■LAW
KMT’s Chiang ‘not guilty’
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) was yesterday found not guilty by the Taichung District Court on charges of vote-buying. Taichung prosecutors immediately decided to appeal the case to the Taiwan High Court. Chiang is suspected of paying a Taiping Township (太平) councilor surnamed Lin NT$50,000 (US$1,500) to buy votes for him. Prosecutors seized video footage of Chiang allegedly offering Lin the money and asking him to distribute it, but Lin is not seen accepting the money. The district court’s ruling said that because the video footage did not have sound, the court could not determine the content of the conversation between Chiang and Lin. The ruling also said the court did not know whether the NT$50,00 was money to buy votes or a political donation.
■WEATHER
Forecast predicts rain
Most parts of Taiwan will see showers or thundershowers for seven days starting today, as a moist air mass brought by a southwesterly wind moves across the nation, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. CWB meteorologists said that from today until Sunday, all of Taiwan except the south will have rain followed by thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday, including Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. Southeastern Taiwan will see only showers, the CWB said. Temperatures over the next seven days will vary between 20°C and 27°C in the north, 21°C and 29°C in central regions, 23°C and 31°C in the south and 21°C and 28°C in the east, the weather bureau said. Meteorologists explained that the approaching front does not mean that the annual plum rain season is beginning early this year. They added that plum rain fronts usually occur near the end of this month.
■DIPLOMACY
Status quo’ more popular
Nearly 45 percent of the respondents to a recent survey said they favor the maintenance of the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Global Views Monthly magazine released yesterday. The results of the poll, conducted between April 15 and April 18, said that some 45 percent of people over 20 favored the notion that “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should maintain the political status quo for the time being before any changes are made.” The response marks the highest of its kind in the last five years, the survey said. The poll found that the percentage of respondents who favor eventual unification had dropped to a record low of 8.4 percent. A total of 44.8 percent of the respondents favored upholding the current cross-strait situation. The telephone survey randomly selected adults from around the country. It received 1,003 valid responses.
■TRANSPORTATION
Alishan rail back in action
The Alishan railway resumed operations yesterday after a two-week suspension for safety checks, the Chiayi Forest District Office said. About 80 tourists took the train as it restarted operations, keen to travel on one of the world’s three narrow-gauge mountain railways. Chiayi Forest District Office chief Yeh Hsien-liang (葉賢良) said he is confident of the train’s safety after the office conducted a full examination of its equipment and training. The office decided to halt services on April 14 following three derailments in the previous two weeks. The Alishan mountain resort area is known for its cherry blossoms, sun rises and its steep railway with numerous hairpin bends. It attracts nearly 900,000 visitors a year.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost