■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.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
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