■POLITICS
Hu hopping mad over ad
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday said that a cosmetic surgeon who used a photo of Hu’s wife to promote a cosmetic cream could face litigation. Local media reported that a television commercial showed the surgeon claiming that the couple are grateful for the effect of a cream from his clinic. The ad says the cream helped Hu’s wife Shirley Shaw (邵曉鈴) recover her looks after a serious car accident, showing a photo of Shaw and what is said to be a note of appreciation signed by the mayor. According to reports, the cosmetic surgeon’s father was formerly Hu’s colleague at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the note shown in the ad was a card Hu sent to the surgeon’s father. Hu said yesterday that Shaw had never used the cream or received advice or treatment from the medical team that appear in the advertisement.
■SOCIETY
Man becomes oldest groom
A 96-year-old temple keeper has become the nation’s oldest recorded groom after marrying a woman less than a third his age, local media reported yesterday. The man, surnamed Lin (林), who runs a Taoist temple in Tainan County, married a 30-year-old from China’s Hunan Province, the Apple Daily said. Lin, who has two adopted children, although he has never married, told the paper that he was “instructed” by the gods to go to Hunan to find a wife. He decided to tie the knot despite strong objections from his 68-year-old adopted son, who suspected that the elderly man had been conned, the report said. “I must have a companion in my old days ... I’ve never been married before so why can’t I marry her? [My son] is unfilial,” he was quoted as saying. Lin is currently applying for his wife to come to Taiwan to live with him, the report said.
■TRANSPORTATION
Cardholders can use trains
Starting yesterday, holders of Taiwan EasyGo Cards can use them on Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) trains. The Taiwan EasyGo Cards are mainly used by public bus passengers in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Hualien and Taitung Counties. The TRA said passengers with Taiwan EasyGo Cards can use trains operating on the line from Rueifang (瑞芳) to Hsinchu (新竹). Passengers can use their cards at any of the 29 stations on this section of line. Passengers can also use Taipei EasyCards to access the TRA system between Keelung and Jhungli (中壢), which has 19 stations. Passengers boarding with either EasyGo Cards or EasyCards can take any type of train service at the price set for commuter trains, plus a 10 percent discount. Aside from the EasyCards and EasyGo Cards, the TRA is also encouraging commuters to buy its monthly pass, enabling them to board any train for the price of a commuter train ticket plus a 15 percent discount.
■ DIPLOMACY
Ma stops off in Guam
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) arrived in the US territory of Guam yesterday from the Solomon Islands for a brief refueling stop en route to Palau for a state visit. American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt, the top US liaison officer with Taiwan, boarded Ma’s plane to welcome him upon arrival. Guam Governor Felix Camacho and US Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo also came to the airport to greet Ma. He departed the Solomon Islands earlier in the day. Palau will be the sixth and final leg of his weeklong diplomatic tour of the country’s six allies in the South Pacific. He has already visited the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru and the Solomon Islands. He is due back in Taipei today.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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