ENTERTAINMENT
Microsoft to offer TV service
Microsoft Corp yesterday announced its first TV service in Taiwan, as the world’s largest software company sought to break into the local TV market in cooperation with a cable operator. The on-demand service, which at present is only available to subscribers of cable operator Vee TIME in Taichung city and county, allows users to watch or access TV programs on various Internet-connected devices, including televisions with set-top boxes, computers and smartphones running the Windows operating system. “Cable subscribers have felt it inconvenient that they cannot organize favorite programs or pay by the number of channels they use. We have solved these problems by using Microsoft’s media platform Mediaroom,” Vee TIME chairman Richard Lai (賴富源) said. The service was expected to help increase the company’s number of subscribers from 780,000 this year to 1.5 million by next year, he said.
ENVIRONMENT
Government promotes green
Taiwan is working to foster an environment that will encourage private companies and local residents to develop green industries and combat global warming and resource degradation, Environmental Protection Administration Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) said. The centerpiece of the government’s plan, Shen said, was to promote the birth of 50 low-carbon communities around Taiwan over the next two years, six low-carbon cities within five years and four low-carbon living regions with 10 years. To achieve these goals, the government will push companies and banks devoted to ecological conservation to open offices in “low-carbon special zones,” in which electric vehicles will serve as the main means of transport, Shen said, adding that the government also planned to make the agricultural sector more environmentally friendly and turn incinerators into biomass energy production centers.
HEALTH
New dengue case in north
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced a new case of dengue fever in Taipei County and put the north of the country on alert. A 72-year-old man from Wugu Township (五股) this week became the third confirmed case of indigenous dengue fever in Taipei County this year. CDC deputy director Lin Ting (林頂) said that many more cases might come to light. The elderly patient had not visited the south nor been abroad, but lives close to two patients who were infected with dengue fever after returning from a trip to Cambodia in August. “We have reason to believe that this is the result of a cluster infection and suspect that the elderly patient is not the only indigenous dengue patient living in Wugu,” Lin said. The Department of Health has set up a dengue screening station to provide free blood tests, with Lin warning people in the north not to lower their guard regarding possible infection.
CRIME
Former prosecutor sentenced
The Taiwan High Court’s Kaohsiung branch yesterday sentenced a former prosecutor to seven years, six months in prison on counts of corruption, rape, forced obscene acts and obstruction of personal freedom. Wu Chieh-jen (吳傑人), who worked out of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, was found guilty of committing the crimes against more than 10 women who were targets of his investigations between 1999 and 2006, the court said. According to the ruling, Wu used his influence as a prosecutor to coerce the women to have sex with him.
CULTURE
Taiwanese wins film award
Let’s Be Friends!, directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Wang Chun-chiang (王君強), won a Certificate of Honorable Mention at the 58th annual Columbus International Film and Video Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Taiwan’s liaison office in Chicago said yesterday. The documentary displays Taiwanese people’s passion and friendliness and the depth of Chinese culture preserved in Taiwan, the office said. It is hoped the film will encourage foreigners to study Chinese in Taiwan, the office added. Established in 1952 to encourage the use of film and video in all forms of education and communication, the event is one of the oldest film festivals in North America.
DIPLOMACY
Brothers held in Tanzania
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday night confirmed that two Taiwanese brothers surnamed Hsu (許) have been detained in Tanzania for over a year. The ministry said it has been monitoring the situation closely. Ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the older brother was the captain of an Oman-registered fishing boat, Tawariq 1. The elder brother, along with a crew of 30-plus, was detained by Tanzania on March 8 last year for fishing illegally and holding an expired fishing license, Chang said. The captain’s younger brother, who operated a boat based in Kenya, was also detained when he went to Tanzania to try and rescue his elder brother. Chang said the matter was brought to the ministry’s attention on Oct. 25 last year and the country’s representative offices in South Africa and Oman have been closely watching the situation and providing assistance. Chang said the ship owner has hired lawyers to oversee the legal process and that the Omani government was also involved as the boat was registered in that country.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
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