POLITICS
Shen sweeps Yu’s steps
The release of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislator-at-large list on Wednesday had an unintended victim. Former DPP lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), wearing shorts and armed with a broom, yesterday turned up at singer-turned-lawmaker Yu Tian’s (余天) house. Shen had previously wagered that Yu would not be included on the safe part of the DPP’s legislator-at-large roster, which is compiled based on the share of the overall party vote. After Yu was included at No. 14 of 34 on the list — well within the range of what the DPP expects to be elected next year — Shen immediately said that he would live up to his promise to sweep Yu’s house.
IMMIGRATION
Development group to open
The New Immigrants’ Development Association is to be formally opened today in Taipei as it seeks to push for better immigrant welfare and more government resources to aid their cause, the group said in a statement released yesterday. The association said it will also push for a specialized government agency to handle issues related to immigrants, such as education, employment and care for immigrants’ children. The group added that it is time the government thought seriously about developing a set of more integrated immigration policies as, citing information previously released by the National Immigration Agency, the nation’s immigrant population will reach 1 million by the end of the year.
CULTURE
Borboa exhibition opens
An exhibition featuring 20 watercolors by Mexican expatriate artist Francisco Borboa began on Friday in Taipei, according to the Mexican Trade Services Documentation and Cultural Office in Taiwan. The month-long show of landscapes, titled “Contemplation,” is Borboa’s latest exhibition since one on religious art last year, said Martin Munoz Ledo Villegas, head of the Mexican office. The exhibition, on the 15th floor of the Taipei World Trade Center International Trade Building, focuses on four natural elements of daily life — mountains, water, cloud and fog — all of which are inspired by the scenery in Mexico, China and Taiwan, he added. Borboa, a devout Catholic, said he uses his art to express his love for God and also for Taiwan, the country in which he has lived for more than 20 years. “Life in Taiwan is very beautiful and Taiwan’s people are very lucky,” he said. “I’m very lucky to live here and I’m very happy, too.”
SPORT
Lu gets journal mention
Tennis ace Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) has been included in this year’s Wimbledon Journal, an annual publication that records important events during the two-week tournament, according to Lu’s official Web site. “Lu. Who? Lu! There did seem to be only one way to defeat Andy Roddick at the All England Club recently and that was deep into a fifth set,” it says about Lu’s stunning victory over the former top-ranked American last year. The journal is one of the traditions of the prestigious tennis tournament and covers the pivotal scenes of each day of the previous year’s competition. Lu, who beat Roddick to advance to the men’s singles quarter-finals last year, appears on several pages of the journal. In one of them, his photo is seen next to top female players including Belgian Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova of Russia. The journal also introduces Lu’s family, including his chicken-farmer father. This year, Lu did not advance past the third round of the men’s singles after losing to French player Michael Llodra on Sunday last week.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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