■ Community
Catch 2006 at Taipei 101
The world's tallest skyscraper, Taipei 101, is inviting the public to watch the first sunrise of next year at its observatory on the 89th floor, officials said yesterday. The activity will be held from 4:30am on Jan. 1, but only 1,010 admission tickets will be available, they said. The tickets must be purchased in advance and buyers will be offered a gift box containing a set of commemorative badges and cards on which they can write down their New Year's wishes. Visitors will be able to hang their cards on a "wishing tree," the officials said.
■ Politics
Man says he paid voters
A man surnamed Hong turned himself in at the Banciao (板橋) District Public Prosecutors Office yesterday after allegations that the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Taipei County commissioner candidate, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), had paid out a "travel subsidy" to help voters attend his Nov. 27 campaign rally. Hong apparently told prosecutors he voluntarily gave a number of people NT$300 each so that they could attend the rally. DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), Luo's campaign manager, said that Hong is not one of the DPP's local organizers, and had handed out money on his own behalf. "While the travel allowance has nothing to do with Luo's campaign team, we have to say that it was very inappropriate behavior and we regret it," Lee said.
■ Society
MOI to form new group
A committee on the prevention of domestic violence and child abuse is to be established immediately, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The committee will offer rewards to those who report cases of domestic violence, Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said. According to ministry figures, there were 7,481 child-abuse cases reported this year as of September, surpassing the 5,927 cases as of September last year, and 30 deaths.
■ Fisheries
Tuna licenses at risk
The licenses of 42 tuna boats ordered to return home after the international community's cut in quotas for Taiwan's bigeye tuna catch will be revoked if the ships refuse to return to port, Fisheries Administration Deputy Director-General Sha Chih-i (沙志一) said yesterday. Sha said the agency is poised to revoke the licenses and will ask the international fishery community to treat them as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing vessels whose catches will be banned from export. Ship owners who fail to bring their boats home will face prison terms of three to seven years, he said.
■ Politics
Actresses sue Cho Po-yuan
The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) newly-elected Changhwa County commissioner, Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), is likely to face a lawsuit filed overseas against him for using the images of two Japanese actresses on one of his election flyers without authorization. The management companies for the two actresses, Norika Fujiwara and Inamori Izumi, are planning to sue Cho for violation of intellectual property laws, TVBS reported. According to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), the photos of the two actresses were from promotional photos used by Kanebo, a leading cosmetics company in Japan, in 2001. The DPP accused Cho of trying to pass the actresses off as his schoolmates, Hsu Hui-pao (許蕙寶) and Ku Hsiang-ling (谷湘玲). Cho yesterday said he didn't know that the women were Japanese actresses.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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