Although cigarette sales were reduced by 13 percent last year, some indoor establishments, particularly Internet cafes, still need to improve their anti-smoking efforts, an anti-smoking group said yesterday.
Yau Sea-wain (姚思遠), president of the John Tung Foundation, said that while the problem of secondhand smoke had been curtailed since a smoking ban targeting indoor public spaces and workplaces took effect in January 2008, the foundation still reported 1,043 violations of the ban over the past year.
Of those violations, cases involving Internet cafes topped all other indoor establishments or workplaces, Yau said.
You Po-tsun (游伯村), a Bureau of Health Promotion official in charge of public health education, said a survey based on 650,000 visits by local health bureaus to indoor public areas over the past year had confirmed a decline in both smoking and secondhand smoke.
The survey found secondhand smoke in public transportation facilities and indoor establishments, including roofed transportation stations, KTVs, Internet cafes and comic-book stores, had dropped 50 percent, while household secondhand smoke fell by more than 20 percent.
Citing a Bureau of Health Promotion estimate, You said 1.18 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in Taiwan last year, down 13 percent from 1.36 billion in 2008.
Major violations of the public smoking ban over the past year included a Kaohsiung company selling cigarette packs containing promotional picture cards, which drew a fine of NT$5.2 million, and a person in Tainan selling cigarettes online, which drew a fine of NT$8 million.
A Taipei night club was fined NT$5 million for promoting cigarettes on its premises, the Bureau of Health Promotion said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
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