CRIME
Man sentenced for weed
A man was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for growing marijuana and making cigarettes, cream and chocolate out of the flowering plant categorized as a Category II narcotic, a Changhua District Court document released on Friday said. The court document said that the man, surnamed Tseng (曾), purchased 50 marijuana seeds for NT$25,000 from a person known as “Tank” on social media, and grew 50 marijuana plants based on YouTube video tutorials. In his defense, Tseng said he had been diagnosed with depressive disorders and that the marijuana products were for his personal use, the document said. Although there is no evidence to indicate that Tseng grew cannabis to sell and make a profit, he was sentenced to five years and six months according to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防治條例), the court said.
CULTURE
Musicians spotlight history
A group of musicians are to display 400 years of Taiwanese history in their performance of the Formosa Story in concerts in the German cities of Leipzig, Berlin, Stuttgart and Munich from today through Saturday. Music promoter Ho-Hai-Yan Arts, which has an office in Germany, invited the group consisting of pianist couple Lina Yeh (葉綠娜) and Rolf-Peter Wille, as well as violinists Su Shien-ta (蘇顯達) and Lin Ching-ju (林錦如), to take concertgoers on a journey of Taiwanese history through music and lyrics. The performances would blend the works of European composers such as Mozart and Richard Strauss with pieces by Japanese master Kosaku Yamada and Taiwanese masters Kuo Chih-yuan (郭芝苑) and Hsiao Tyzen (蕭泰然), Wille said.
OBITUARY
Phyllis Gomda Hsi dies
Taiwanese vocalist and music professor Phyllis Gomda Hsi (席慕德) passed away at the age of 85 on Tuesday last week, Hsi’s niece the pianist Solungga Liu (劉芳慈) wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. Liu said that her aunt passed away peacefully in her sleep in a nursing facility, where she had lived since the beginning of this month. Liu said Hsi had been relatively healthy leading up to her passing. Born in Beijing in 1938, Hsi attended National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), where she majored in vocal music with a minor in piano. Hsi studied at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Munchen in Germany in 1962, and became a soprano with Germany’s Theater Regensburg following her graduation. From 1969 to 1971, Hsi toured Southeast Asian countries twice to perform lieder — German art songs — at the behest of the Goethe-Institut Munchen. Hsi dedicated her career to training Taiwanese musicians before honing her talents in New York in 1975 by studying under US operatic soprano Eleanor Steber. She returned to NTNU in 1985 to continue teaching until her retirement in 2003.
DIPLOMACY
MOUs penned with Poland
Taiwan and Poland have signed two memorandums of understanding (MOU) on electric vehicles and hydrogen energy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday. The MOUs were signed by both sides during the 11th Taiwan-Poland Economic Consultations meeting in Warsaw on Tuesday, the ministry said, adding that the meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) and Polish Secretary of State for Economic Development and Technology Grzegorz Piechowiak.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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