Cabinet bill seeks stiffer negligent homicide penalties
Cabinet bill seeks stiffer negligent homicide penaltiesBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft amendment that would stiffen penalties for offenders convicted of negligent homicide, amid controversy that Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), who was indicted after the Taroko Express derailment killed 49, might only face a five-year term. The punishments laid out in the law must be proportionate to the crimes committed, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a Cabinet meeting yesterday. The entrance to the Cingshuei Tunnel, the site of the Taroko Express derailment, is pictured in Hualien County on Sunday. The Cabinet’s draft amendment would change the sentence for a serious offense of negligent homicide to one to seven years in prison, while it would impose a prison sentence of 10 years to life for intentional homicide and a sentence of seven years to life for intentional injury. However, legal experts say that amendments cannot be applied retroactively, so Lee, if convicted of negligent homicide, would only receive a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Crafting a present from the past
“This setup lets viewers experience first-hand the challenges that traditional crafts face in the real world,” the placard reads. But there’s still some intriguing takeaways, especially the emphasis on preserving traditional crafts and promoting sustainability. A guanjiangshou temple troupe performer paints his face in the main exhibition of the Taiwan Creative Expo’s culture section. Photo: Han Cheung, Taipei TimesThere’s also a special zone for sustainable, recycled products, where I briefly chat with a vendor who has been making seed paper for about a decade. That also rings true for the traditional crafts.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Highways & Byways: Taiwan’s boozy past and present
Highways & Byways: Taiwan’s boozy past and presentThough Taiwanese aren’t great boozehounds like their neighbors Japan and South Korea, a drinking culture has existed since the Japanese colonial eraBy Steven Crook / Contributing reporterBy global standards, the Taiwanese aren’t great boozehounds. Yet, as a result of Japanese rule, former alcohol-production sites occupy prominent locations in some of Taiwan’s cities. Photo: Steven CrookThe best known of these places is Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文創產業園區), a repurposed winery in central Taipei where production was halted in 1987. Chiayi Cultural and Creative Industries Park (嘉義文創園區), also known as G9 Creative Park, occupies a complex that was founded in 1916 by Taisho Brewing Co, Ltd.Once a water tank, now an artist’s canvas, at G9 Creative Park. Photo: Steven CrookThe distillery was transferred from the private sector to the public sector in 1922, when Taiwan’s alcohol industry became a state-run monopoly.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Fukushima monitoring plans unveiled
The statement came after Japan on Tuesday last week announced that it plans to release processed wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into the ocean in several years. However, the council said that it had made preparations for such a move ahead of Tokyo’s announcement. Atomic Energy Council Minister Hsieh Shou-shing speaks in Taipei about the council’s plans to monitor Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Photo: Yang Mian-chieh, Taipei TimesFour years ago, its Radiation Monitoring Center was tasked with monitoring the waters, while a three-pronged strategy would be adopted in the future, the council said. In case the IAEA rejects Taiwan’s bid, he hopes that the agency would share data from its monitoring operations with the nation, Hsieh said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Man develops facial palsy after vaccination
Man develops facial palsy after vaccinationBy Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNAThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person developing facial palsy after receiving an AstraZeneca jab against COVID-19 on Wednesday. Citing insurance data, Chuang said that the rate of facial palsy occurring in individuals aged 18 to 49 was 55.31 per 100,000 per year. Academia Sinica President James Liao speaks at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei TimesPeople might experience facial palsy for reasons other than vaccinations, Chuang said. Later yesterday, Academia Sinica issued a notice saying that Liao would receive his vaccine shot at the Taipei City Hospital’s branch in Nangang District (南港) today.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Precinct row shakes command chain
The incident, which was reportedly covered up at first, was said to begin as a street quarrel between the young men and Yang Chung-li (楊忠蒞), 49, the physical training instructor at the precinct. Media reports said that on Thursday last week, an off-duty Yang was having dinner and drinks with friends until 2am, when he took a taxi back to his precinct office. The entrance to the Taipei Police Department’s Songshan Precinct is pictured yesterday. Video footage shows the young men running after Yang and chasing him right into the precinct. There were allegations that Precinct Chief Lin Chih-cheng (林志誠) at first tried to cover up the incident by not reporting the intrusion or the damage.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
AIT inaugurates new residence for employees
AIT inaugurates new residence for employeesBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterAmerican Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen on Wednesday cut the ribbon for a new residential building for the institute’s employees, saying that the new facility is an important symbol of Taiwan-US friendship. The Tianmei building in Taipei’s Tianmu (天母) area is the “first purpose-built facility in Taiwan to house employees of a foreign office,” the AIT wrote on Facebook yesterday. American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen, second left, cuts ribbon for a new residential building for the institute’s employees in Taipei’s Tianmu area on Wednesday. Photo: Screen grab from American Institute in Taiwan’s Facebook pageThe building “underscores our message of commitment and purpose, but also of US-Taiwan friendship,” Christensen said. Having been in Taiwan for 42 years, the US representative office has over the past few years moved from renting to purchasing properties, it reported.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Many aim to form travel bubbles with Taiwan: bureau
Many aim to form travel bubbles with Taiwan: bureauBy Shelley Shan / Staff reporterMore countries and territories are interested in forming “travel bubbles” with Taiwan, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday. Yesterday, bureau Director-General Chang Hsi-chung (張錫聰) told reporters on the sidelines of a committee meeting that more nations are seeking to ink “travel bubble” agreements with Taiwan. Guam, Hawaii, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have been enthusiastic about establishing a travel corridor with Taiwan, Chang said. Foreigners with Alien Resident Certificates or Alien Permanent Resident Certificates can also book the Palau tours, the bureau said. Regarding a “travel bubble” agreement with Singapore, Singapore Airlines general manager in Taiwan Chua Kian-hwa (蔡建華) told reporters that the airline is waiting for further instructions from the Singaporean and Taiwanese governments.
