SPORTS
ISU apologizes over flag
The International Skating Union (ISU) on Thursday apologized for displaying the flag of Taiwan rather than the “Chinese Taipei” emblem at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston. The Taiwanese flag was displayed on a video screen behind skater Li Yu-hsiang (李宇翔) when he was introduced ahead of his short program earlier in the day. The TD Garden public address announcer read the apology before the pairs event. “The ISU would like to sincerely apologize for the display of the incorrect flag for Chinese Taipei during the ISU World Figure Skating Championships event today,” it said. “We fully understand the sensitivity of this mistake and deeply regret any offense or confusion this may have caused,” it said. Li finished 30th in the short program.
Photo: AFP
SOCIETY
Actor cancels visit
South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun, known for his role in the My Love From the Star TV series, has canceled his visit to Kaohsiung amid controversy surrounding the death of his former girlfriend, South Korean actress Kim Sae-ron. President Chain Store Corp, the organizer of the Sakura Festival, on Tuesday said that Kim Soo-hyun would not be attending “due to a change in his schedule.” Tomorrow’s event would proceed as planned, except for his scheduled appearance, it said, adding those who purchased tickets for that day can ask for a full refund from 10am on Monday until 11:59pm on April 15. Kim Sae-ron took her own life on Feb. 16, Kim Soo-hyun’s birthday. South Korean media reported that Kim Sae-ron’s parents claimed Kim Soo-hyun, who is about 12 years older than their daughter, had been in a six-year relationship with her, beginning when she was 15. Kim Sae-ron later signed with Gold Medalist, an agency that also represents Kim Soo-hyun, the reports said. Her parents alleged that the agency mishandled their daughter’s affairs, the reports said. On March 14, Gold Medalist said that the two had been in a relationship, but added that they only began dating when Kim Sae-ron was an adult.
CRIME
Man indicted after fall
A man in his 70s, surnamed Lin (林), has been charged with murder after his wife fell to her death from a 14th-floor living room window on Dec. 9 last year, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office said on Thursday. Lin is suspected of pushing his wife out of a window of their apartment, prosecutors said, adding that his wife, who was in her 60s and had been bedridden due to hydrocephalus — a buildup of fluid in the brain — fell to her death. Lin turned himself in later that day and the New Taipei City District Court granted a motion by prosecutors to detain him. The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department said there was no record of domestic abuse. Prosecutors on Tuesday said that Lin had intended to kill his wife.
SOCIETY
Daycare center fined
A Hsinchu City daycare center would be fined NT$240,000 and its public subsidies ended following the death of a baby this week, the city government said on Thursday. The four-month-old girl asphyxiated on March 11 while sleeping at a government-subsidized daycare center and was pronounced dead on Monday after being sent to a hospital, Hsinchu City Councilor Liu Yen-ling (劉彥伶) said. The Hsinchu Department of Social Affairs had conducted an inspection of the daycare center and held a special inquiry on Tuesday to assess the incident.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS