RITUALS
Temple to ring in new year
Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) Buddhist Temple will hold its annual bell-ringing event on Sunday, Lunar New Year’s Eve, a ritual that is supposed to help the country and its people bid farewell to unhappiness. The ringing of the bell at DDM’s monastery in Jinshan District (金山), New Taipei City (新北市), is scheduled to begin at 10pm on New Year’s Eve, temple authorities said. The monastery’s Fahua Bell will be rung 108 times to symbolize the passing of the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will deliver the final strike to coincide with the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, temple officials said. It will be the fourth time the president will attend the event since he took office in 2008. The officials said people could also watch the ritual via a live Web cast on the temple’s Web site.
ART
Louvre pieces on loan
A rare collection of fresco wall paintings from the Louvre in Paris will be among 100 works from seven French museums that will go on display in Taipei from tomorrow to May 14, the National Palace Museum said yesterday. The exhibition, titled “Western Mythology and Legends: Selected Works from the Louvre Collection,” will feature ancient Greek pottery, frescoes from the ancient city of Pompeii, and paintings and sculptures from between the 16th and 19th century, museum officials said at a press conference. “It is the first time that the set of nine frescoes depicting Apollo and the Muses from Pompeii will be exhibited in Taiwan,” National Palace Museum director Chou Kung-shin (周功鑫) said. Also on display will be an 18th century painting of Mount Olympus by Francois Lemoyne and a red-figured cup by Greek potter Brygos, showing the capture of Troy.
INDUSTRY
Milk powder prices cut
Milk powder companies have decided to cut prices by between NT$10 and NT$20 per 1.5kg can, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, ministry officials said additional promotions that will be launched by some of the companies next month would increase the savings to as much as NT$136 per can. The companies made the decision after reaching an agreement with the government to lower their prices to reflect a decrease in tariffs, the officials said. On Nov. 25 last year, the Ministry of Finance implemented the tariff reductions on three categories of milk, a response to soaring milk powder prices.
POLITICS
KMT nominates vice speaker
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) was chosen as the party’s nominee for the post of deputy legislative speaker after she won a straw poll held by KMT lawmakers yesterday. The eight-term lawmaker will pair up with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on a KMT ticket that is expected to win the posts in a legislative vote on Feb. 1, when the Eighth Legislature takes its oath of office. “It was probably because I was the most senior lawmaker,” Hung said. The KMT secured 64 seats out of 113 in the new legislature, the Democratic Progressive Party won 40 seats, the People First Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union each gained three seats, the Non-partisan Solidarity Union obtained two seats and an independent lawmaker gained a seat.
CRIME
Foodstuffs trader indicted
A trader in Taipei was indicted yesterday for allegedly selling expired foodstuffs after altering the production dates on their labels, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The prosecutors said they were seeking a four-year jail term for Shen Feng-ying (沈鳳英), who runs two trading companies, on charges of fraud and other crimes involving the sale and doctoring of expired imported foodstuffs for seven years. According to the indictment, Shen had since 2005 sold relabeled food products to bakeries and restaurants, concealing that the materials, including chocolate, cocoa, nut products, fruit jams and glucose syrup, had passed their expiry dates. Shen had also since 2009 resold outdated materials that she had adulterated, according to the indictment.
POLITICS
Cheng’s resignation approved
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday approved the resignation of Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Cheng Mei-hua (鄭美華) yesterday after she insisted on returning to Shih Chien University, Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said yesterday. Cheng took over as commissioner in August last year following the resignation of Hsieh Hsiao-yun (謝小醞) in July amid a dispute over an exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Her appointment sparked disputes over her qualifications, with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) showing documents that he said proved Hsieh was guilty of plagiarism, while also slamming Hau, accusing him of failing to conduct a solid background check before the appointment. Chang yesterday said she offered the resignation because she wanted to return to the university to keep her tenure.
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
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
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