■ Leisure
Sports club offers free entry
The Nangang Sports Center in Taipei will have its official opening on Dec. 1, but free admission to the center will be available from today through the end of the month. The eight-story building, including four basement levels, was built at a cost of NT$570 million (US$17 million). The center includes a swimming pool, a diving pool, a children's pool, a sauna, a basketball court, a badminton court, a ballroom, a meeting room, a ping-pong room, a golf range and a shooting range (for air guns).
■ Transportation
High speed rail derails
A rail inspection vehicle traveling north from Tainan on the high speed rail derailed early yesterday morning near Chiayi station as it was conducting routine inspection procedures. Testing on the train lines between Yunlin and Tainan was reduced to a single track until the situation was rectified yesterday afternoon. A Central News Agency report quoted an unidentified high speed rail staffer as saying that the derailment was likely caused by human error. Nobody was injured in the accident. The high speed rail last suffered a derailment early this month, when a train on a test-run came off the tracks as a result of human error.
■ Crime
KMT lawmaker found guilty
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Her Jyh-Huei (何智輝) was sentenced to 19 years behind bars on charges of breach of trust and corruption yesterday. He was found guilty of accepting NT$223 million (US$6.8 million) in bribes to help several contractors win bids for construction projects in Hsinchu Science Park. Her yesterday said he would file an appeal. The KMT said later yesterday afternoon that Her would be relieved of his party membership.
■ Politics
DPP lawmaker sworn in
A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member was sworn in yesterday as DPP legislator at large, replacing former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), who resigned on Nov. 17. Hsu Teh-hsiang (許德祥), a well-known businessman in the fishery industry, was sworn in at a ceremony held at the Legislative Yuan that was witnessed by Grand Justice Hsieh Tsai-chuan (謝在全), Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘). Lin and Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) both gave up their legislative seats to express their disappointment with the way the party dealt with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was indicted on charges of corruption and forgery on Nov. 3. After Hsu was sworn in as a DPP legislator-at-large, the number of DPP seats in the 219-seat legislature reached 84. The vacancy left by Lee cannot be filled because a by-election can only take place when half of the legislators in his electoral district are no longer actively in service.
■ Society
City staff to get English book
The Tainan City Government unveiled an English pocketbook yesterday that will be distributed to its staff to better prepare them for the city's "2007 Cultural and Tourism Year." The Public Servant's English Pocketbook contains useful English phrases officials might need when carrying out their duties, such as a brief introduction of Tainan and the Tainan City Government, as well as city tourism information. City government officials said they would also put the contents of the pocketbook on the Internet.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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