CRIME
Man sentenced for weed
A man was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for growing marijuana and making cigarettes, cream and chocolate out of the flowering plant categorized as a Category II narcotic, a Changhua District Court document released on Friday said. The court document said that the man, surnamed Tseng (曾), purchased 50 marijuana seeds for NT$25,000 from a person known as “Tank” on social media, and grew 50 marijuana plants based on YouTube video tutorials. In his defense, Tseng said he had been diagnosed with depressive disorders and that the marijuana products were for his personal use, the document said. Although there is no evidence to indicate that Tseng grew cannabis to sell and make a profit, he was sentenced to five years and six months according to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防治條例), the court said.
CULTURE
Musicians spotlight history
A group of musicians are to display 400 years of Taiwanese history in their performance of the Formosa Story in concerts in the German cities of Leipzig, Berlin, Stuttgart and Munich from today through Saturday. Music promoter Ho-Hai-Yan Arts, which has an office in Germany, invited the group consisting of pianist couple Lina Yeh (葉綠娜) and Rolf-Peter Wille, as well as violinists Su Shien-ta (蘇顯達) and Lin Ching-ju (林錦如), to take concertgoers on a journey of Taiwanese history through music and lyrics. The performances would blend the works of European composers such as Mozart and Richard Strauss with pieces by Japanese master Kosaku Yamada and Taiwanese masters Kuo Chih-yuan (郭芝苑) and Hsiao Tyzen (蕭泰然), Wille said.
OBITUARY
Phyllis Gomda Hsi dies
Taiwanese vocalist and music professor Phyllis Gomda Hsi (席慕德) passed away at the age of 85 on Tuesday last week, Hsi’s niece the pianist Solungga Liu (劉芳慈) wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. Liu said that her aunt passed away peacefully in her sleep in a nursing facility, where she had lived since the beginning of this month. Liu said Hsi had been relatively healthy leading up to her passing. Born in Beijing in 1938, Hsi attended National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), where she majored in vocal music with a minor in piano. Hsi studied at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Munchen in Germany in 1962, and became a soprano with Germany’s Theater Regensburg following her graduation. From 1969 to 1971, Hsi toured Southeast Asian countries twice to perform lieder — German art songs — at the behest of the Goethe-Institut Munchen. Hsi dedicated her career to training Taiwanese musicians before honing her talents in New York in 1975 by studying under US operatic soprano Eleanor Steber. She returned to NTNU in 1985 to continue teaching until her retirement in 2003.
DIPLOMACY
MOUs penned with Poland
Taiwan and Poland have signed two memorandums of understanding (MOU) on electric vehicles and hydrogen energy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday. The MOUs were signed by both sides during the 11th Taiwan-Poland Economic Consultations meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday, the ministry said, adding that the meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) and Polish Secretary of State for Economic Development and Technology Grzegorz Piechowiak.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
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