ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix to increase fees
Netflix on Friday said that its subscription fees in Taiwan are to increase by 7 to 18 percent, effective immediately. Basic plans are to rise from NT$270 to NT$290 per month, standard plans from NT$330 to NT$380 and premium plans from NT$390 to NT$460, Netflix said. Netflix subscribers would be notified of the fee hike one month before they need to pay the new rate and new subscribers would be charged the new cost upon subscribing. Netflix said their “plans and prices may change” as they “add more TV shows and movies, and introduce new product features.” It said it would continue investing in new programs and movies to prove the new subscription cost is worth it. Price adjustments in Taiwan would not affect pricing in other places, Netflix said, adding that it has different pricing strategies for each country and region.
CRIME
Smuggling suspects indicted
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted 18 people suspected of smuggling 891.86kg of ketamine into Taiwan. They were charged with contravening the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) and the Smuggling Penalty Act (懲治走私條例), the prosecutors’ office said. The office said it had established a task force to investigate and monitor people and locations after receiving tip-offs about a plan to smuggle drugs through the northern coast. On July 8, the task force found a truck carrying 35 sacks of ketamine, a category 3 narcotic, in New Taipei City. The driver, people conducting the transport and porters were arrested at the scene, and ketamine of 83.9 percent purity was seized, it said, adding that the task force tracked down the suspected leader of the smuggling operation, a man surnamed Tsao (曹).
LEISURE
Silks Place Taroko to close temporarily
The Silks Place Taroko, the only five-star hotel at Taroko National Park in Hualien County, is temporarily closing its doors until Jan. 15 next year to sort out water and power supply issues caused by Typhoon Kong-rey, the hotel said on Friday. The damage made it difficult to maintain normal day-to-day operations, as the property is cut off from its main water supply, while its electricity supply remains unreliable given that work to fix the power grid in the mountainous area continues, it said. The typhoon was another blow to the hotel, which had been through several natural disasters this year, including an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale off the coast of Hualien on April 3, a series of aftershocks and typhoons in recent months. The hotel closed after the earthquake in April and reopened on Oct. 3. It said that due to the closure, those with vouchers from last year can use them until June 30 next year, while the expiry date for this year’s vouchers is Sept. 30 next year.
SEISMOLOGY
Chiayi hit by 4.4 quake
An earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale struck Chiayi County in southern Taiwan at 7:42pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was 19.8km east-southeast of Chiayi County Hall, in Zhongpu Township (中埔鄉), at a depth of 5km, CWA data showed. The quake’s intensity was highest in Chiayi City, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in other parts of Chiayi County and in neighboring Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries following the quake.
‘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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