Source:Taipei Times
April 22, 2021 15:56 UTC
Environmental Impact Assessment: Back to black
If I was serious about reducing my environmental impact, a friend teased, I should be putting soy milk, not cow’s milk, in my drink. What little soybean oil was produced was burned in lamps, or blended with more popular cooking oils, such as peanut or rapeseed oil. Despite old folks complaining that cooking with soybean oil made their stoves not merely greasy, but actually so sticky that only strong detergents could remove the glue-like gunk, the low price of soybean oil has ensured its popularity ever since. Yet, liter for liter, it’s responsible for barely a third of the carbon emissions generated by cow’s milk. Soymilk bottlers also add calcium and vitamins to make up for its deficiencies compared to cow’s milk.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
Vaccination of all cattle to be finished next week: COA
Vaccination of all cattle to be finished next week: COAStaff writer, with CNAAll cattle in the nation are to be vaccinated against lumpy skin disease by next week, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said on Monday. Eight beef cattle infected with the disease were discovered on a farm in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) on Thursday — a first for Taiwan proper. The annual output value of the nation’s beef and dairy cattle industry is about NT$14 billion (US$497.5 million), the council said. Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that affects cattle and buffalo. It was detected for the first time in Taiwan in the island county of Kinmen in July last year, which led to the vaccination of all of the roughly 6,200 cattle there.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
Export orders set a new March record
In addition, export orders last month increased for a fifth straight month of double-digit percentage growth to set a record for the month of March, ministry data showed. Department of Statistics Director Huang Yu-ling speaks to reporters in Taipei on May 20 last year. Export orders grew year-on-year for the 13th consecutive month last month totaling US$53.66 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported yesterday. Photo: Huang Pei-chun, Taipei TimesMonths when export orders surpass US$50 billion — which happened for the first time in September last year — might become the “new normal,” Huang said. “I’m not saying that it is going to happen every single month, but we can expect more and more months when export orders do break US$50 million,” she said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
Europe office touts Taiwan’s role
Europe office touts Taiwan’s role‘TSMC-PLUS’: Filip Grzegorzewski said that the nation plays a key role in global supply chains and has more to offer in terms of manufacturing than TSMC aloneBy Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporterTaiwan plays a key part in global supply chains, but it has many things to offer in addition to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Head of Office Filip Grzegorzewski told a news briefing yesterday. Grzegorzewski made the remarks after the European Council on Monday released the EU’s Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Head of Office Filip Grzegorzewski speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “The EU will strengthen cooperation with certain partners on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, maritime security and crisis management,” it said. Many countries have unveiled policy programs targeting the Indo-Pacific region, including France in 2018, and Germany and the Netherlands last year, Grzegorzewski said in Taipei.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
New agency to oversee mobilization of reserves
New agency to oversee mobilization of reservesRESTRUCTURING: The All-out Defense Mobilization Office and the Armed Forces Reserve Command are to be folded into a ‘defense reserve mobilization agency’Staff writer, with CNAThe military is to form a new reserve mobilization agency while expanding the scope of civilian forces that can be mobilized as part of its efforts to bolster the nation’s reserve forces amid increasing threats from China, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The ministry would integrate two existing military agencies — the All-out Defense Mobilization Office and the Armed Forces Reserve Command — into a “defense reserve mobilization agency” by January next year, the report said. The act forms the legal basis for the defense ministry to mobilize civilian forces. It defines volunteers the defense ministry can mobilize in case of need as volunteer police officers and volunteer firefighters. The defense ministry in February said that starting next year, it would introduce new rules governing the call-up of reservists to improve their combat readiness.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
Ko Wen-je says Taipei’s street names need change
Ko Wen-je says Taipei’s street names need changeBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterTaipei’s street names should reflect a “Taiwanese spirit,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said in an online video released yesterday, in which he asked why many of them are named after locations in China. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. “For Taiwanese who grew up on this piece of land, it is really confusing that the street names refer to Chinese cities,” he said. Changing street names is important, so perhaps a “street name rectification” platform would allow people from across political lines to discuss the issue and propose names that represent the “Taiwanese spirit,” he said. Then Taipei residents would have street names that represent them better, Ko said.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC
Nanya to invest NT$300bn for new 12-inch fab
Nanya to invest NT$300bn for new 12-inch fabBy Lisa Wang / Staff reporterDRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said it plans to invest about NT$300 billion (US$10.66 billion) to build a 12-inch fab to produce 10-nanometer chips, as demand for memory chips for 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and consumer electronics applications soars. Nanya Technology last invested about NT$200 billion for its process technology migration from 30 nanometers to 20 nanometers and 10 nanometers. Nanya Technology expects its output for this year to be flat or to increase slightly from last year, after an annual expansion of 35 percent last year. With the introduction of more advanced technologies, the new fab would help Nanya Technology broaden its product portfolio and expand its customer base from about 800, Lee said. Nanya Technology had joined forces with major DRAM chipmakers, including Micron Technology Inc, to develop new-generation process technologies.
Source:Taipei Times
April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC