CRIME
Oil trader jailed
The Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday sentenced a businessman who sold oil to North Korea to one year in prison for contravening the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (資恐防制法). Huang Wang-ken (黃旺根) sold 2,829 tonnes of oil to North Korea by arranging illicit ship-to-ship fuel transfers in international waters, prosecutors said. A tanker owned by Huang — the Panamanian-flagged Shang Yuan Bao — was sanctioned by the UN Security Council in October 2018 over the transfers, with the US Department of the Treasury imposing secondary sanctions on three of Huang’s shipping companies in August 2019. The court said that Huang had “seriously tarnished Taiwan’s image, and put it at risk of being sanctioned or reproached by the UN and the international community.” The court said it reduced a 14-month sentence Huang received in April in a trial at a lower court as the businessman confessed to wrongdoing in his most recent trial. The verdict can be appealed.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Kinmen Bridge to open
Kinmen Bridge, which connects the county’s main island and Little Kinmen, or Lieyu (烈嶼), would open to traffic on Sunday, the Freeway Bureau said. The final preopening inspection of the bridge was carried out on Monday and suggested improvements — which covered areas such as drainage, traffic engineering, traffic control systems and lighting — would be completed today, the bureau said. The 4.8km bridge stretches east-west connecting Jinning Township’s (金寧) Cihhu (慈湖) on the larger island to Houtou (后頭) in Lieyu Township. The project, which was approved by the Executive Yuan in 2010 and launched in 2012, had been plagued by problems such as inexperienced contractors and construction crews, which resulted in contracts being terminated twice, the bureau said. In 2016, a new contract was awarded, and construction resumed in December that year, it said. Meanwhile, the Kinmen County Government on Wednesday said that next year’s Kinmen Marathon would be revised to include the new bridge. Registration is to open on Nov. 11 for the marathon, which is scheduled for Feb. 11 and 12. The organizers have not released updated details of the race routes.
SOCIETY
Poster painter dies
Chen Tzu-fu (陳子福), a prolific painter of movie posters before printed posters became the norm, has passed away, the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute said on Tuesday. He was 96. Chen was hailed as a national treasure for painting nearly 5,000 movie posters. Before mass printing of commercial movie posters became the norm, Chen would paint posters of domestic and international films freehand, often based on only a cursory understanding of the plot. Chen captured the essence of a film through his vibrant use of colors and dramatic use of framing, the institute said. At the peak of his career, he made about 40 posters a month to be hung at movie theaters, it said. Chen retired in 1994 after painting his final movie poster for the Meryl Streep and Glenn Close film The House of the Spirits. Following his retirement, he received a Special Award at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards in 2006. In 2018 and 2019, Chen donated 1,172 of his works to the institute, which are archived as important artifacts that document the history of Taiwanese cinema.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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