■ POLITICS
Chiayi official sentenced
A Chiayi County village chief was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison yesterday for his role in a vote-buying case. Chiayi District Court convicted Lai Chun-an (賴俊安), chief of Kuanshih Village (寬士), Shuishang Township (水上), of giving NT$6,000 to his neighbor, Hsiao Su-miao (蕭素妙), on Jan. 2 so that Hsiao could offer NT$1,500 per vote to help Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) get elected in the Jan. 12 polls. The judges also ruled that Lai would lose his civil rights for six years. Lai denied buying votes. Hsiao, however, admitted receiving NT$6,000 from Lai and having been told by Lai "to win votes for the candidate." Hsiao was given a two-month jail term with two years' probation for taking bribes, and lost her civil rights for one year.
■ HEALTH
Defibrillators wanted
Taipei City plans to install defibrillators in public places to boost the chances of saving heart attack victims, health official Kao Wei-chun (高偉君) said yesterday. Automated external defibrillators (AED) would be placed in MRT stations, the National Palace Museum, Maokong Gondola stations and public spaces in Taipei 101 by the end of the year, Kao said. But since the city's health department does not have money to buy the AEDs, it is seeking private sector donations, Kao said. The central government has been encouraging people to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). If rescuers use CPR and an AED device on heart attack victims, a victim's survival rate will increase by 7 percent within one minute of an attack, said Chao Chun-chieh (趙君傑), emergency room director at Taipei City Hospital's Zhongxiao branch. If only CPR is used, then the survival rate drops by 7 percent, he said.
■ POLITICS
DPP readies new NCC names
Democratic Progressive Party caucus leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday the the party will submit a shortlist of nominees for the National Communications Commission (NCC) to the Executive Yuan within the next two days. All the names will be new candidates, Ker said, adding that he hoped the Executive Yuan would finalize the nomination list before the presidential election.
ECONOMY
No hoarding established
No incidents of hoarding have been found in the wake of a recent surge in oil and commodity prices, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday. The FTC established an investigation team late last year after prices of some necessities soared as a result of surging import prices. Supplies of basic necessities, including toilet paper, have been normal and most suppliers and producers have no plans to hike prices, officials said. The Taiwan Paper Industry Association said prices of paper products had soared 19.4 percent year-on-year as of the end of last month, because rising oil prices boosted pulp costs.
■ HEALTH
Sperm woes in Taipei
More than one-quarter of 1,345 married men in Taipei City who had their sperm tested last year suffered from insufficient or inactive sperm, 10 percent more than the year before,city health officials said yesterday. Chen Chi-yu (陳致宇), a doctor in the Ob-gyn department of Taipei City Hospital's Renai branch, said stress, pollution and bad food could impact on sperm production or motility. The exams also found a growing incidence of bladder and kidney problems, two cases of AIDS and five cases of syphilis, officials said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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