■ Transport
Mandarin unveils new route
Mandarin Airlines will open regular direct flights between Kaohsiung and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, starting tomorrow. The new service will benefit Taiwanese businessmen who travel frequently to the Southeast Asian country, Vietnamese spouses of local citizens and travelers in southern Taiwan, a spokesman for the company said. The flight will take around 3.5 hours, the spokesman said, adding that tickets for the first flight had sold out. The airline is offering a discounted ticket price for flights between tomorrow and May 12 to celebrate the opening of the new route, the spokesman said.
■ Politics
Mayor hospitalized
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) has been admitted to Chung-ho Memorial Hospital, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. Director-General of the Mayor's Office Hung Chih-kun (洪智坤) said the hospital insisted Chen stay in hospital for further examination after she complained of suffering dizziness after getting up on Thursday. Hospital vice president Lai Wen-te (賴文德) told a press conference that Chen has high blood pressure and blood sugar, adding that the hospital plans to conduct blood tests on her. Lai said Chen was conscious and in stable condition, but that she was expected to stay in the hospital for observation for four to five days. Hung and Hsiao Yu-cheng (蕭裕正), director-general of the city's Department of Information, both denied rumors that Chen had been hospitalized due to a minor stroke. Deputy Kaohsiung Mayor Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) and Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆) will manage city affairs until Chen is fit enough to return to work, Hsiao said.
■ Media
TTV chairman resigns
Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) chairman Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲) yesterday handed in his resignation, citing government interference in the state-owned TV station's management. Lai said in a statement that he had to leave because he "stood in the way of somebody getting rich." TTV president Chen Ching-ho (陳清河) will double as chairman until a replacement has been found. Lai said that he would soon brief the public on his experiences at the station. "I think we will figure out sooner or later whether the government's sale of TTV shares to private firms is really a move to keep its promise to withdraw from media management or if it is simply trying to extend its influence on another aspect," he said in the statement.
■ Constitution
Academics call for change
A group of academics yesterday appealed to the nation's major political parties to revise the Constitution and turn the government into a parliamentary system. Lu Ya-li (呂亞力), professor emeritus of political science at National Taiwan University, and Chou Yan-shan (周陽山), professor of political science at the Chinese Culture University, said the general provisions of the Constitution, which deal with the sensitive issues of the country's name and territory, should remain intact. However, the central government should be converted into a parliamentary system, with members chosen by a popular electoral system under which voters cast one ballot for their favored candidate and one for their political party, they said. Claiming that their opinions represented those of more than 100 political science academics and professionals, Lu and Chou also called for a relaxation of the criteria for amending the Constitution.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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