■ AVIATION
Luggage system fails
More than 100 pieces of luggage did not reach their destination on time because of a technical problem at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s baggage-handling system, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said yesterday. Director of the Taoyuan International Airport Office Lee Tsan-huang (李燦煌) said the system was purchased in 2000. The failure was the result of a broken part in the conveyor belt, he said. Lee said the airport quickly increased ground personnel to help handle luggage after the problem was reported at 8am, which delayed a flight to Shanghai. Meanwhile, some passengers on China Airlines (中華航空) and EVA Airways (長榮航空) flights were asked to pick up their luggage later this week. Normal operations resumed at about 10am, Lee said.
■ JOURNALISM
ATJ in financial crisis
With only NT$749 (US$22) in its bank account and unable to pay its two employees this month, the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) is now facing its severest crisis since its creation 13 years ago, the association said. ATJ secretary-general Liu Chia-yun (劉嘉韻) said annual operational costs were about NT$3 million (US$91,000), including the publication of the Eyewitness bimonthly magazine. However, the membership fee paid by its 300 members adds up to NT$300,000 — 30 percent of which has to be deposited into the ATJ’s journalist protection fund. National Taiwan University journalism professor Chang Chin-hua (張錦華) said the ATJ was the only journalist organization in the country, and that it often reminds journalists of ethics while serving as a defender of journalists’ rights against political interference. She called on the public to help the ATJ.
■ EDUCATION
Free essay-writing test
The Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, an organization funded by the Ministry of Education, will offer an online Mandarin essay-writing test with feedback free of charge, the committee said yesterday. People interested in taking the test will be required to type their essays using Mandarin phonetic symbols or Hanyu pinyin, the committee said. The test runs through the end of this month. More information is available www.sc-top.org.tw/index.php.
■ DIPLOMACY
Solomons official expelled
A senior Solomons government official on a training course in Taiwan has been sent home in disgrace after allegedly attacking three Taiwanese policemen, an official and a newspaper said yesterday. William Marau of the Solomon Islands foreign ministry is said to have attacked the officers when they intervened as he argued with an assistant in a Taipei grocery store on Nov. 16, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported. Marau was brought to a nearby police station in handcuffs, it said, adding that he apologized to the policemen the next day, claiming he was drunk. The official was fined by a Taipei district court and sent back to his country, the paper said. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official confirmed the report, but played down its significance. “The matter is finished. After all he apologized,” she said on condition of anonymity. The Solomon Islands are among 23 countries that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS