No. 1 films at the box office may not be blockbusters after all…

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/16
By: Olivia Yang

The long-running saga over murky box office numbers in Taiwan does not appear to be

anywhere near being resolved, despite a recent meeting between the government and industry players in Taipei.

The Ministry of Culture on Aug. 12 held a public hearing to discuss the transparency of box office reports with representatives from film companies, academics, motion picture associations and other personnel from the film industry.

In the past, Taipei was the only part of Taiwan that collected box office statistics, and an estimate country total was calculated by doubling the numbers for Taipei. The lack of accurate box office reports gave room for multiple film distributors to make concurrent claims to having “a No. 1 film at the box office.”

Many smaller theaters outside Taipei operate under tight budgets and have difficulty estimating future audience numbers. Rather than splitting the box office revenue with distributors, local theaters often have agreements with distributors to purchase the full rights to show major blockbusters, which means they are free to collect the entire box office revenue     .[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/17
By Yu Kai-hsiang and Kay Liu

Taipei, Aug. 17 (CNA) Nine foreign nationals, who were arrested in April on allegations of

using forged bank cards to steal more than NT$2.4 million (US$76,475.99), have been indicted on counterfeiting and money laundering charges, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said Wednesday.

The nine suspects, eight Romanians and one Briton, were arrested after Taiwanese authorities received information from Interpol about a criminal fraud ring operating out of Taiwan.

Several banks in Taiwan had also filed reports about surveillance video footage that showed foreign nationals using counterfeit ATM cards.

According to prosecutors, several members of the criminal ring entered Taiwan in February 2014 and had been using bank card information and pin numbers collected abroad to create counterfeits.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 18, 2016
By: Ou Hsiang-yi, Chen Yung-chi, Yang Chun-hui and Jonathan Ch / Staff reporters, with staff writer

The China Youth Corps on Monday last week completed the sale of an alleged Chinese

Nationalist Party (KMT) asset in Taipei, a property estimated to be worth NT$450 million (US$14.3 million), just days before the Act Governing the Handling of Illegal Assets by Political Parties and their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例) took effect, sources said.

The sale sparked a furor among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians, who said that the China Youth Corps — frequently accused of profiting as a KMT affiliate from properties and assets expropriated during Taiwan’s authoritarian era — could be trying to liquidate its assets to avoid legal scrutiny.

According to Taipei City Government public records, the organization sold the property on Zhongshan N Road Sec 1 to Sunrise Construction, formalizing the sale on July 29 and completing the transfer of its deed four days before the law took effect on Friday last week.

Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement chairman-designate Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that according to the law, any entity that is an “affiliate organization of a political party” must declare its holdings, including assets that were sold to a third party prior to the act’s promulgation.     {FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 18, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Presidential Office on Wednesday denied it had pressured police

to drop charges against a senior Turkish diplomat. The diplomat was involved in a scuffle with local police officers while he was reportedly drunk.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said the office has no comment about such an “ungrounded and false” accusation raised by the magazine report, which used anonymous sources to point fingers at the office.

“We feel regretful and disturbed over such a report,” Huang added.

Huang’s comments came as a clarification after a Want Weekly article published Wednesday accused the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of forcing Taipei police to drop charges against Turkish Trade Office in Taipei (TTOT) Deputy Representative Halil Ibrahim Dokuyucu.

TTOT represents Turkish interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.     [FULL  STORY]

Through ‘confessions’ and TV trials, the CCP is seeking to discredit human rights activists and lawyers. Sadly, some media outlets in Taiwan and Hong Kong have no compunction in spreading the message.

The News ense
Date: 2016/08/16
By: J. Michael Cole

The International Federation of Journalists (IFEX), an organization that defends and

promotes freedom of expression worldwide, has accused Taiwanese and Hong Kong media of complicity in China’s campaign to discredit its critics.

IFEX states that on Aug. 1, two Hong Kong outlets, the Oriental Daily and Phoenix Television, were granted exclusive rights by Chinese authorities to broadcast the “confession” of human rights lawyer Wang Yu (王宇), who had been in detention since July 2015 on allegations of subverting the state power. One hour later, the Shanghai-based online magazine The Paper also ran the “exclusive,” along with video footage of Wang’s “confession.”

In her “confession,” Wang denounced Zhou Shifeng (周世鋒), the head of the Beijing-based Fengrui law firm, which specializes in human rights cases and has been one of the main targets of China’s crackdown on activists, as an “unqualified lawyer.”      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/16
By: Claudia Liu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) Interior Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said late Tuesday he had not informed any country of a visit he made to Taiping Island and that it was not “directly related” to reported pre-arrangements for a possible visit to the South China Sea island by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Yeh made the remarks upon returning from a visit to the island at the head of a delegation that included officials and academics.

He said he made the visit mainly because household, civil and land administration of the island are parts of his job as minister of the interior.

“This will not be the last of my inspection tour of the island,” he said, adding that however, the just-concluded visit was not directly related to whether arrangements were being made for a visit by the president.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 17, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Agitated animal rights activists injured two court officials as protesters

mobbed alleged cat-killer Chan Ho-yeung (陳皓揚) outside the Taipei District Court Tuesday afternoon.

Over 100 activists and cat lovers expressed anger against Macanese National Taiwan University student Chan, who has confessed to killing two cats since January. Protesters swarmed the Taipei District Court on Tuesday, demanding the heaviest possible penalty be levied against him.

Representatives of the Stray Animals Rescue Organization (台灣流浪動物救援協會) called for Chan’s suspension from school and the termination of his permission to remain in the country.

Addressing the crowd of protesters, Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), director of the Association of Taiwan Tree-huggers (台灣樹人會), appealed for urgent amendments to current laws regulating animal protection.     [FULL  STORY]