TRAFFIC
Man hit by tour bus dies
A 92-year-old man has died after being struck by a tour bus as he legally crossed an intersection in Hualien on Saturday, local authorities said. The accident occurred as the man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was crossing Huadao Road at its intersection with Jhongmei Road in Hualien City at about 8am, the Hualien County Police Bureau said, adding that as Hsieh was crossing, a tour bus moving in the same direction made a left turn on a green light and hit him. Hsieh sustained brain bleeding and broken ribs from the impact, and at one point lost vital signs, the Hualien County Fire Department said. Despite efforts to save him, Hsieh passed away at a hospital at about 7pm on Saturday. The 47-year-old driver of the tour bus, surnamed Wu (吳), had a valid driver’s license and passed a field sobriety test. He told investigators he had not seen Hsieh because he had been in the vehicle’s “blind spot.” Police said they were examining surveillance video footage from the intersection and nearby shops to determine what exactly had happened. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), a driver who injures or causes the death of a pedestrian at a crosswalk after failing to yield may face a fine of NT$7,200 to NT$36,000 and have their driver’s license revoked.
SOCIETY
Zookeepers to get a raise
The government has plans to raise the monthly hazard pay allowance for zookeepers of public zoos beginning next year, a Cabinet official said on Saturday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the raise in allowance for zookeepers would range from NT$3,000 to NT$5,000, depending on the type of animal they tend to. In May, a trade union representing zookeepers at the Taipei Zoo staged a protest demanding better pay, saying their wages had remained stagnant in the past 30 years. The incident led the Taipei Zoo to discuss the issue with the Cabinet’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration, and the two sides agreed to raise the hazard pay allowance as a way to increase wages. On Saturday, the official said the plan has since been expanded to cover not only Taipei Zoo’s keepers, but also those working at other government-operated animal parks, including the Hsinchu Zoo, the Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung, and the Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park in Nantou County.
SOCIETY
Hualien fire kills teen
A fire in Hualien County yesterday killed one senior-high school student, left three people with respiratory injuries and damaged eight buildings, the Hualien County Fire Department said. An 18-year-old boy, surnamed Chiang (江), was found without vital signs on the second floor of a two-story building, the department said. Chiang was likely one of the people who reported the fire to the authorities at about 12:19am, but failed to escape after his phone call was cut off just minutes after connecting, it said. Chiang’s father and sister were rescued, and his grandparents managed to escape on their own, while his mother was out of the country, the department said. Due to strong winds that fanned the flames, the fire spread to seven other buildings, leaving a man and a woman with respiratory injuries on the rooftop of a building, and another man also choked up at another building, it said. The department’s more than 20 firefighters had the fire under control in about 30 minutes after it received the call. The exact cause of the fire, which some residents reported started in the garage of Chiang’s home on the first floor, is still being investigated.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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