GOVERNMENT
VP discharged after surgery
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) was yesterday discharged from Taipei Veterans General Hospital after undergoing surgery for a herniated disk on Sunday, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said. After seeking medical attention for acute lower back pain, Lai was found to have herniated disks in his spine, requiring an hour-long microsurgery, Chang said, adding that Lai expressed thanks to hospital staff and to the public for messages of support. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wished him a speedy recovery.
PARKS
Plaque vandalism probed
A hiker could face a fine and be banned from climbing mountains in Hualien County’s Taroko National Park after he was seen holding an uprooted plaque marking the north peak of Chilai Mountain (奇萊山). On Sunday, images of the hiker appeared on social media showing him waving his middle finger at the camera and holding the plaque aloft after apparently ripping it out of the ground. If found liable for the damage, he could be ordered to pay compensation, fined NT$3,000 and banned from receiving hiking permits for the park’s mountains, park recreation director Nieh Shih-chao (聶士詔) said. The case has been referred to the National Park Police for investigation, Nieh said. The suspect denied that he caused the damage, saying that he had found the marker lying on the ground and wanted to take a photograph with it.
HOSPITALITY
Latte artist awarded
Barista Lin Shao-sing (林紹興) won third place in the latte art competition of the Milan World Coffee Championships, which concluded on Saturday in Milan, Italy. Lin placed third after three rounds of competition, starting with baristas making latte art. Lin and 11 others reached the semi-final, where they each made one matching set of free-pour macchiatos and two matching sets of free-pour latte patterns. Lin and five others advanced to the final, where they were judged on creativity, visual attributes, contrast in patterns, and in forming identical patterns in the matched sets of free-pour lattes and matched set of designer lattes. Lin placed behind South Korean barista Rora and the event’s champion, Carmen Clemente of Italy.
CRIME
Fraud nets jail term
A founder of the Taiwan Civil Government, which claims the nation is legally under US jurisdiction based on the terms of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, was on Friday sentenced to 19 years in prison and fined NT$2 million (US$67,540) for defrauding NT$100 million from about 300 people. Julian Lin (林梓安), secretary-general of the group, was sentenced by the Taoyuan District Court after she was convicted of profiting through fraud and money laundering. Taoyuan prosecutors began investigating the group in 2018 after receiving complaints of fraud. In 2018, prosecutors indicted six suspects for alleged contraventions of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例) and Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法). Lin’s husband, Roger Lin (林志昇), was also charged before he died in a fall at his home in 2019. Three others received sentences ranging from 10 months to 2.5 years, and fines ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$400,000. One other person was not found guilty. The rulings can be appealed.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
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