CRIME
Former MIB chief impeached
The Control Yuan yesterday impeached former Military Intelligence Bureau director-general Ke Guang-ming (葛廣明) for allegedly embezzling NT$3.7 million (US$127,498) in 2008. The Control Yuan voted 12 to 1, passing a proposal initiated by Control Yuan members Yu Teng-fang (余騰芳) and Lee Ping-nan (李炳南) to impeach Ke. The Control Yuan later referred Ke to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission for discipline. On Aug. 17 last year, Ke was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a military court in the first trial of the case. Ke’s secretary, Tien Chia-tung (田家棟), was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for allegedly assisting him in the crime. Ke was accused of putting the funds in his personal safe and taking NT$450,000 for personal use.
ECONOMY
Kinmen Kaoliang posts record
A Kinmen County -Government-run liquor company reported record sales last year and vowed to expand its capacity. Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Inc posted revenues of more than NT$12.3 billion (US$424 million) last year, of which NT$431 million originated in Xiamen, China, according to Yao Song-ling (姚松齡), managing director of the 59-year-old company. The company accounts for a substantial part of the annual revenue of Kinmen County. It contributed NT$4.9 billion to the county’s coffers last year on the back of strong sales, NT$700 million more than in 2009 and 22.5 percent more than projected in the company’s annual budget. The company also paid NT$2.88 billion in liquor tax to the central government, Yao said. Faced with competition from Chinese products, the company said it planned to raise annual production from 2.5 billion liters to between 4 billion and 4.2 billion liters within three years.
DIPLOMACY
More active WTO role sought
Taiwan will seek to play a more active role in the WTO this year, Taiwan’s WTO representative was quoted as saying in a recent interview with the WTO center of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), a Taipei-based think tank. In the interview, Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said Taiwan intended to actively participate in multilateral trade negotiations and various committees under the WTO, adding that Taiwan’s delegation would seek to chair committees to boost its active participation this year. Taiwan will also seek to play more of a leading role in several negotiating groups it has joined, such as Recently Acceded Members (RAMs) — countries that negotiated and joined the WTO after 1995 — and Friends of A-D Negotiations (FANs), a coalition of countries lobbying for agriculture to be treated as a diverse and special case because of non-trade concerns, Lin was quoted as saying. He also said Taiwan should try to solve trade disputes through the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism more often.
SOCIETY
New Taipei plans food banks
The New Taipei City (新北市) Government said it would soon establish food and daily necessity banks around the city to help tide disadvantaged people and families over the current cold weather. New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the city government would set up the commodity banks in 10 social welfare centers around the city prior to this year’s Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 3. Chu said the city government would foot the bill for the food and daily necessities to be provided by the banks. He also called on the public to make donations.
Staff Writer, with CNA
LITERATURE
ALS sufferer wins first prize
A woman suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) won first prize in a literature competition held at the Taipei International Flora Exposition on Sunday, for comparing her life to the short-lived, but glamorous night-blooming cereus, or moon flower. Lin Yueh-ku (林月姑), who has been suffering from ALS — known as Lou Gehrig’s disease — for 13 years. She used her middle finger to click a mouse and compose the 2,000-word piece titled Life of the Night-Blooming Cereus — the Transient Beauty, that stood out among the 201 submitted works. Able to type only 50 words per hour, the 54-year-old spent a month depicting scenes from her life.
ENTERTAINMENT
Chou enjoys US ‘vacation’
For pop singer Jay Chou (周杰倫), star of the smash hit The Green Hornet, Tinseltown offers a welcome break from the paparazzi in Asia. “As an artist, I need a lot of space, which I cannot really get in many places in Asia,” Chou told reporters yesterday ahead of the Chinese premiere of the superhero flick, which costars Seth Rogen. “It felt like I was having a vacation in the United States — I took my mother to the production and it felt really good to have some time for myself. I didn’t have that feeling of people surreptitiously taking my picture.” Chou, largely unknown in the US but hugely popular in Asia, plays the role of Kato, sidekick to the Green Hornet, played by Rogen. Rogen has declared himself a fan of Chou’s music, and he and director Michel Gondry have since joked that the singer would “force” them to listen to some of his tracks. “Jay many times took us in his car with his bodyguard and forced us to listen to his music very loud, and if we didn’t like it, he would beat us up,” Gondry joked.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
Taiwan is concerned that China could exploit the US’ war in the Middle East, with state media citing examples from the conflict to cast doubt on the efficiency of US weapons Taiwan would use to repel an invasion. Taiwanese officials said the resumption of Beijing’s large-scale air force incursions near Taiwan after an unusual decline show that China wants to take advantage of the redeployment of US forces from East Asia to the Middle East. “This is a moment for China to exercise influence,” a senior Taiwanese security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “What China is trying to create is a
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