CRIME
Drugs seized at airport
A large shipment of ketamine was seized at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday, the largest amount ever confiscated from an air shipment, the Aviation Police Office said yesterday. The drugs, disguised as desiccants, were found hidden in women’s shoes in four batches of cargo that arrived from Hong Kong early on Saturday, the police said. The 225kg of ketamine had a street value of NT$500 million (US$16.72 million), according to police. The recipient of the cargo, a man surnamed Huang (黃), was arrested later on Saturday and handed over to prosecutors yesterday for questioning, the aviation police said. Authorities have been cracking down on ketamine trafficking amid concern at the high rate of drug abuse among students and the health dangers it poses. Under the nation’s antidrug laws, manufacturing, transporting and dealing ketamine is punishable by a minimum of five years in prison.
GOVERNMENT
License agreement signed
Taiwan and Canada’s Prince Edward Island have signed an agreement in which each side will recognize driver’s licenses issued by the other. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Toronto said the agreement was signed on Dec. 13. From that day, people who have held Taiwanese driver’s licenses for sedans, trucks, buses or articulated vehicles for at least two years and who have residency on Prince Edward Island can apply for the Canadian province’s Class Five driver’s license without taking an examination. People who have held Class 1 to Class 5 licenses issued by Prince Edward Island for more than two years and who have held Taiwanese residency for at least one year can apply for a Taiwanese B-category driver’s license for a sedan within one year of entering the nation, according to the agreement. Those who qualify can submit an application to the Directorate-General of Highways or Access PEI, the one-stop location where provincial government services are provided on Prince Edward Island.
ENTERTAINMENT
Berlin to show local films
Three Taiwanese films, including one by this year’s winner of best director at the Golden Horse awards, Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), are scheduled to be shown at the Panorama program of the annual Berlin International Film Festival. Among the first 19 films chosen so far are Xi You (西遊) by Tsai, Bai Mi Zha Dan Ke (白米炸彈客) by Cho Li (卓立) and Bing Du (冰毒) by Midi Z (趙德胤). The three showings at the festival, which starts on Feb. 7, will be the world premieres for each film. Fifty fiction and documentary films will also be chosen for the Panorama program. The Panorama selection’s target audience includes parties interested in buying the rights to the films.
SOCIETY
Barbie visits Taoyuan
A life-size Barbie went on display for the first time on Saturday in Taoyuan County. The 175cm-tall doll will be on display at the TaiMall shopping center until Feb. 16 to show the fashion icon from a different perspective, mall general-manager Miao Yen-mei (苗延梅) said. The Barbie is the largest in the world and is on display for the first time ever, Miao said. The doll, dressed in a white gown, is being displayed in a section of the mall that simulates a pink cruise ship. As part of the show, visitors will be allowed to take pictures with the Barbie and to dress like her, Miao said. The mall has invested more than NT$5 million (US$167,000) in the exhibition.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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