■ 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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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