LEGISLATURE
Tax hike passes screening
A draft amendment that seeks to raise the cigarette tax to help finance the government’s long-term care program passed an initial screening at the legislature yesterday. The Finance and the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene committees passed the draft amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act (菸酒管理法) in a joint meeting. If passed by the full legislature, the amendment would raise the tax on cigarettes from NT$590 per kilogram, or 1,000 cigarettes, to NT$1,590, which would translate into a tax of NT$31.8 per pack, up NT$20 from the current NT$11.8. Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) said the hike is aimed at curbing smoking, promoting public health and would contribute NT$23.3 billion per year to the long-term care program, he said.
SOCIETY
Radio pioneer Tsui dies
Broadcaster and radio drama director Tsui Hsiao-ping (崔小萍) passed away on Saturday at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei at the age of 94, Chinese-language media reported. Tsui, who was born in Jinan, China, studied at the National Drama College in Sichuan Province during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She first came to Taiwan on a drama tour in 1948. After the Republic of China government lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949, she settled in Taiwan. Tsui introduced radio drama to the nation in the early 1950s. She was arrested in 1968, accused of being a Chinese Communist Party member and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After her released in 1977, Tsui taught at the National Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts), Shih Hsin School of Journalism (now Shih Hsin University) and Kuo Kuang Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan College of Performing Arts). She wrote a memoir, telling the story of her arrest, almost a decade in jail and her career, which was published in 2001.
SOCIETY
Ex-AIT official gets residency
A former US Army officer who worked at the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Taipei Office prior to his retirement last year was given a “plum blossom” permanent residency card on Saturday in recognition of his contribution to security cooperation between Taiwan and the US. Randy Hulme Lawrence, 53, was assigned to head the AIT’s technical section five years ago and was responsible for bilateral military cooperation. Lawrence said he was pleased to stay in Taiwan because he and his family love Taiwan. Lawrence earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies from University of Virginia and a master’s in security studies from the US Naval War College. From 2002 to 2005, he served as a military attache at the US consulate in Hong Kong and was stationed in China from 2008 to 2011.
CHARITY
Book sale set for TAS
The Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club is to hold its annual book sale on Saturday from 10am to 5pm in the school’s forecourt, lobby and cafeteria. The club has collected thousands of books, as well as magazines, comic books, games and DVDs. The books include classics, best-sellers, biographies, children’s and young adult titles, cookbooks, books on hobbies and learning languages and books about Taiwan and other Asian nations. While most of the materials are in English, there are scores of Chinese-language books and magazines. The money raised from the sale provides funding for orphans and other children in Taiwan. Admission to the fair is free. The school is at 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6, Tianmu (天母).
This story has been corrected since it was first published to indicate that the Orphanage Club book sale will be on Saturday, not Sunday.
‘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
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
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
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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