CRIME
Officials charged with graft
Five customs officials, along with 17 customs brokers and importers, and a legislative aide, were indicted by prosecutors yesterday in what could be one of the biggest corruption scandals ever uncovered in the Directorate-General of Customs (DGOC). Among those indicted was Lu Tsai-yih (呂財益), former deputy chief of the directorate. Prosecutors are seeking a 16-year jail term for him and recommended that he be stripped of his civil rights for eight years. The other four indicted officials are Department of Valuation director Shih Chung-mei (史中美), staff member Chen Yu-chu (陳玉珠) and Keelung Customs Office employees Cheng Chang-ta (鄭張達) and Lin Tung-ying (林東瑩). The officials, led by Lu, are suspected of colluding with customs brokers and importers to help smuggle banned products into the country, prosecutors said. They say that on Oct. 28 last year, Lu accepted bribes of NT$300,000 from a customs broker through then-legislative assistant Chang Sheng-tai (張勝泰). Lu later returned the money, they said.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Peace unlikely: US report
China’s growing military power lowers the likelihood of a peaceful resolution to the tensions across the Taiwan Strait, according to a draft report by a US congressional commission. However, increased economic and trade interaction between the two sides reduces the possibility of war “in the near future,” the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in the final draft of its annual report. China “has progressed substantially” in military modernization since 2009, including flight testing its J-20 stealth fighter, its first aircraft carrier and the world’s latest anti-ship ballistic missile, the report said. Such modernization gives China the military advantage, “making it less likely that a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan issue will occur,” the report said.
SOCIETY
Money donated to Thailand
The government yesterday said it has donated US$100,000 to flood-stricken Thailand and has also formed a task force aimed at helping Taiwanese in that country. With the country suffering its worst flooding in half a century, the financial losses of Taiwanese businesspeople there could reach billions of dollars, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. A final group of 23 Taiwanese traveling in the kingdom would return home today as originally planned. The government issued its highest-level “red” travel alert for Thailand on Friday last week. Meanwhile, the Thai-Taiwan Business Association (TTBA) on Wednesday established a relief aid network to provide assistance to Taiwanese enterprises and expatriates in the kingdom affected by the flooding.
CRIME
Ceiling banger charged
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday indicted a woman surnamed Yang (楊) on charges of coercion for hammering on her ceiling 102 times in half a year, leading to a complaint from her upstairs neighbor, surnamed Hsieh (謝). The notice of complaint said that 59-year-old Yang, living on the fourth floor of an apartment building in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), was suspected of having made noises through the night, though Yang denied the charge and said it was Hsieh who made the ruckus. Hsieh also accused Yang of intimidation, saying Yang threatened her with violence, but Yang denied the charge. Prosecutors did not charge Yang with intimidation because of a lack of evidence.
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