In response to the elections at the end of the year, the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office unveiled a new bribery investigation center on May 20. Chief Prosecutor Tu Ta-jen says that with elections still more than six months away, the office is conducting comprehensive investigations into “phantom populations” (falsified household registration), vote buying and election violence. The office will keep working harder to prevent and counter bribery, Tu says, adding that he hopes candidates do not expect to get off by a fluke.
“Intelligence data regarding two incidents of vote buying has been received and an all-out investigation is underway,” Tu says, adding that the election season has not formally started yet and the bribery investigation center has not formally started operations yet. Nevertheless, the prosecutors’ office has continued to receive a lot of reports of vote buying, which evidently shows that voters are gradually becoming more proactive and hope that their candidates do not rely on vote buying to win elections. The office will be deploying a large force to vigilantly investigate any potential cases of bribery, leaving vote buying criminals with nowhere to turn and fulfilling a crucial responsibility to keep elections clean.
Keelung and New Taipei City’s local “three-in-one” elections for mayor, city councilors and borough wardens begin on Nov. 29.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者林嘉東
Chou Chi-yung, the center’s executive secretary, says that the office sent out official letters last week to household registration offices in its jurisdiction, including Keelung and New Taipei City’s Jinshan, Wanli and Rueifang districts, to check thoroughly for cases of falsified household registration. If a household has three or more families, or one family has more than five people, any person who moved in over the past year should be investigated for potentially falsifying their registration, Chou says, adding that the police will be going around to households to take pictures and make records in coming days.
Furthermore, to keep gang members from using elections to clean up their image, Chou says that the office has knowledge of the whereabouts of specific gangsters in its jurisdiction and will take the necessary precautions against vote buying and election violence.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
因應年底選舉,基隆地檢署五月二十日為查賄中心揭牌。檢察長涂達人強調,離投票日還有六個多月時間,基檢已全面性針對幽靈人口、賄選及選舉暴力展開偵查,將不斷增強查緝密度,希望參選人不要心存僥倖。
「轄內已接獲兩件賄選情資,正全力偵辦中。」涂達人說,選戰還沒開打,查賄中心甚至還沒開始啟動,但基檢陸續接獲不少賄選情資,顯見選民的意識逐漸抬頭,不希望參選人靠賄選選上,檢方將會佈下重兵,積極查賄,讓賄選者無所遁形,負起乾淨選風的重任。
基隆與新北市年底三合一選舉,包括市長、市議員與里長選舉,將在十一月二十九日投開票。
查賄中心執行秘書周啟勇指出,檢方上週已發函給轄內戶政單位,對基隆、新北市金山、萬里、瑞芳等轄區,展開清查幽靈人口作業,只要戶口內有三戶以上,或一戶超過五人,在近一年內遷入者,都列為幽靈人口清查對象,近日內將請警察前往拍照、列冊。
此外,為防止幫派份子透過選舉漂白。周啟勇強調,檢方已經掌握轄內特定幫派份子,嚴防賄選與選舉暴力事件發生。
(自由時報記者林嘉東)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into