SOCIETY
Students shine at Robofest
Students from Taiwan won four categories at the Robofest World Championship in the US. They were competing against teams that qualified for the event from regional competitions in 21 other countries and nine US states. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office said on Facebook yesterday said that Taiwanese students won the most popular award in the Exhibition Junior category, and first place in the Exhibition Senior and Game Senior categories. They also won the Junior Bottle Sumo category, in which teams of one robot try to push each other or a bottle off a platform. Twelve Taiwanese teams, comprising nearly 50 students from elementary school upward, participated in the competition at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago
POLITICS
Tsai awards 13 top officials
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday conferred medals on Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and 12 other officials at the Presidential Office, in recognition of their hard work, which she said had left a better Taiwan for the world. Tsai, set to complete her second presidential term on Monday next week, awarded Lai, the president-elect, the Order of Dr Sun Yat-sen with Grand Cordon and the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon. Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) was awarded the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon. Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Examination Yuan Secretary-General Liu Chien-sin (劉建忻) were honored with the Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon. Vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正), Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) and Stanley Kao (高碩泰), a former top envoy to the US, were among those who received the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago
CRIME
Triple murder suspect held
The New Taipei District Court yesterday approved a request by prosecutors to detain and hold incommunicado a man suspected of murdering his wife, stepson and mother-in-law in the city’s Sanchong District (三重). The 24-year-old suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was detained due to the severity of the case and the risk that he could try to flee or destroy evidence. Chang was arrested in Taichung on Sunday after his 30-year-old wife, surnamed Chen (陳), her 69-year-old mother, surnamed Liu (劉), and his three-year-old stepson were found dead at a residence on Saturday night, police said. A woman identified as Liu’s oldest daughter said she was unable to contact her mother for several days, police said. Police said Chang admitted during questioning that he had murdered them over a financial dispute.
SOCIETY
Indonesians wed en masse
Twenty-nine Indonesian couples on Sunday took part in a mass wedding event in Taipei that was held to reduce the number of unregistered marriages among Indonesians in Taiwan. After attending a ceremony of about 20 minutes featuring readings from the Koran, each couple spent 15 minutes processing documents before receiving an official marriage certificate issued by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. Sunday’s event was the third mass wedding event organized by the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei since the beginning of last year.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
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