CULTURE
Two nods for ‘Life of Pi’
The full list of this year’s nominees for the MTV Movie Awards were announced on Tuesday, with Taiwan-born director Ang Lee’s (李安) Life of Pi (少年PI 的奇幻漂流) nominated in two categories. Life of Pi lead actor Suraj Sharma was nominated for “Breakthrough Performance” and “Best Scared-as-Shit Performance.” The MTV Movie Awards ceremony will be held on April 14 in Los Angeles. According to the list, Django Unchained and Ted lead the pack with seven nominations each, followed by The Silver Linings Playbook, which landed six nominations.
Sports
Minister admonishes fans
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) yesterday urged baseball fans to refrain from using demeaning remarks against the South Korean national team when cheering for the Taiwanese national team in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Chiang made the comment in response to Taiwanese baseball fans using derogatory terms, such as “Korean dogs,” during the battle between the two archrivals on Tuesday night. “I believe that all the fans made such remarks out of love for their country and for our national team. I fully respect them, but I think there should be a boundary,” Chiang said. “Competition between two countries should always remain positive,” he added. By finishing at the top of Pool B in this year’s tournament, Taiwan secured a berth in the second round of the tournament for the first time since the event was launched in 2006.
TRADE
US delegation on its way
Deputy US Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis is to lead an interagency delegation to Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday for meetings of the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council, the American Institute in Taiwan said in a press release yesterday. Marantis’ delegation will be joined by officials from the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US departments of state, commerce and agriculture, as well as officials from the institute. Bilateral negotiations under the framework agreement had been suspended by the US since 2007 in response to Taiwan prohibiting the import of US beef, first because of concerns over mad cow disease and then because of the US’ use of the feed additive ractopamine. Taiwan’s delegation is to be led by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭).
CRIME
Fraud ring unmasked
The Criminal Investigation Bureau announced on Tuesday that it has cracked down on a telecommunications fraud ring and arrested 16 suspects. The ring was led by a Taiwanese man identified by police only by his surname, Sung (宋), who was arrested in China last month and is to be repatriated to Taiwan, the bureau said. According to a police report, Sung’s fraud ring specialized in hiring Chinese women to make telephone calls from China to random people in Taiwan. If the calls were answered by men, the women would try to lure them into a romantic liaison before trying to dupe them out of money. The fraudsters would ask their targets to help them out of financial woes, the report said, adding that the victims would be asked to show up for a date at which they would meet the ring’s Taiwanese female accomplices, who would then ask them for money. The bureau estimated that the ring has pilfered about NT$100 million (US$3.37 million) from more than 100 victims.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
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