Pedestrian safety is among four new policies to be implemented from Jan. 1, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The ministry is to provide subsidies for local governments to improve road safety and protect pedestrians’ rights, which is one of four policy areas that are to take effect in the new year, it said.
The pedestrian program aims to enhance safety at intersections; address sidewalk issues, with a focus on eliminating changes of level; improve road safety in areas around schools where there are high accident rates; set up demonstration areas with low speed limits and safety facilities; move telephone poles and street lights that block sidewalk access; and improve safety at intersections without traffic lights, it said.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
Also starting next year, mandatory military service is to be restored to one year for all males born after Jan. 1, 2005, including those who enter alternative military service, it said.
Males born after Jan. 1, 2005, can apply for alternative military service due to family and religious reasons as long as the demand for standing forces and auxiliary forces is met, it said.
Amendments to the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) approved in May are to be implemented in stages next year, the ministry said.
From Jan. 1, foreigners who have divorced a Taiwanese due to domestic violence and have not remarried would be allowed to continue their residence, the amendments say.
Taiwanese who do not have household registration in Taiwan, such as those born abroad to Taiwanese parents, can apply for residence after living legally in Taiwan for at least 183 days per year for five consecutive years, the amendments say.
From March 1, the National Immigration Agency would be able to repeatedly detain foreigners who have been ordered to exit Taiwan, but are unable to leave, the amendments say.
Amendments to the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法), which were passed in May, are also to take effect on Jan. 1, the ministry said.
The changes to the human trafficking laws expand the definition of exploitation to include forcing people to commit criminal acts.
Those who contravene the law would face a prison sentence of one to seven years, the new rules say.
If people who have been subjected to human trafficking disagree with the results of an investigation, they can submit written objections to the authority superior to the investigating unit, the updated laws say.
People who are convicted of human trafficking would be barred from government procurement programs for five years, the amendments say.
‘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
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
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
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