ENTERTAINMENT
True Love Harbor hosts show
The Greater Kaohsiung Government has invited the public to attend the Rainbow Bay Music Festival at the True Love Harbor, where more than 50 performers will take the stage from Saturday to Monday to celebrate the Double Ten National Day. The line-up features local singers, such as Bobby Chen (陳昇), Hebe Tien (田馥甄), Aboriginal rockers the Sun Eagles, singer-songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸), along with Tanya Chua (蔡健雅) of Singapore and Japanese rock band 9mm Parabellum Bullet. The 5 hectare venue includes four stages, a bazaar and a food section. To entice people from northern Taiwan to attend, Da Da Arts — one of the event organizers — has launched a ticket package in cooperation with the Taiwan High Speed Rail that includes a 20 percent discount for a round-trip ticket and entry to the festival.
TECHNOLOGY
‘Invisible key’ developed
Researchers have developed an “invisible key” technology that allows users to unlock their doors by means of simple hand gestures, the head of the team said on Monday. “In the future, you won’t have to worry about losing or forgetting your keys,” said Tsai Yao-pin (蔡耀斌) of the Technology and Science Institute of Northern Taiwan. At the heart of the technology is a chip that can detect movement in 3D, as used in Nintendo’s Wii video game console, he said. The technology allows users to easily unlock their doors by repeating a gesture preset in the sensor, he said. The “invisible key” won him a gold medal at the four-day Taipei International Invention Show and Technomart, which ended on Sunday. He said several interested companies have approached him about producing the technology, but he estimated that it could take about six months for the technology to go commercial.
TRANSPORTATION
Volkswagen top auto seller
German automaker Volkswagen AG was the largest supplier of imported cars last month as the company recorded its highest-ever monthly sales in the country, Ministry of Transportation and Communications statistics released yesterday showed. Volkswagen sold 1,509 cars last month, up 100 percent over August and 40 percent from a year earlier. Mercedes-Benz took second place with sales totaling 1,175 units, up 20 percent from August and 58 percent from a year earlier. BMW came in third with 1,137 units last month, up 65 percent from August and 35 percent from a year earlier. Total sales of locally made cars and imported ones last month reached 32,600 units, up 40 percent from August and 14.9 percent from a year earlier. Market observers said last month’s sales growth showed that consumers resumed buying following Ghost Month, which fell mostly in August this year and is traditionally a slow period for big-ticket sales.
DIPLOMACY
Lien named APEC envoy
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has named former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) his special envoy to this year’s leaders’ summit at the APEC forum. Lien was designated as Ma’s APEC envoy for the fourth consecutive year. The forum will take place on Nov. 12 and 13 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Presidential Office said in a press release that Lien was an “ideal choice” to attend the summit on Ma’s behalf because of his rich political experience and “outstanding performance” in engaging with global leaders over the past three years. Lien has accepted the request and would spare no effort in fulfilling the task, Lien’s office spokesperson Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超) said.
POLITICS
Councilor loses seat
The Taiwan High Court yesterday nullified Pai Min-chieh’s (白閔傑) election to the Changhua County Council after several of his campaign staff were found guilty of vote-buying. The ruling effectively stripped Pai of his position as vice speaker of the council. Pai said he found the ruling — which is final — regrettable. Pai entered politics after his father, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Changhua County Council speaker Pai Hung-shen (白鴻森), started serving a 46-month prison term. Pai Hung-shen was convicted of misappropriating NT$890,000 (US$30,000) to pay off friends and supporters.
LEISURE
Kaohsiung zoo may move
The Greater Kaohsiung Government is considering moving Shou Shan Zoo to a bigger site that can provide a better environment for the animals in its care, zoo officials said on Sunday. Fongshan (鳳山), Neimen (內門), Yanchao (燕巢) and Maolin (茂林) districts are four of the sites under consideration, the Zoo Management Center under Kaohsiung’s Tourism Bureau said. All four proposed sites are larger than the 12.89-hectare Shou Shan Zoo, the center said, adding that no timetable has been set for the move. One proposed site, in Fongshan District near Phoenix Mountain (鳳凰山) and the Republic of China Military Academy, covers 102 hectares of public land, Fongshan District chief Hu Chun-hsiung (胡俊雄) said. Hu welcomed the relocation plan, saying that if Fongshan were chosen, it would benefit the area’s development. Neimen District Office chief secretary Cheng Yung-chen (鄭永辰) also said his district would welcome the zoo. Founded in 1978 in Kaohsiung’s Sitzihwan (西子灣), the zoo moved to its current location in Shoushan (壽山) in 1986 to make room for the National Sun Yat-sen University.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
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
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