SOCIETY
Man asks for NT$1m help
A Hsinchu resident has turned to the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) to help him exchange bundles of damaged bills worth a total of NT$1 million (US$33,000) for new ones, the bureau’s Hsinchu station said yesterday. The man sought out the agency after a bank refused to honor the notes, which the man hid in a corner of his kitchen two years ago and which have since become moldy. The bureau said it would send the bills to its forensics unit for further examination. They will be honored based on the number of bills the experts succeed in restoring. Last year, an expert at the bureau helped a New Taipei City (新北市) resident piece together NT$200,000 in notes that had been accidentally shredded. The central bank later decided to honor the reconstituted notes.
CRIME
Chinese gets life in prison
A Chinese crewman working on a Taiwanese tuna boat was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his Taiwanese skipper in June. In a ruling, the Kaohsiung District Court said Li Qiping (李啟平), 38, a cook working aboard the Kaohsiung-registered Fushen No. 11, stabbed Chen Cheng-hsing (陳正興) to death and threw his body overboard on June 3 while the boat was operating on the high seas near Uruguay. Chieh Chun-fu (偕春福), chief engineer of the Fushen No. 11, phoned Chen’s wife in Greater Kaohsiung after he discovered the captain’s disappearance and was told by Li and other crew that the skipper had jumped into the sea himself. Chen’s wife did not believe this version of events and alerted the government, prompting the Coast Guard Administration to send officials to Cape Town, South Africa, to investigate. Li was brought back to Greater Kaohsiung for trial on June 27. He was also fined NT$2 million (US$66,600) for the murder.
CHARITY
Limits to be set on fund use
A proposed revision to the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例) will require charity groups to use donated funds within a certain period of time. General donations must be used by the recipients within three years, but may be extended by two years, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. As for donations for major or international events, the funds must be utilized within five years, extendable by three years, the ministry said. The draft will be sent to the Executive Yuan for review. Donations that are not consumed by their expiration dates would have to be turned over to the authorities, and they would be donated to the Relieve Disaster Foundation. The act was introduced in May 2006. Groups whose existing funds for major disasters or international aid will soon expire after eight years may be granted a two-year extension if necessary.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it