■Diplomacy
Hondurans begin visit
Honduras National Congress President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, at the head of a nine-member delegation, arrived in Taipei yesterday for a four-day visit. During the visit, Lobo and his delegation will call on President Chen Shui-bian, Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and other government officials. They will also visit the Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the Taipei World Trade Center before departing Friday.
■ Politics
KMT suspends Liu San-chi
The KMT Party Discipline Committee decided yesterday to suspend the party rights of Liu San-chi (劉三琦), the new director-general of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. A KMT official said that Liu had explained his decision to accept the appointment to KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) at the end of last month and had obtained the party's understanding. Liu, formerly a deputy director-general of the bureau, was promoted by Premier Yu Shyi-kun to fill the Cabinet post after then-director-general Lin Chun (林全) was appointed to head the finance ministry. Two other KMT members in the Cabinet who have had their party rights suspended are Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) and Veterans Affairs Administration Chairman Yang Te-chih (楊德智).
■ Travel
MOFA lifts Bali ban
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday eased its temporary ban on travel to Bali which was imposed after the October bomb blast that killed 185 people and injured around 300 others. But ministry officials still urged all those going to Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries during the Christmas, New Year and Lunar New Year holidays to be on alert for their own safety. The latest travel guideline to Bali will be effective until February 28, next year, they said. The officials stressed that people traveling to Southeast Asia should keep close contact with Taiwan's missions in those countries, adding information could be accessed on the Web at www.mofa.gov.tw. The officials said that Taiwan travel agents traveled to Bali on Nov. 4 to inspect safety measures first hand. They found that the Indonesian government has sent additional military men and policemen to Bali to safeguard such public places as its airport, hotels, shopping malls and tourist spots.
■ Human Rights
Poll shows progress
Taiwan has made moderate progress in human rights protection over the past year, according to the results of a survey released by the Chinese Association for Human Rights yesterday. The non-profit association conducted a survey of the nation's human rights situation annually to mark yesterday's World Human Rights Day. The association surveyed the opinions of 111 finance and economic scholars, 23 legislators, 21 welfare service administrators and 10 social group executives about the nation's human rights conditions in five categories -- education and culture, women's rights, economic rights, judicial rights and environmental rights. Survey results showed that the government made slight progress on protection of all these rights as compared with last year's levels, but that the scores remained low. Only educational and cultural rights managed to receive a passing score of 3.03 points.
Agencies
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
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