SOCIETY
NT$19 snack wins millions
A NT$19 (US$0.65) receipt for a snack food product is one of the lucky winners of a NT$10 million special prize in the latest uniform invoice lottery, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain said yesterday. The Ministry of Finance on Sunday announced the winning numbers for the January-February uniform invoice lottery. One customer won the special prize after purchasing a NT$19 snack at a 7-Eleven outlet in Banciao District (板橋), New Taipei City, the chain said in a statement. The winning number for the special prize is 21735266. Every uniform invoice with that number receives a special prize of NT$10 million. Supermarket chain Pxmart and convenience store chain Family Mart said they had also each issued an invoice that won a NT$10 million special prize.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Tsai meets foreign official
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Sandra Jovel and said she hopes that bilateral exchanges could deepen the friendship between the two nations. Tsai commended Jovel, who assumed her post in August last year, for her contributions to enhance relations between the two nations, and said she hopes the minister would continue her support for Taiwan. Tsai said the two nations have been friends for 85 years and cooperate closely on healthcare, agricultural techniques and technology, and infrastructure development. Jovel is leading a five-member delegation to Taiwan until tomorrow. Also yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) conferred a medal on behalf of the government on his Guatemalan counterpart in recognition of her support for Taiwan in the international arena, a statement issued by the ministry said.
POLITICS
Ma gets travel permit
The Presidential Office has approved an application by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to travel to the US next month, office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said on Sunday. Ma intends to visit the US from April 9 to 13, during which he is to give a speech at Stanford University, Lin said, adding that Ma’s application was reviewed based on the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and regulations governing restrictions by the Presidential Office on overseas travel by those involved in national secrets. It would be the fourth time Ma is to travel abroad since he stepped down in May 2016 after completing his second term in office. Ma flew to Malaysia in November 2016, and in February last year visited New York, Boston and Washington at the invitation of several US think tanks and academic organizations.
CRIME
Man arrested for extortion
Police on Sunday arrested a man in Taichung for allegedly attempting to extort money from the Chiayi City police earlier in the day with a bomb threat. The man, identified only by his surname, Wang, telephoned the bureau at about 2pm claiming he had placed a bomb in a women’s bathroom at the Chiayi high-speed railway station. Chiayi police said Wang demanded that the bureau pay him NT$1 million or he would detonate the bomb. After tracing the call to a hotel in Taichung, Chiayi police went to Taichung and contacted the local police. They arrested the 39-year-old at the hotel and took him back to Chiayi. They also checked to see if there was a bomb in one of the railway station’s restrooms, but did not find anything suspicious.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
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