, according to the district court. The ruling can be appealed.
SOCIETY
Woman contacts Osaka office
Taiwan’s representative office in Osaka is assisting a Taiwanese woman who requested help after her home lost electricity and water in the wake of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit central Japan on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said the woman called the Osaka office after moving to a shelter established by the local government. The ministry said that Taiwanese in Japan can contact Taiwan’s main representative office in Tokyo at +81-80-1009-7179 or its Osaka branch office at +81-90-8794-4568 if they need any assistance.
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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