POLITICS
Ko’s detention continues
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is to be held incommunicado detention for another two months for alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City (京華城) case during his tenure as Taipei mayor. Ko decided not to appeal the Taipei District Court’s decision on Nov. 1, which agreed to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office’s request to extend his detention. Ko’s lawyers could appeal the decision until yesterday, and they did not. It means his detention would be extended to Jan. 4 next year, unless the court decides to release him on bail. Aside from Ko, other major suspects in the case being held in detention include Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), chairman of the Core Pacific Group (威京集團), which was in charge of the controversial Core Pacific City redevelopment project, Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) and then-deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲). Prosecutors said Sheen allegedly paid bribes of NT$47.4 million (US$1.47 million at the current exchange rate) to sway city government officials to substantially increase the floor area ratio — the amount of floor space a developer can build on a given plot of land — of the project.
MILITARY
Vintage bomb found
An army unit yesterday removed a “corroded” unexploded 227kg bomb from a construction site for a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) semiconductor plant in Kaohsiung, authorities said. The “severely corroded” bomb was found at the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park. Construction workers were briefly evacuated from the site while the army bomb disposal unit recovered the bomb. The device appeared to be from an “early period,” but its exact vintage could not be determined due to its “unclear serial number,” 8th Field Army spokeswoman Kung Chiung-yu (龔瓊玉) said. The bomb was later taken to a secure storage facility where it would be destroyed, Kung said. The area where it was found had been used by the Japanese Navy as a fuel plant during World War II and it was later converted into a refinery, the Bureau of Cultural Heritage’s Web site said. “We prioritize the safety of on-site personnel and will collaborate with the relevant authorities to adhere to the prescribed procedures,” TSMC said in a statement.
CRIME
Pager probe closed
Taipei prosecutors yesterday said they had closed a probe into pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September, dealing a deadly blow to Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying no Taiwanese citizens or companies were involved. Security sources have previously said the pagers carried the name of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, a company which has said that it did not produce them. The government has also said the pagers were not made in Taiwan. Taipei prosecutors said in a statement the AR-924 pager model that exploded in Lebanon was manufactured, traded and shipped by a firm called Frontier Group Entity, and made outside of Taiwan. However, Gold Apollo had authorized the company to use the Apollo trademark, they said. “There is no evidence indicating that any domestic manufacturers or individuals were accomplices in the relevant explosions, contravening the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, or engaging in other illegal activities,” they said in a statement. “No concrete evidence of criminal activity has been discovered in this case, nor have any specific individuals been implicated in any criminal activity, following a comprehensive investigation.”
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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