ELECTIONS
By-elections date changed
Legislative by-elections for seats vacated in Taipei and Taichung following the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections are to be held on Jan. 27, the Central Election Commission announced yesterday. The commission on Friday last week said that the by-elections would be held on Jan. 26. When lawmakers on Monday suggested shifting the date, as it would coincide with the annual General Scholastic Ability Test, which determines entrance to the nation’s universities, the commission at the time said that the date could not be changed. However, it changed the date following an internal meeting yesterday. The by-elections are to fill seats representing a district in Taipei previously held by the Democratic Progressive Party’s Pasuya Yao (姚文智) and in Taichung held by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
CRIME
Former lawmaker a fugitive
Former KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) was on Friday last week declared a wanted person by the New Taipei City District Court for his failure to appear in court. The wanted notice is valid until April 1, 2041. Lee was in September indicted on charges of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), for which he could be sentenced to seven years in prison, and of forgery under the Criminal Code. Prosecutors have accused Lee of embezzling NT$5.32 million (US$173,262) to pay NT$100,000 in alimony to his ex-wife and personal travel fees by applying for assistant fees using dummy accounts.
CULTURE
Calendar promotes military
Renowned album cover designer and four-time Grammy Award nominee Xiao Qing-yang (蕭青陽) has designed the Ministry of National Defense’s calendar for next year, the ministry said in a statement yesterday promoting the product. Titled Around-the-Clock: Defending Our Country, the calendar was designed with the aim of encouraging Taiwanese to show greater support for those serving in the military who stand on guard around the clock, the ministry said, adding that it is the first to include English-language captions for photographs. A total of 5,000 calendars are to be distributed to military units nationwide. It can also be bought at the Taipei-based military-run Youth Daily News.
DIPLOMACY
Su to attend Bush funeral
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday left for the US to attend the state funeral of former US president George H.W. Bush. Bush, who died on Friday last week aged 94, is to lie in state at the US Capitol before a state funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral today. US President Donald Trump was also scheduled to attend the service.
CRIME
Three arrested in drug bust
Three men have been arrested and held incommunicado in connection with the discovery of 322.97kg of ketamine, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday. The men were on Nov. 20 apprehended during a stakeout in Taoyuan when they picked up the class-three drugs, which were smuggled into the nation in a container from Shenzhen, China, the office said in a statement. Authorities also confiscated 14 smartphones, an air pistol, an additional 90g of ketamine, a BMW sports car, five expensive watches and other items, as well as NT$2 million, 4,100 yuan (US$600) and HK$45,000 (US$5,766) in cash, it added.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
CASE COUNT: The deceased had advised law enforcement agencies regarding 60 fraud cases this year, leading to the confiscation of NT$9.3 billion in alleged illegal proceeds Prosecutors yesterday launched an investigation into the death of cryptocurrency expert Miffy Chen (陳梅慧), who died in a car crash on Wednesday under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances following her work with law enforcement to track down NT$9.3 billion (US$286.97 million) in alleged illegal proceeds. Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) tasked the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office with investigating the incident following requests from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and other agencies with which she worked to crack several prominent cases involving financial fraud and money laundering. Chen was killed in a six-car pileup near Hsinchu in the northbound lanes of Sun
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