■ Crime
Man shoots KTV patron
A drunken man fired a shot at the wall in a Taipei KTV yesterday, killing a man singing with friends in the next room, Chinese-language media reported. A 21-year-old man, Tseng Poh-yi (曾柏義), was arrested over the shooting and was being interrogated by prosecutors, the report said. Tseng had been singing with friends at the KTV overnight and after a few drinks took out his pistol and fired two shots at the ceiling and another shot at the wall, the report said. One of the shots hit another man in the chest as he sat against the wall in the next room, the report said. It said the victim, identified by his surname, Cho, was rushed to a hospital but later died.
■ Politics
Debate figures released
More than 4.5 million people watched the first debate between the two presidential candidates, according to a survey by a television rating service company. The Radio and Television Broadcasters found that 7.28 percent of households with TV sets tuned in to the debate on Saturday, or about twice the number of households normally watching TV at that time of day. The survey also estimated that about 1.9 million of those who watched the program were "deep viewers," meaning they were tuned in to the program for more than 45 minutes. The survey indicated that males aged 50 and above made up the largest portion of viewers at 16.47 percent of the total number who watched the debate, while people in their 20s made up the smallest portion.
■ Election
Kinmen expected to go green
Vice Minister of the Interior Hsu Ying-shen (許應深) said at a ceremony marking the launch of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) Kinmen campaign headquarters yesterday that the president should be able to garner at least 10,000 votes in Kinmen in the upcoming election. Speaking at the ceremony at Peichang Temple marking the launch of the campaign headquarters, Hsu said that as Chen's administration has bolstered the island's infrastructure development by increasing budget allocations annually over the past four years, the president should be able to get at least 10,000 votes in the March 20 election. Chen garnered only 759 votes in Kinmen in the 2000 election. The number of eligible voters on Kinmen stands at about 45,000. Chen Chang-chiang (陳滄江), the president's deputy campaign manager in Kinmen, said Chen Shui-bian is up against "four parties," namely the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party, the New Party and the Chinese Communist Party.
■ Cross-Strait Ties
China wants name change
Beijing has pushed for a change in Taiwan's formal designation in the Paris-based Office International des Epizooties (OIE) in an apparent attempt to suppress Taiwan politically in the international community. Under pressure from Beijing, the world organization for animal health, known by its French acronym OIE, called for Taiwan recently to accept "certain conditions" that are conducive to facilitating China's "efficient" participation in OIE activities. One of the conditions stated was that Taiwan change its formal name as a full member in the OIE from the current "Taipei China" to "The Separate Quarantine Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu." The OIE passed a resolution in its assembly of international members committees late last year calling for Taiwan to accept conditions that are conducive to facilitating China's "efficient" participation in OIE activities.
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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