SOCIETY
Elevator safety to be tested
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday said that he would order a third-party review of two incidents last week in which city government-operated elevators malfunctioned after undergoing maintenance. The first of the incidents occurred on Tuesday last week, when the cable of an elevator at the New Taipei City Funeral Parlor snapped, causing it to drop from the building’s second floor, injuring three workers inside. The second incident occurred on Sunday when a pedestrian overpass elevator near New Taipei City Hall Square malfunctioned and fell from the second floor. A woman in the elevator broke her foot, while her eight-year-old nephew was treated for lacerations. Hou said safety inspections would be conducted on all elevators operated by the city government within the next two months. The city government would also cover the medical expenses of those hurt in the accidents and help them seek financial compensation once legal responsibility for the failures has been determined, he added.
MILITARY
Air drills postponed
The air force’s annual Tien Lung, or “Sky Dragon,” aerial exercises that were originally scheduled to begin yesterday and last five days have been postponed to next month due to poor weather conditions. The drills aimed at testing pilots’ air-to-air, air-to-sea and air-to-ground combat skills in the air force’s backbone fighters — F-16Vs, Mirage 2000-5s and Indigenous Defense Fighters — are rescheduled to Monday next week to Friday, a military source said.
CRIME
Taichung driver detained
The Taichung District Court yesterday approved the detention of an 18-year-old unlicensed driver who police suspect was driving under the influence of drugs in an alleged hit-and-run incident on Sunday morning that left one person dead. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a call at 9:05am reporting that somebody had been struck by a vehicle in the city’s Beitun District (北屯). Emergency personnel arrived at the scene to find a male, aged about 60, in a state of cardiac arrest. Efforts to save him failed and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The driver allegedly fled the scene of the incident and was arrested about 15 minutes later after he crashed his car into a power distribution box, police said. The driver, surnamed Pai (白), told the police he was not aware that he had hit a man. He did not have a driver’s license, but was driving a BMW sedan which he said had been rented by a family member, the police said. Pai initially passed a breath alcohol test, but during questioning admitted to taking ketamine the day before, the police said.
FOOD SAFETY
Mushrooms to be destroyed
A batch of mushrooms imported from China was among foods that were recently ordered to be destroyed for containing excessive levels of heavy metal, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. The imported mushroom samples were among 224 products picked for testing across Taiwan from July to last month and were found to contain an average of 7mg of cadmium per kilogram, more than the threshold of 2mg per kilogram. The agency said the mushroom sample collected was sold at local hot pot chain Top One Pot’s Tainan branch, which was instructed to remove the product from its menu. The mushrooms from the same batch were ordered to be destroyed, it said.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS