■ Crime
Officials grab illicit smokes
Coast guard officers seized a large haul of untaxed foreign cigarettes worth around NT$4 million (US$120,845) in waters off Ilan, northeastern Taiwan, early yesterday. Tipped off recently that a smuggling ring would use a fishing vessel and a sampan to try to smuggle untaxed foreign cigarettes into Taiwan, coast guard officers were put on alert. At around 3am yesterday, they spotted a fishing vessel and a sampan loading and unloading goods and ordered them to stop for an inspection. After the cigarettes were found on the two vessels, the fishing ship's captain, surnamed Lin, and the six crew members were all taken back to Suao for further questioning. The seven men were later turned over to the Ilan District Court on charges of violating Taiwan's tobacco and wine regulations.
■ IPR Protection
Swiss laud CIB, CIB says
Taiwan's all-out campaign against commercial piracy and intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement has received increasing world recognition, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the National Police Administration (NPA) said yesterday. CIB Deputy Director Wang Wen-chung (王文忠) made the remarks after meeting with a senior executive from the Federation of Swiss Watch Industry (FSWI) earlier in the day. Thierry Dubois, FSWI's Far East manager, paid a courtesy call at the CIB to express his organization's gratitude for Taiwan's efforts in IPR protection and cracking down on commercial piracy. Dubois was quoted as having told Wang that Taiwan has set an example worthy of emulation by other countries in preventing commercial counterfeiting. According to Wang, the NPA has stepped up commercial piracy investigations since 1999 by setting up special operation forces in the northern, central and southern parts of the island. In January last year, the NPA further formed an IPR police corps to intensify probes into IPR infringe-ments. Wang said the amount of seized pirated products last year increased by NT$2.61 billion from the year-earlier level.
■ Diplomacy
MOFA calls Hu's trip trivial
Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) recent three-leg African visit did not have any impact on Taiwan's relations with African countries, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Chang Pei-chi (張北齊), director of the foreign ministry's African Affairs Department, said at a regular news conference that Hu's visits to Egypt, Gabon and Algeria were mainly aimed at discussing possible cooperative projects in oil exploration. "Hu's African tour has not caused any adverse impact on our relations with African countries that either diplomatically recognize the Taiwan or China," Chang said.
■ Education
Schools offered salmon tour
King Car Education Foundation will sponsor an educational tour for elementary-school students on the ecology of Formosan landlocked salmon on March 29 and March 30 at Wuling Farm in Taichung County. The children will get a first-hand look at the breeding process and the ecological environment for this fish, which is considered a national treasure and an endangered species. More than 3,000 of the salmon have been breed over the past two years. During the tour, the children will also learn about environmental preservation. Elementary schools interested in signing up for the tour can contact the foundation at (02) 2368-0273, ex 111.
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 new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
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