■Invoices
Lottery chances reduced
The Department of Taxation announced yesterday that winning numbers for the first prize in the bimonthly Uniform-Invoice Lottery (統一發票) will be reduced from four sets to three sets starting this month. The chance of winning the lottery will drop from 0.4 percent to 0.3 percent. Those who match all eight digits of any of the three sets of numbers will receive NT$200,000. The department says the reduction is necessary because of its financial difficulties in this fiscal year. It says it will review the policy next June or July and may increase the numbers if the government's finances have improved by then. The winning numbers for the months of September and October will be announced on Monday.
■ Government
Ma says no local taxes
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday ruled out the possibility, at least for the time being, of the city government levying local taxes as a means of raising funds to replenish the municipal coffers. Under two revised laws passed by the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday, local governments will be allowed to levy taxes of their own. Ma said that even if the city were to make use of the tax-levying power, the prospective revenues would be extremely limited and insufficient to make up the city's ever-increasing deficit, currently at about NT$40 billion (US$1.16 billion) per year. Ma called for the Executive Yuan not to use the new law as a reason to intentionally lower central government fund allocations to local governments.
■ Education
Scientist wins prize
Academia Sinica member Ray Wu (吳瑞) was recently honored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation of the US, the Academia Sinica announced yesterday. Academia Sinica said that Wu, 74, received a Frank Annunzio Award in the science and technology field in a ceremony held Oct. 14 in Washington, in recognition of his work in genetic engineering and the development of new cereal crops. According to the news release by Academia Sinica, Rosalyn Queen Alonso, chairwoman of the foundation, said that Wu's research in developing new cereal crops may lead to the end of hunger worldwide and that his "pioneering efforts epitomize the spirit of the Frank Annunzio Awards." Wu, one of the four Frank Annunzio Award recipients this year, is currently a professor of biochemistry/molecular biology at Cornell University. He received his bachelor of science degrees in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Alabama and his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
■ Conservation
Zoo wins conference rights
The Taipei City Zoo has won the rights to host two large-scale international conservation conferences in 2004, a zoo official announced yesterday. Both the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) have commissioned the city zoo to organize their 2004 annual congresses, the official said. "The WAZA and CBSG annual conferences will be held in Taipei separately in September 2004, " the official said, adding that the exact dates have yet to be decided. Representatives from more than 40 countries are expected to attend the two conferences, including the heads of some 200 zoos in various major cities, the official said.
‘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
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
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
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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