■ March election
Parties fight over ads
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accused each other yesterday of exercising political influence in domestic news media in their election advertisements. The DPP-friendly Formosa TV (FTV) rejected a contracted advertisement for a KMT election campaign commercial, while the KMT-owned Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC,中廣) reportedly turned down an advertising offer from the DPP. The KMT yesterday accused the Presidential Office of masterminding FTV's rejection of the campaign ad, claiming FTV suddenly changed the ad schedule due to political influence. The DPP yesterday dismissed the allegations, saying the party was not capable of influencing the media for political reasons and that the accusation was groundless. Meanwhile, the DPP said yesterday that the BCC was in breach of contract.
■ Lunar New year
Pingtung to hold festival
To welcome the Year of the Monkey, Pingtung, called Monkey City in ancient times, will launch the Kenting Windbell Festival on Jan. 3. The Hengchun Wuliting Airport will open on Jan. 10 and five gifts await the first 3,000 passengers who fly from the airport. The Kenting Windbell Festival will be held for its third year in a bid to boost the windbell industry. From Jan. 3 to Feb. 8 on the 3,000-ping Shia Ti Yi Beach, the festival will feature various performances and exhibitions. Thirteen windbell theme areas await visitors and a discount of 30 percent to 50 percent for five-star hotel accommodations with five tour packages have been offered to passengers flying directly from Taipei to Wuliting Airport. In addition, restaurant coupons offering more than a 40 percent discount and shuttle bus service from Wuliting Airport to Kenting will be offered to visitors.
■ Pets
Residents bark over dog ban
The Pingtung City government's policy forbidding citizens from walking their dogs in parks has triggered controversy on the Internet. The government has long had signs outside the city's parks requesting residents not to walk their dogs in the park. With many citizens ignoring the regulation, the city government decided to publish photos of those breaking the rules in a city government monthly publication, the report said. Though some residents argued on the Internet that dogs should be entitled to enter the parks and the threat to publish citizens' photos was a violation of human rights, Pingtung Mayor Wang Chin-hsih (王進士) was quoted as saying that many citizens walked their pets in the park only for them to defecate. Wang said the city government has no choice but to publish the photos because people keep ignoring the regulations. Although city officials have failed to take any pictures of the rule breakers, policy supporters have offered many photos of dog walkers.
■ Public transit
TRTC prints brochure
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC, 台北捷運公司) released a brochure on MRT information yesterday in nine different languages, hoping to provide a more friendly environment for international visitors and foreign workers. The TRTC said the brochure -- in Thai, Malaysian, German, French, Spanish, English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese -- includes a map and time schedule for the MRT. The brochure is small enough to fit in a pocket, the company said.
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 pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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