TRANSPORTATION
Taxi fares up for holidays
An NT$30 surcharge for taxi rides in New Taipei City are to be imposed from Jan. 22 to Feb. 2 around the Lunar New Year holiday (Jan. 25 to Feb. 2), the city’s Transportation Department said. Taxi fares in Taipei and Keelung are also to increase by NT$30 for the same period, with the surcharge to be added to the meter fare for taxis in the three municipalities. An extra NT$20 are to be added for late-night hours between 11pm and 6am during the period, department official Lin Shih-chin (林詩欽) said. Taxi fares are generally calculated by distance, with no additional fees to be charged, Lin added. Drivers who do not adhere to the pricing rules or operate a taxi without a proper license can be fined NT$9,000 to NT$90,000, the department said.
Photo coutersy of the New Taipei City Government’s Transportaion Department
CRIME
Drug trafficker jailed
An Indonesian woman living in Taiwan has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after trying to smuggle heroin into the country for a person she met online. The woman, surnamed Shu (舒), married a Taiwanese man 19 years ago, but her husband died four years ago, the Kaohsiung District Court ruling read. At the end of last year, Shu met a man named “Daniel” online. In May, Daniel asked her to transport “clothing samples” from Thailand to Taiwan, offering to pay for her airfare, accommodation and US$10,000 in compensation, it said. When Shu arrived at Kaohsiung Airport on June 2, customs officials spotted irregularities in her handbag and found it contained 2.3kg of heroin, with an estimated market value of NT$7.3 million (US$224,719), the court said. Shu insisted she had not known what was inside. However, her Internet search history about the penalties for drug smuggling proved she knew she might be helping transport drugs, it said.
HEALTHCARE
Incentive for carers
The Cabinet has approved an annual incentive program to give outstanding residential care service providers up to NT$2.4 million (US$73,880) for excellent care. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the scheme covers elderly welfare care facilities, disability welfare care facilities, nursing homes, psychiatric nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The facilities are to be evaluated based on emergency response to disasters, individualized support plans, information system development, smart technology applications, personnel management, enhancement of professional knowledge and skills, and protection of rights and interests of service users. Facilities that perform well would receive between NT$1.01 million to NT$2.4 million, depending on the number of beds, it said. The scheme is expected to ease the care burden on families by ensuring quality care at residential care facilities for elderly people and people with disabilities, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said.
EDUCATION
Long break for students
Five of the nation’s top universities are gearing up for their longest-ever winter breaks, which are to run from Dec. 23 to Feb. 14 next year, following a switch to 16-week semesters. Including the holidays before and after the winter break, the number of winter vacation days for students at National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Tsing Hua University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University this year would be 58. Meanwhile, National Taipei University and National Chi Nan University will have a winter break of 51 days from Dec. 30 to Feb. 14.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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