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.
‘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
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
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
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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