■EDUCATION
Former academic indicted
Former president of Aletheia University Yeh Neng-che (葉能哲) was indicted yesterday for allegedly embezzling almost NT$1 billion (US$3 million) from the school. Yeh, 75, was charged with corruption and breach of trust. Prosecutors are asking Shilin District Court for a sentence of up to 18 years in prison. Yeh’s younger brother, Yeh Shou-yi (葉守義), 57, was also indicted on the same charges and a 15-year sentence is being sought. Prosecutors said the Yeh brothers turned the university into a corrupt “Yeh dynasty.” Yeh Neng-che served as university president for 37 years. He left office in 2008, but continued to serve as the school’s honorary president. Yeh Shou-yi owned a computer company, which prosecutors said was used, along with two front companies, to tender for school computer contracts, winning almost every bid. Yeh Neng-che has denied all charges.
■WEATHER
Days of rain forecast
Heavy rain is expected today as a frontal system moves from the Bashi Channel closer to the southern end of the nation, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. For today, the bureau forecast possible showers or thunderstorms in Central Taiwan, as well as in southern, southeastern and eastern regions. There is also a high likelihood of showers or thunderstorms in Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the bureau said. While those living in northern and northeastern regions can expect showers today, the bureau said, more rain is expected tomorrow. It added that the frontal system is expected to affect the nation’s weather from today until May 31. The probability of heavy or torrential rain during that time is high.
■CINEMA
Taipei films to be screened
Eight Taiwan-produced films will be shown as part of the upcoming Shanghai International Film Festival scheduled to open next month, a spokesman for the Taipei Film Commission said yesterday. The films, including the award-winning Au Revoir, Taipei (一頁台北), will be screened during the festival’s Taipei Film Week from June 14 to June 19, the spokesman said. The Taipei Film Commission will sponsor the event in collaboration with the organizers of the Shanghai International Film Festival in the hope of promoting cooperation between the film industries in Taiwan and China, he added. On June 14, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng (韓正) and various industry representatives from Taiwan and Hong Kong will participate at the event in Shanghai. The seven other films to be screened are Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (侯孝賢) Three Times (最好的時光), Cheng Fen-fen’s (鄭芬芬) Hear Me (聽說), Doze Niu’s (鈕承澤) Monga (艋舺), Cheng Yu-chieh’s (鄭有傑) Yang Yang (陽陽), Cheng Hsiao-tse’s (程孝澤) More Than Close (近在咫尺), Yang Ya-che’s (楊雅喆) Orz Boys (囧男孩), and Sylvia Chang’s (張艾嘉) Tonight, Nobody Goes Home (今天不回家).
■TRAVEL
AIT to raise visa charges
The US is scheduled to increase its non-immigrant visa application processing fee, effective June 4, according to the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). From that date, B1/B2, F and J visas will cost US$140. Petition-based visas, including H, L, O, P, Q and R visas will cost US$150, while K and E visas will be US$350 and US$390 respectively. The increase is to cover the increased costs of visa processing, AIT said in the release, adding that the new tiered fee structure is to cover the higher unit costs for processing certain categories of visa.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods