POLITICS
Taipei mayor on ‘Time’
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has been named on Time magazine’s 2023 TIME100 Next list, among the “emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership.” “Elected in 2022 as Taipei’s youngest-ever mayor, Chiang has pledged to bring new blood to Taiwan’s Kuomintang [Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT]” the Time write-up says. “Reputedly Asia’s oldest and richest political party, it’s recently struggled to attract youth support because of its Beijing-friendly reputation.” The magazine said Chiang has taken a moderate view while emphasizing his commitment to Taiwan’s democracy. “Although Chiang maintains he’s focused on ambitious urban-development plans, he’s increasingly tipped as a future presidential candidate,” Time said.
LABOR
Minimum wage increased
The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal put forward by the Ministry of Labor to raise the monthly minimum salary by 4.05 percent to NT$27,470, and the minimum hourly wage by NT$7 to NT$183. The revisions to the current NT$26,400 monthly and NT$176 hourly minimum wage are to take effect on Jan. 1, the Cabinet said. The increases, which ministry statistics show would affect about 1.79 million employees and 600,000 hourly workers, would not apply to live-in migrant caregivers and domestic helpers, who are not covered by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
CRIME
Former teacher convicted
A former elementary-school teacher has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for sexually assaulting two female students, the Tainan District Court said on Wednesday. The court in a statement said that the former teacher, a man in his 70s surnamed Shang (尚), committed the offenses from 2002 to 2004 while working at two elementary schools in Tainan. An investigation was only launched into Shang, who retired in 2004, in 2020, after a former student reported being sexually assaulted by Shang to the Humanistic Education Foundation, the court said. A subsequent probe by the Tainan City Government determined that Shang had sexually abused two other students when they were in the fifth and sixth grade at the time, the court said. The ruling can be appealed.
ENVIRONMENT
Sperm whales seen
More than 20 sperm whales were seen off the coast of Hualien County at 11am on Wednesday, the biggest pod of the whale species spotted this year, experts said. Liao Hung-chi (廖鴻基), head of a Hualien-based marine conservation organization, said there have been sightings of sperm whales off the Hualien coast since May, but the pod on Wednesday was the largest seen in the area this year. Liao said his organization is investigating why so many whales have recently been seen off the Hualien coast after a rare run of sightings for five months. Meanwhile, Lu Shih-ming (呂世明), manager of whale watching company Turumoan, said that a whale watching boat set sail at 10:30am on Wednesday and discovered a pod of sperm whales 6 to 8 nautical miles (11.1km to 14.8km) from the Port of Hualien. In the past, the most sperm whales offshore tour groups from Hualien had seen was five, therefore seeing 20 was a huge surprise for everyone, Lu said. The sperm whales could have gathered off the coast of Hualien due to the current after the recent typhoon, Lu said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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