■POLITICS
Ma to respect Yilan fine
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would respect an Yilan County Election Commission decision to fine him NT$500,000 for citing opinion polls within 10 days of the weekend’s local elections, and would pay the fine with his own money, the party said yesterday. “Chairman Ma said it was his personal negligence, and he should take full responsibility for it,” KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said yesterday at KMT headquarters. Ma cited an opinion poll when addressing the KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Yilan County on Nov. 25 as indicating that the race in Yilan would be tight and party members should step up campaign efforts. Article 53 of the Election and Recall Act (選舉罷免法) prohibits individuals and political parties from reporting, publishing, commenting on or quoting the results of opinion polls in the 10 days before an election.
■ENVIRONMENT
Littering fines increased
Motorists who throw waste or litter on the nation’s freeways will soon face tougher penalties under initiatives announced by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). While fines for the illegal disposal of waste are set at between NT $1,200 and NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), EPA officials said that because of increasing amounts of waste on freeways, offenders would now be charged under the Act Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulation (道路交通管理處罰條例), which carries a minimum fine of NT$3,000. Both acts contain overlapping passages dealing with illegal waste disposed from moving vehicles. Officials said that most litter on freeways were return tickets and receipts from toll booths.
‘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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