■ SOCIETY
Divorce hurting children
The Hualien branch of a social welfare group said yesterday that society should pay more attention to the impact of the growing divorce rate on children, with children often being raised by single mothers. Chen Ching-hui (陳清輝), director of the Hualien branch of the Chinese Fund for Children and Families, said the number of children in Hualien County receiving monetary subsidies from the organization was increasing at a rate of more than 300 annually. Chen said that a study conducted by the organization showed that most of the newly registered children were from households with divorced single parents, a demographic that was increasing by about 200 per year. The organization has lifted its threshold for applicants seeking economic handouts and is providing monthly monetary aid amounting to NT$5 million (US$164,000) to some 3,000 children from about 1,300 families in Hualien County, Chen said.
■ SCIENCE
NARL decides on new home
The National Science Council’s National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) said it would build its marine research center in Kaohsiung County. The facility will serve as headquarters for marine technology research and development, long-term observation of the nation’s marine environment and biology, and the training and cultivation of marine technology talent, NARL said. The national research center will also promote cooperation with other countries and organizations in the development of marine technology, push for the sustainable use of marine resources, and conduct marine disaster control and prevention. The headquarters, which will be located at Hsingta Port in Jiading Township (茄萣), will be built on a 6.6 hectare plot of land, while a wharf at the port will be renovated to accommodate four research ships.
■ HEALTH
Chiayi unveils tax exemption
Recreational businesses in Chiayi County that temporarily halted their operations because of the enterovirus outbreak can now apply for entertainment tax exemption. The county government’s Finance and Taxation Bureau said the move was part of efforts to halt the spread of enterovirus. As of Friday, 296 serious enterovirus cases — with 10 fatalities — had been confirmed around the country this year. The bureau said any businesses that decided to interrupt operations over enterovirus concerns could apply for the exemption, which would be granted after their case is examined by bureau officials.
■ CRIME
Fake ID ring busted
Law enforcement officials busted an eight-member forgery ring selling fake identification cards, driver’s licenses and various certificates, the Kaohsiung Public Prosecutors’ Office said on Friday. The office said prosecutors, supported by communications intercepts, raided 13 locations in Kaohsiung, Taoyuan and Taipei on Thursday and arrested the ring leader and his seven accomplices. The group had placed ads in newspapers to attract customers and sold certificates for NT$30,000 to NT$50,000. Police estimated that the ring had sold at least 1,000 fake IDs and certificates, including a fake license to practice medicine. A Chinese woman and her Taiwanese husband were among the accomplices and allowed their names to be used to make fake IDs, driver’s licenses and property ownership certificates. Through its operations, the ring managed to get more than NT$78 million (US$2.57 million) in loans from Taipei Fubon Bank, Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank and Union Bank of Taiwan.
‘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
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
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
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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