■ Crime
Chou up for parole
The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chou Po-lun's (周伯倫) application for parole will be reviewed tomorrow. The ministry said Wednesday is the day when officials usually hold their weekly meeting so they will take the chance to review Chou's case as well. Chou was convicted of accepting NT$16 million from Chiaofu Construction Corp -- the backer of the Ronghsing Park development project -- when he was a Taipei City councilor in 1988. Chou and six former city councilors and six city government officials were jailed in connection with the scandal. On Aug. 3, 2001, the Taiwan High Court sentenced Chou to six years in prison. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court.
■ Crime
Thais arrest two for drugs
Thai narcotics police nabbed two Taiwanese at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport last Friday for attempting to smuggle 700g of heroin out of the country, Thai customs officials said yesterday. Acting on tip-offs, police nabbed Yeh Fu-tsai, 42, and Yang Chi-hung, 38, as they attempted to board separate flights to Taipei, an official said. Yeh was caught with 350g of heroin sewn into the shoulder pads of his suit while Yang was found to have 380g hidden in his suit. The men said they had been paid NT$100,000 (US$3,240) each to smuggle the drugs.
■ Politics
TSU to run five candidates
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) yesterday said that the TSU will take part of year-end county commissioner and city mayor elections and the plans to nominate five candidates for Keelung, Hsinchu, Yunlin County, Tainan and Pingtung County. Chen said the TSU plans to nominate its "best talent" for the elections. Plans call for ex-legislator Holmes Liao (廖宏祥) to run for Hsinchu County commissioner while Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) may run for Tainan mayor. Former legislator Cheng Cheng-lung (程振隆) will run for the Yunlin County commissioner and Huang Chao-chan (黃昭展), chairman of the northern Kaohsiung chapter, plans to campaign in Pingtung County.
■ Crime
Malaysian navy rescues ship
The Malaysian navy boarded a Taiwanese fishing vessel which had been seized by Chinese crew members who mutinied and locked up the captain and other Taiwanese sailors, a Malaysian official said yesterday. Acting on a request from Taipei, the navy tracked down the 48m Dong Yih in the Malacca Strait on Sunday and boarded it near Pulau Pisang off Johor state, an official said. The boat, with four Taiwanese, 19 Chinese and six Filipinos crew members departed Singapore on Jan. 11 for the Indian Ocean. The Chinese mutinied three days later and attempted to take the boat back to Singapore.
■ Transportation
Kaohsiung buses go digital
Kaohsiung City launched bus services with digitized operations yesterday. The city government spent around NT$40 million (US$1.26 million) in developing the country's first digitized bus services, including 130 bus stop signs, TV monitors in 448 buses that will play real-time programming and a bus hotline offering information to passengers. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), said his government wants to curb the increase in scooters and encourage more people to use public transport.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
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