■ ENVIRONMENT
Su Jun-pin to replace Shih
The Executive Yuan yesterday said Taoyuan County Government Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) chief Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) would succeed Vanessa Shih (史亞平) as Government Information Office minister and Executive Yuan spokesperson. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that Shih would become the country’s representative to Singapore, filling a vacancy left open three months ago when Kuo Shih-nan (郭時南), appointed by the former Democratic Progressive Party government, stepped down. Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday the Singaporean government had approved Shih’s appointment.
■ CIVIC GROUPS
Government to increase aid
The government is expected to increase its funding for local non-governmental organizations (NGO) to cooperate with international groups, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. David Wu (吳建國), deputy head of the Department of NGO Affairs, said the government welcomed NGOs to set up offices here as soon as issues such as tax policies were addressed. Wu said the government would increase its aid next year to local NGOs to work with groups abroad such as the US-based Mercy Corp on treating diseases and handling disasters, among other projects.
■ CRIME
Prosecutor sentenced
The Kaohsiung District Court on Monday sentenced a former prosecutor to eight years and six months in prison on charges of corruption, rape, forced obscene acts and obstruction of personal freedom. Wu Chieh-jen (吳傑人), a prosecutor of the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office, was found guilty of committing the offenses against more than 10 women who were targets of his investigations between 1999 and 2006. The court also decided to strip Wu of civil rights for five years after he finishes serving his prison term. The court ordered that Wu undergo mandatory treatment for his sexual urges before beginning his prison term. According to the prosecution, Wu used his influence as a prosecutor to coerce the women to have sex with him and succeeded in compelling one of the women to have sex with him twice in June 2006.
■ LABOR
Hotel dispute resolved
The labor dispute at the Kaohsiung Grand Hotel was resolved yesterday after the management promised to withdraw a plan to lay off 108 employees working for the hotel’s club. The deal was made at a meeting between labor and management representatives at the Legislative Yuan and was arbitrated by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平). It was agreed that the 108 employees would take a 10 percent voluntary salary cut starting in March and will be given full salaries after the hotel begins making a profit.
■ SOCIETY
TV reports corrected
A secretary to Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien yesterday corrected a report by cable TV stations that said he had been hospitalized since last Wednesday at Taipei Veterans General Hospital because of a myocardial infarction. Wang sought medical treatment as he was experiencing cardiac arrhythmia, his secretary said, adding that Wang did not undergo surgery as stations had reported. The secretary said that Wang was expected to be released from the hospital this afternoon.
■ IMMIGRATION
Tibetans get a break
About 110 Tibetan people who overstayed their visas will be granted temporary alien residence certificates early next year, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said in a statement late on Monday. The NIA decided to offer overstaying Tibetans temporary residence certificates after working with the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission in helping them resolve their current difficulties out of human rights considerations, the statement said. The NIA previously granted similar temporary residence permits to overstaying Thai and Myanmar students who are descendants of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops and have not been given citizenship by their respective countries of residence.
■ JUSTICE
‘Auntie’ files lawsuit
A 35-year-old woman is suing her neighbor for insulting her after he called her “Auntie,” it was reported yesterday. The woman, identified only by her surname Chen, is married and lives in Kaohsiung City. Her neighbor Wang, 30, parked his car near Chen’s door, which she objected to, the report said. Wang apologized, saying he was parking for a short time and would move soon. But Chen continued to complain. Wang, who was in hurry, said: “Auntie, let’s not quarrel over these trivial matters.” Chen said she felt aggrieved and sued Wang for “public insult.” “I have a good education, have a good job, earn a good salary, dress elegantly and have good manners. All my clothes are brand-name products,” she told police. “‘Auntie’ is the term used to refer to old women who yell with a harsh voice in the street, especially country bumpkins. So calling me ‘auntie’ is certainly an insult,” she told police, who failed to persuade her to drop the suit.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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