■ Politics
Ma denies museum rumors
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday dismissed local reports that the Taipei City Government was planning to use the party's Taipei headquarters to house a "Taipei City Museum." According to the head of the Taipei City Government's metropolitan development bureau, Hsu Chih-chien (許志堅), a meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss possible locations for a new city museum. Although different venues were discussed, the KMT's headquarters was not mentioned as one of the options, he said. If the Taipei City Government decided to use the KMT headquarters for its city museum, it would need to negotiate with the party on whether to buy the property, which could be advantageous for the KMT, which is said to be facing financial problems.
■ Diplomacy
Foreign officials to visit
Officials in charge of economic development from eight of the nation's diplomatic allies in Central and South America will visit Taiwan to attend a month-long workshop on the country's experience in economic development and planning scheduled to start on Monday, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday. The Latin American officials will learn about Taiwan's economic development and planning by attending over 20 classes to be given by local economics officials and experts at the Grand Hotel in Taipei and via field trips to related locations and venues, said Chen Cheng-chung (陳正忠), secretary-general of the International Cooperation and Development Fund, a MOFA operation.
■ Labor
Most choose new pensions
More than 2 million workers have chosen to change to the revised pension system, while more than 1 million prefer the old system, initial tallies compiled by the Council for Labor Affairs show. Under the old system, a worker must work for the same employer for 15 consecutive years and reach the age of 55, or for 25 consecutive years, to be eligible for a retirement pension. If a worker were to quit before he met one of the two conditions, he or she would get nothing. Under the new system, a worker's employer must deposit an amount equal to at least 6 percent of the employee's salary into his pension account, which he or she can "carry around" when moving to a new company.
■ Politics
KMT wants new blood
Six young newly-elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) national delegates yesterday appealed to party chairman-elect and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to let delegates directly elect Central Standing Committee members during the upcoming National Congress. Currently, the 31 members are elected by the Central Committee members. During the party's National Congress, scheduled for Aug. 19 and 20, Ma is to take the oath of office and the more than 1,000 newly-elected party delegates will elect 210 Central Committee members, who will then elect 31 Central Standing Committee members. In addition to saving time and money as well as narrowing the gap between management and grass-roots supporters, the young delegates yesterday said that the direct election would inject younger blood to the committee.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS