SOCIETY
Car crash kills four
Four people were killed after their car crashed into a residential construction site at the intersection of Hsinchu City’s Jingguo Road and Dongda Road at about 2am yesterday, city authorities said. The Hsinchu City Fire Bureau said it received an emergency call at about 3am and sent about 20 firefighters to the scene. When they arrived, they found the car badly mangled, with two men dead. Two others were unconscious and in a critical condition, and were taken to the hospital, but later died, the bureau said. Two of the four people were likely younger than 18, it added. The Hsinchu City Police Bureau said that the fifth person in the car, a man surnamed Hsieh (謝), left the scene after the crash. Police tracked down Hsieh, 15, at about 11am and tested him for alcohol, which came back negative. Police did not offer any other details related to the accident and said it referred the case to the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office and the district’s juvenile court division for investigation.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu City Fire Bureau
TRAVEL
Man with meat buns fined
A Chinese man entering Kinmen County with his family on Friday was stopped at customs for carrying six pork floss buns and fined NT$200,000. The man, surnamed Dong (董), refused to pay the fine and was deported. He has been banned from entering Taiwan for five years unless he settles the fine. Quarantine officers found that Dong had pork floss buns and fined him in accordance with the Act on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (動物傳染病防治條例), customs officials said. Witnesses said that Dong and his family considered eating the buns on the spot, but as the six buns likely weighed more than 1kg, they would still not have avoided the fine. When the family refused to pay the fine, quarantine officers handed them over to the National Immigration Agency (NIA), who deported Dong in accordance with the law. Bringing pork products into Taiwan is prohibited, as they carry a high risk of spreading animal diseases. The NIA could also ban someone from entering Taiwan for up to five years for carrying meat products, in accordance with the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法).
MIGRANTS
Protect undocumented kids
Taiwan must do more to protect the rights of undocumented children whose migrant parents disappear or lose their legal status in Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Yue-chin (林月琴) said on Saturday. There are about 850 unregistered births by migrant workers who lost their legal status in Taiwan, Lin said, citing government statistics. The majority of those workers are women who became pregnant during their employment in Taiwan and had to abandon their contracts, sever ties or disappear from public records, she said. Children who are not included in the nation’s household registration system would be deprived of important rights and benefits, Lin said. Last year, the government naturalized 19 previously documented children and recognized another 24 as stateless residents of the nation, she added. The Chou Ta-kuang Cultural and Educational Foundation, citing the National Immigration Agency, said that 7,929 children were born to foreign nationals on Taiwanese soil, of which 25 percent were not registered with authorities. Since illegal immigrants could give birth in unlicensed clinics or at home without leaving any records, the real number of “nameless” children remains unknown, it said, adding that the highest estimate is 50,000.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
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