A controversial bookmaker, who was alleged to have had a meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in September, placed front-page ads in four major Chinese-language newspapers yesterday, saying he never made political donations to anyone.
In the ads, Chen Ying-chu (陳盈助) placed two short messages, saying he had never made political donations and urging the media to stop implicating him in political affairs.
Next Magazine in its Nov. 16 edition claimed that the Chiayi-based bookmaker met with Ma, who is seeking re-election in January, in an encounter arranged by Chiayi Mayor Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), to discuss campaign affairs.
While Ma has denied the Next Magazine report, he admitted having met Chen previously in 2008 and in 2009.
Chen’s name has remained in the news in recent days, after KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said on a TV political talk show on Wednesday that Chen had helped to arrange a trip to the Philippines by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in June and had also treated several DPP members to free trips.
The DPP and KMT have been accusing each other over political connections with Chen in the past week, with the opposition party accusing the president of associating with a bookmaker and then filing lawsuits against Chiu for defamation.
DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said in the Legislative Yuan yesterday that he did not ask Chen Ying-chu to help arrange Tsai’s Manila visit.
Chen Ming-wen, who served as Chiayi County commissioner from 2001 to 2009, nonetheless admitted that Chen Ying-chu was a business associate who worked assiduously to put his mafia image to rest by doing charity work and helping the needy.
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai