TRAVEL
Passport ranked 69th
Taiwanese can enter 100 countries and territories without a visa, putting the nation’s passport 69th on the VisaGuide Passport Index for this month. Taiwan has had the same ranking in the monthly index since January, the VisaGuide.World Web site showed. Singapore topped the latest index, with holders of its passport having visa-free access to 159 countries. The country has been ranked first since March. Japan was 13th in the latest index, the best-performing Asian country after Singapore. Holders of Japanese passports can visit 143 destinations without a visa. Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea was ranked 31st, Hong Kong 46th, Macau 58th and China 117th. Following Singapore, the top 10 was rounded out by Italy, Spain, France, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. The index evaluates and ranks the passports of 199 countries and territories. The index uses the Destination Significance Score mechanism as part of its ranking method, the Web site showed. Factors including GDP, as well as indices for “power,” “tourism” and “human development” are taken into account.
CRIME
Fraud suspects arrested
Sixteen people who are alleged members of a fraud ring that impersonated local investment expert Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) and made profits of more than NT$140 million (US$4.33 million) were arrested on Wednesday, the New Taipei City Police Department said on Friday. Police said that the ring, which had advertised nationwide since last year using the name of Hsieh, chairman of Investment Media, to falsely endorse investment schemes, was raided in a hotel in Taipei. The suspects lured 12 jobseekers with online advertisements and allegedly held them captive in hotel rooms in Taipei and New Taipei City. They demanded their ATM cards and bank account details, police said. The information was used to create proxy accounts to defraud 32 other people, with the “hostages” released only after their accounts were red-flagged by the authorities for money laundering and rendered useless, police said. The case has been transferred to the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office, police said.
EDUCATION
NCKU ranked No. 25
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) was ranked 25th in the world in the latest Times Higher Education Impact Rankings released on Wednesday, the highest ranking of listed Taiwanese universities. The impact rankings assess universities around the globe against the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There were 51 Taiwanese universities on the latest list, four more than last year. Four Taiwanese universities were in the top 100: NCKU, sharing 25th with the University of Strathclyde and Michigan State University; National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (50th); National Taiwan University, which shared 55th with Cardiff University; and Tunghai University in 100th. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, and Taipei Medical University were in the group ranked No. 101 to 200. National Chung Hsing University, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Tsing Hua University and Tamkang University were in the 201-300 group. The top five institutions were Western Sydney University at No. 1, followed by the University of Manchester and the University of Tasmania in a tie for second, Aalborg University in Denmark in fourth and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in fifth.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant