■POLITICS
Ma to respect Yilan fine
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would respect an Yilan County Election Commission decision to fine him NT$500,000 for citing opinion polls within 10 days of the weekend’s local elections, and would pay the fine with his own money, the party said yesterday. “Chairman Ma said it was his personal negligence, and he should take full responsibility for it,” KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said yesterday at KMT headquarters. Ma cited an opinion poll when addressing the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Yilan County on Nov. 25 as indicating that the race in Yilan would be tight and party members should step up campaign efforts. Article 53 of the Election and Recall Act (選舉罷免法) prohibits individuals and political parties from reporting, publishing, commenting on or quoting the results of opinion polls in the 10 days before an election.
■ENVIRONMENT
Littering fines increased
Motorists who throw waste or litter on the nation’s freeways will soon face tougher penalties under initiatives announced by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). While fines for the illegal disposal of waste are set at between NT $1,200 and NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), EPA officials said that because of increasing amounts of waste on freeways, offenders would now be charged under the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulation (道路交通管理處罰條例), which carries a minimum fine of NT$3,000. Both acts contain overlapping passages dealing with illegal waste disposed from moving vehicles. Officials said that most litter on freeways were return tickets and receipts from toll booths.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
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