■DIPLOMACY
Grenada seeks time to pay
Grenada’s government will seek to delay a court ordered payment of US$25 million to the Export-Import Bank, Grenadian Finance Minister Nazim Burke said on Monday. His country intends to resolve the dispute but cannot afford to pay all at once, he said in a radio interview. He blamed the failure to settle the debts earlier on the government of former prime minister Keith Mitchell. Lawyers for the Export-Import Bank recently served notice on Grenada’s new government of a February 2007 US federal court order to pay the money, which includes outstanding principal and interest on a series of loans in the 1990s intended to build a stadium and roads and develop the island’s economy. Grenada said in court papers that it stopped making payments after its economy was devastated by a series of storms, including Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and the drop in tourism that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the US. The government was unable to renegotiate repayment because it had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China in 2005.
■POLITICS
KMT gives nod to Huang
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday approved the nomination of KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭) as candidate for the Taitung County commissioner election in December, even though KMT Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-cheng (鄺麗貞) may run as an independent. Huang defeated Kuang in the KMT primary on Sunday. Kuang has refused to say whether she will withdraw from the party to run as an independent. KMT spokesman Lee Chien-rong (李建榮) said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had promised to negotiate with Kuang for the sake of party unity.
■SPORTS
Swim race entry open
The Kinmen County Government yesterday invited swimmers to join its seventh annual long-distance swimming race in Liaolo Bay on Aug. 16. Registration for the 3km event is being accepted by the Kinmen County Stadium until July 15 and is open to all swimmers aged 10 and above who are in good health and capable of swimming a long distance, officials said. Those interested in taking part are required to form a team before signing up, they said, adding that 1,600 people have already signed up. For more information, swimmers can call the stadium at 082-311-229.
■CRIME
Ex-army officer convicted
Retired Army Colonel Yang Tung-shan (楊東山) was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday after being convicted by the Military High Court on corruption charges, the Ministry of National Defense said. Yang said he will consider appealing the verdict after studying the court’s ruling with his lawyers. Yang, who served in the Armaments Bureau’s Construction and Facility Division, was placed under investigation and temporarily stripped of his title for allegedly taking bribes and receiving illegal gains from suppliers in 2006. The court determined that the suppliers provided all-expenses paid trips to Malaysia and Japan for Yang and his wife and paid for the renovation of their home, with some of the money transferred directly into his wife’s bank account. The suppliers were also found to have given the couple cash and electronic items in exchange for help in winning contracts. Yang also lost his political rights for 10 years and was ordered to hand over NT$1.95 million (US$59,400) in cash and NT$210,000 worth of home electronic items he received.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
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