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.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
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