ELECTIONS
By-elections date changed
Legislative by-elections for seats vacated in Taipei and Taichung following the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections are to be held on Jan. 27, the Central Election Commission announced yesterday. The commission on Friday last week said that the by-elections would be held on Jan. 26. When lawmakers on Monday suggested shifting the date, as it would coincide with the annual General Scholastic Ability Test, which determines entrance to the nation’s universities, the commission at the time said that the date could not be changed. However, it changed the date following an internal meeting yesterday. The by-elections are to fill seats representing a district in Taipei previously held by the Democratic Progressive Party’s Pasuya Yao (姚文智) and in Taichung held by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕).
CRIME
Former lawmaker a fugitive
Former KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) was on Friday last week declared a wanted person by the New Taipei City District Court for his failure to appear in court. The wanted notice is valid until April 1, 2041. Lee was in September indicted on charges of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), for which he could be sentenced to seven years in prison, and of forgery under the Criminal Code. Prosecutors have accused Lee of embezzling NT$5.32 million (US$173,262) to pay NT$100,000 in alimony to his ex-wife and personal travel fees by applying for assistant fees using dummy accounts.
CULTURE
Calendar promotes military
Renowned album cover designer and four-time Grammy Award nominee Xiao Qing-yang (蕭青陽) has designed the Ministry of National Defense’s calendar for next year, the ministry said in a statement yesterday promoting the product. Titled Around-the-Clock: Defending Our Country, the calendar was designed with the aim of encouraging Taiwanese to show greater support for those serving in the military who stand on guard around the clock, the ministry said, adding that it is the first to include English-language captions for photographs. A total of 5,000 calendars are to be distributed to military units nationwide. It can also be bought at the Taipei-based military-run Youth Daily News.
DIPLOMACY
Su to attend Bush funeral
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) yesterday left for the US to attend the state funeral of former US president George H.W. Bush. Bush, who died on Friday last week aged 94, is to lie in state at the US Capitol before a state funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral today. US President Donald Trump was also scheduled to attend the service.
CRIME
Three arrested in drug bust
Three men have been arrested and held incommunicado in connection with the discovery of 322.97kg of ketamine, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday. The men were on Nov. 20 apprehended during a stakeout in Taoyuan when they picked up the class-three drugs, which were smuggled into the nation in a container from Shenzhen, China, the office said in a statement. Authorities also confiscated 14 smartphones, an air pistol, an additional 90g of ketamine, a BMW sports car, five expensive watches and other items, as well as NT$2 million, 4,100 yuan (US$600) and HK$45,000 (US$5,766) in cash, it added.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
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,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
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
RSS