■ Environment
Cyanide spill sickens scores
More than 100 people in Taichung County have been hospitalized after being poisoned by liquefied cyanide from an overturned truck, police said yesterday. Environmental officials feared the cyanide, which flowed into a nearby sewer, could create an ecological disaster when it streams into the sea through Taichung Harbor. Police said the accident took place Thursday afternoon after the truck got a flat tire and crashed. "The rear tire of the truck came off in front of the intersection of Lihai Road in Wuchi and overturned when the driver stepped on the brake," a police officer said. He said the tank holding 35 tonnes of liquefied cyanide came off from the truck and spilled all over the road. Doctors said nearby residents began to feel sick Thursday night and by yesterday morning more than 100 people had been hospitalized after breathing in air containing poisonous particles.
■ Crime
Bleaching bandit guilty
A Cameroonian, Mbwemo Franco, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to eight months in prison by the Taipei District Court, local media reported yesterday. Police said that Franco told a hotel owner, surnamed Cheng, that he was capable of bleaching black paper into US dollar bills. The Cameroonian then cheated Cheng of his money, claiming that he needed US$13,000 (about NT$452,500) to purchase special bleach in order to turn the paper into money for him. Cheng later changed his mind and called the police instead. Franco was arrested on the spot when he collected the money from the hotel owner. The Cameroonian will be deported from Taiwan after his sentence is completed.
■ Education
Fewer students going to US
The number of students pursuing education in the US hit a 10-year low last year at 13,767, a 7 percent decrease from the the 2001 level, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Education. Ministry statistics show that the number of students acquiring US study visas was 14,878 in 2001, also a decline from the 2000 level of 15,547. The noticeable falls might have something to do with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US, while the war in Iraq might have caused the situation to deteriorate further, ministry officials said. After the outbreak of the war, the Ministry asked Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices across the US to inform Taiwan's students there, or those who are planning to go there, of the heightened security alert. The situation might also be the result of a shift in interest among students to Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
■ Health
Tonnes of biowaste lost
KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (徐中雄) urged the government yesterday to step up measures to track medical waste, particularly in light of the severe acute respiratory disease (SARS) outbreak. Hsu made the remarks in a press conference held at the Legislative Yuan. Hsu said that the Department of Health has estimated that about 14,834 tonness of contagious medical waste was produced last year, but the Environmental Protection Administration could only account for 9,221 tonnes of it and therefore lost track of 40 percent of the total. However, Hsu said that academic circles and the private sector have estimated that the missing medical waste could reach as high as 9072 tonnes.
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,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS