■POLITICS
Combined election date set
The Central Election Commission decided yesterday to combine the elections for county and city heads and councilors, as well as township mayors, on Saturday, Dec. 5. Council Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) told a news conference after the meeting that the elections would be held together to cut down on expenses. The combined election would be held from 7am to 5pm that day, giving voters two more hours than the usual 8am to 4pm voting hours. Commission members also heard the dual citizenship case of former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator George Liu (劉寬平), who only formally gave up his US citizenship in 2007 after he finished his term as legislator from 2005 to 2007. Teng said the commission would not make a decision on revoking Liu’s elected status until after they collect relevant documents.
■POLITICS
KMT pushing assets revision
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Clean Government Committee is pushing for the early enactment of an amendment to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) that would lead to the prosecution of civil servants holding assets whose sources cannot be identified. The committee resolved on Tuesday to invite Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世), the executive director of the party’s Central Policy Committee, to brief the anti-corruption committee next month on progress made in pushing the amendment through the Legislative Yuan. Lin said he hoped the amendment could be passed this legislative session so that it can take effect as soon as possible. The amendment would hold public officials criminally liable if they cannot account for assets in their possession.
■SOCIETY
Asians sexually unhappy
Fifty-seven percent of men and 64 percent of women in the Asia-Pacific region are dissatisfied with their sex lives, news reports said yesterday. Respondents in only three of the 13 countries where the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer conducted a survey reported satisfaction rates of more than 50 percent. India ranked the highest with 73 percent of respondents to the Asia-Pacific Sexual Health and Overall Wellness survey saying they were satisfied. India was followed by the Philippines at 52 percent, Taiwan at 51 percent and New Zealand at 40 percent. Japan ranked the lowest at 10 percent. The survey by the company that makes Viagra was also conducted in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. It was conducted from May to July last year among 2,016 sexually active men and 1,941 sexually active women aged 25 to 74.
■VISAS
HK, Macau visas extended
The National Immigration Agency yesterday announced that the duration for landing visas or electronic visas for residents of Hong Kong and Macau would be extended to 30 days from 14 days, effective immediately. In other changes, the Ministry of the Interior announced that individuals deemed to be victims of human trafficking could bypass the visa application process if he or she agrees to help with official investigations. Individuals would be asked to stay in Taiwan as long as necessary to help with ongoing court cases. Meanwhile, missionaries must pass a government agency review process before being permitted to apply for residency in Taiwan, the ministry said.
■RESOURCES
Kinmen wants Chinese water
Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李柱烽) urged the Cabinet yesterday to allow the island to import potable water from China to solve water shortages. Doing so would also provide an alternative to local water that has long been criticized for its quality, Lee said. He raised the issue ahead of a meeting of the Council for Economic Planning and Development next week that will review the feasibility of a proposal by the Water Resources Agency to import water from China.
■CRIME
Robber leaves his number
A man was arrested over the theft of NT$5,000 from a computer engineer after leaving his phone number with his victim, local television reports said yesterday. The engineer was collecting money at a cash machine in Taichung County on Tuesday night when the man threatened him with a knife, cable news network ETTV said. The robber demanded more money from the engineer, who told him he could borrow NT$20,000 from his friends. The robber then left his phone number with the engineer, who gave it to police, ETTV said.
■CRIME
Court upholds Yeh sentence
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a district court’s verdict that sentenced former Procomp Informatics Co chairwoman Sophie Yeh (葉素菲) to 14 years in prison and a fine of NT$180 million (US$5.2 million) for her role in a NT$7 billion accounting fraud at the chipmaker. Yeh can still appeal. The Shilin District Court handed down the original verdict in December 2005. The High Court said Yeh had misled investors over Procomp by overstating the company’s sales and that her actions led to massive losses for investors and the company.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its