■ POLITICS
More women voted: CEC
More women than men voted in last month’s presidential election, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said yesterday. CEC figures showed that only 6,504,575 out of a total of 8,670,480 eligible male voters cast their ballots — a turnout of 75.02 percent. The figure was slightly lower than the number of females who voted, which was 77.65 percent. A total of 6,717,276 out of 8,651,142 eligible female voters went to the polls.
■ CRIME
Man arrested in Manila
A Taiwanese man suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and credit card fraud was arrested in the Philippine capital, a police spokesman said yesterday. Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said Yang Chih-chien was arrested on Sunday during a raid on his house in a posh subdivision in the Manila suburban city of Paranaque. Bartolome said the raiding team recovered 70kg of ketamine, a prohibited drug, with a street value of 350 million pesos (US$8.43 million). Police also recovered equipment and supplies used in the duplication and manufacture of fake credit cards and passports. Bartolome said the suspect was also facing various criminal charges in Manila and the central city of Cebu, but had posted bail.
■ FOOD
Milk passes residue test
Milk reported to have been tainted by antibiotics has passed drug residue tests, a Council of Agriculture (COA) official said yesterday. Huang Ying-hao (黃英豪), director of the council’s Department of Animal Industry, said health and agricultural authorities collected samples of the raw and processed milk in question for tests and the results “were either negative or showed no drug residue.” The allegedly tainted milk was sold under two fresh milk brands — Highland and General Milk (將軍牛乳) — which are both marketed by leading food manufacturer AGV Products Corp (愛之味). The milk was processed by an AGV-contracted dairy processing plant in Miaoli County. The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported on April 16 that one of the plant’s suppliers in Yunlin County supplied milk from diseased cows that was purchased at low prices from neighboring dairy farms. The revelation prompted AGV to recall the two brand and led health and agricultural authorities to launch an investigation.
■ SOCIETY
Students injured in accident
Fifteen students from National Taishan Senior High School were injured early yesterday when the bus carrying them to school crashed into a truck on the Dahan Bridge linking Banciao and Sinjhuang. Firemen and other emergency workers sent the 15 students, including four girls, to three hospitals for treatment. Most of the students suffered lacerations to the face, chest and knees. Several of them required stitches. Police said that a city bus owned by Sanchung Bus Co was carrying more than 30 students from Banciao City to their school, Taishan Senior High School in Taishan Township (泰山), when the accident occurred. Kung Chun-min (龔俊銘), the 38-year-old bus driver, said that as he drove onto the bridge, he saw that the roadway was covered with a film of grease. “I was driving at 40kph when I noticed that the truck ahead of me had stopped. I started to brake from 100m away, but could not stop the bus,” he said. Chiu Ching-han (邱清含), 33, the driver of the truck, said he also noticed the grease and had stopped the truck in order to caution traffic policemen on the other side of the road.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
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