■Maritime
Filipinos injured in boat fire
Five Filipino sailors were injured in a fire aboard a Philippine cargo ship off Kaohsiung, harbor authorities said yesterday. The Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau received a distress call from the local shipping agent of the Golden Eagle at around 2am saying the freight had caught fire. The bureau immediately sent ferry boats to help rescue the ship's crew members and assist in putting out the fire, harbor officials said, adding that the five injured crewmen were then rushed to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Only one crewman was seriously injured, doctors said, adding that he may lose his eyesight. The other four crewmen received only minor injuries. The harbor officials said the fire has been extinguished, adding that they will investigate the cause of theaccident.
■ Government
Legislature amends tax laws
The legislature yesterday amended tax rules that empower local governments to levy new taxes to ease their cash-strapped coffers. In addition, the body allowed local governments to adjust upward various fees under their jurisdiction, as long as they can gain approval from respective councils for the hikes. Under the new tax revisions, city, county and township governments may impose special taxes and transitional taxes that last four years or two years to enhance their finances. Also, local administrators may add an extra amount to taxes already implemented by the central government, according to the revised legislation. However, it bars local governments from levying taxes on trades and goods that span or flow across the borders of two local jurisdictions.
■ Foreign workers
Taoyuan tops table
There are more foreign workers living in Taoyuan County than in any other county or city, the police said yesterday. Quoting government statistics, the Taoyuan Police Bureau said the nation had 307,567 legal foreign workers at the end of October. Of these, 73,270, or 23.8 percent of the total, were in Taoyuan, the bureau said. Among the foreign workers in Taoyuan, 34,667 were Thais, 18,634 were Filipinos, 10,001 were Indonesian and 5,710 were Vietnamese. More than 57,000 were employed in the manufacturing sector, with the others serving as caretakers, construction workers or maids. Police said the number of criminal cases involving foreign laborers has increased steadily since 2000, with burglary, robbery and sex offenses the most common.
■ Fast food
Chains issue nutrition facts
Fast food outlets in Taipei have started providing information about the nutritional value of the food they serve up as part of the city's drive to slim down and get healthy. McDonald's, Burger King, Mos Burger, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Yoshinoya started providing details on Monday of the calories, protein, fat and sugar contained in their food, Taipei City health director Chiu Shu-ti (邱淑媞) said. Some 181 outlets, including 91 from McDonald's, 29 from Mos Burger, 28 from Yoshinoya, 19 from Kentucky and 14 from Burger King, have started giving out the information. The Taipei City Government has been urging residents, especially children, to follow a healthy diet. It has also launched a 15-month campaign to encourage the city's more than 2.5 million residents to lose a combined 100 tonnes of weight between March 1 this year and June 30 next year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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