■ 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.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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