■ AID
Tzu Chi certifies volunteers
The Taiwan-based Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation will certify eight Zulu volunteers from the South Africa as officers of the foundation, a senior Tzu Chi official, Pan Ming-shui (潘明水), said yesterday. Pan, who provides aid services in southern Africa, said that with the certifications, the eight volunteers would now be authorized to visit people in need and hold fundraising activities on behalf of the foundation. The eight volunteers, who have already taken a two-year training course, are in Taiwan attending a five-day seminar for the foundation's international volunteers. Attended by more than 600 participants from 23 countries and territories, the seminar is being held in Hualien County, where the foundation's headquarters are located, Pan said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan makes donation
Taiwan donated US$170,000 to the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to boost bilateral cooperation in weather research and disaster prevention, Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, Wu Hsin-hsing (吳新興), said yesterday. Wu presented the donation to DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro on behalf of the Taiwanese government in Quezon City on Friday. The donation will help the Philippines on two research programs -- weather hazard prevention and rainfall analysis technology. The weather hazard prevention program aims to upgrade the equipment at the Philippines' high-altitude weather observation stations to collect better data on the formation of typhoons. The rainfall analysis program will improve the Philippines' rainfall observation network and rainfall analysis capabilities through the upgraded weather observation stations.
■ TRADE
Chinese dangers online
The Council of Mainland Affairs (MAC) recently launched a new Web page designed to remind Taiwanese of the global risks and challenges generated by China's rapid economic development. The new Web page can be accessed on the main page of the council's Web site at www.mac.gov.tw. MAC Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) said that low-priced Chinese products were now sold in many countries, which has brought unemployment problems and posed a threat to international trade. Citing WTO statistics, Liu said China had been the target of the highest number of anti-dumping investigations for the past 12 years in a row. Three hundred-and-seventy-five of China's 536 cases have resulted in the imposition of anti-dumping duties by the WTO, or twice the number of duties leveled against second-placed South Korea, he said.
■ JUSTICE
Judicial system a mystery
More than 70 percent of people do not have a full understanding of the nation's judicial system, a survey released by the Judicial Yuan showed yesterday. The poll was conducted from July 25 to Aug. 9, with 5,003 samples from people aged 20 and older. Of the respondents, 1,740 said they did not have any court experience. The poll showed that 72 percent of respondents said they did not have a full understanding of the country's judicial system, while 22 percent -- those with a higher education degree, a higher salary and/or more experience with the courts -- said they understood the system, the Judicial Yuan said. It said it would ask subagencies to improve public education on how it operates.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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