TRAVEL
Australia driving rules eased
Taiwanese would no longer need to take tests to obtain a driver’s license in some parts of Australia starting on Saturday next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The policy would be implemented this month in Western Australia and Queensland states, followed in January by South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, and Tasmania in February, the ministry said. The Australian Capital Territory and Victoria have not announced when they would introduce similar changes. The ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to put in place a reciprocal policy for Australian drivers, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. The changes do not apply to temporary visitors to Australia.
Cars drive along a freeway in Taiwan in an undated photograph. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday announces that Taiwanese would soon not need to take driving tests to acquire an Australian driver’s license in some parts of the country.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung City Transportation Bureau
CRIME
MOFA offers aid in death
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would provide whatever assistance is needed to the families of those involved in the suspected homicide of a Taiwanese woman at a hotel near Japan’s Mount Fuji on Monday. The ministry would not comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation, but said it had established contact with the families of the Taiwanese involved and would provide any assistance they need. Yamanashi Prefectural Police arrested a 27-year-old Taiwanese woman on a weapons charge after a Taiwanese woman in her 30s was found dead with visible signs of trauma, including a knife wound, inside a hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japanese media reported. Investigators are questioning the suspect, surnamed Yang (楊), who was found holding a 12cm knife at the scene, the reports said. The Tourism Administration late on Monday said that the two women were members of a tour group.
DIPLOMACY
Tainan signs UK sister city agreement
Tainan and Greater Lincolnshire on Monday held a virtual signing ceremony to establish Taiwan’s first sister city in the UK, attended by Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), Greater Lincolnshire Mayor Andrea Jenkyns and Representative to the UK Vincent Yao (姚金祥). The cities progressed from initial contact to establishing the relationship in just seven months, Huang said. Both regions are major agricultural hubs, he said. Jenkyns wrote on X that the “landmark trade agreement” would strengthen ties between the two regions and create new opportunities for trade, investment and innovation. She led a delegation of Greater Lincolnshire business leaders and representatives from the University of Lincoln to Tainan in March.
CRIME
Three sought in receipt fraud
Penghu County prosecutors yesterday applied to detain three men incommunicado for allegedly using counterfeit uniform invoice lottery receipts to fraudulently claim prize money, including a NT$10 million (US$306,589) special prize. The suspects — two men surnamed Chang (張), aged 28 and 24, and a man surnamed Hsu (許) — were arrested on Monday following police raids on six locations, the Penghu District Prosecutors’ Office said. The scheme was exposed when the two Changs attempted to cash counterfeit NT$10 million and NT$200,000 winning receipts at a bank, the office said. Bank tellers noticed the men acting suspiciously and notified the police, it added. Investigations revealed that the ring possessed more than 30 counterfeit winning receipts and had already cashed more than 20 of them between Oct. 6 and Sunday, defrauding the government of NT$199,600, prosecutors said.