■ DOCUMENTARIRES
Discovery invites producers
The Discovery Channel is inviting proposals for a new documentary series focusing on the “100 years of the Republic of China (ROC),” the company said yesterday. Submissions are open only to production companies registered in Taiwan, and at least 50 percent of the production team's main staff should be Taiwanese nationals, the company said. The deadline for submission is March 31. The series, titled Taiwan Revealed, will be broadcast in 32 countries across Asia next year to coincide with the 100th founding anniversary of the ROC. It is the latest cooperation project between Discovery and the Government Information Office after Portraits Taiwan, Unknown Taiwan, and Focus Taiwan. For more information, contact the Taiwan office of the Discovery Channel at (02) 6639-9355.
■ FESTIVALS
Calla Lily fest coming up
The annual Calla Lily Festival will start on March 26 in Yangmingshan’s Zhuzihu (竹子湖), where the white flowers cover the valley every year and visitors can enjoy musical performances while admiring the view. The festival will run through April 25, and more than 45 calla lily farms in the area will open their doors to visitors. Beitou Farmers’ Association, one of the organizers of the festival, said about 40 percent of the calla lilies in Zhuzihu have already blossomed. The calla lilies will be in full bloom during the festival. In addition to enjoying the fresh air and beautiful flowers, visitors can pick flowers in the fields. The Taipei City Department of Economic Development said admission for flower-picking is NT$100 and each visitor would be allowed to pick a bouquet of 10 flowers. The festival will also feature floral design exhibitions and music performances, the department said.
■ CRIME
Couple traded black coral
A Taiwanese couple have pleaded guilty to illegally exporting hundreds of kilograms of protected black coral to the US Virgin Islands. The plea deal says Ivan and Gloria Chu got the coral from a warehouse in China for their business supplying materials for jewelry design. From 2007 to last year, they sent more than US$194,000 worth of black coral to an unidentified St Thomas merchant. The couple pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges, including making false statements and violations of the Endangered Species Act. Ivan Chu agreed to serve two-and-a-half years in prison, and Gloria Chu agreed to serve 20 months. Black coral is a fragile organism that attaches itself to rocks in deep ocean water.
■ SOCIETY
Book sale to help orphans
The Taipei American School's (TAS) Orphanage Club will hold its annual book sale today from 10am to 5pm in the lobby and forecourt of the school. Club members have collected hundreds of books, magazines and games. The books include recent best-sellers, manga, mysteries, biographies, histories, children's books and English-teaching books. There is an especially large number of books for teenagers this year. Scores of books in Chinese, Japanese and other languages are also available. Money raised from the book sale will go to help orphans and other needy children in Taiwan and abroad. The school is located at 800 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 6, in Tianmu (天母). In the event of rain, the sale will be postponed to next Saturday.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)