■ Society
Centenarians multiplying
Taiwan has 713 centenarians, with an average age of 101.7, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The ministry was publicizing the approaching Chungyang Festival, which falls on Oct. 22 this year and which has been used to honor senior citizens since 1966. The ministry said the oldest person in the country is a 120-year-old woman, while the oldest man is 109. Both live in Taipei. The number of centenarians jumped by 57 from last year, the report said, adding that 91 percent of centenarians are aged between 100 and 104. Women account for 496, or 69.6 percent, of the centenarians. By location, Taipei City boasts the largest number of centenarians at 150, followed by Taipei County at 100 and Taoyuan County at 59.
■ Crime
Trio nabbed in Thailand
Three Taiwanese men have been arrested for alleged drug-trafficking in Thailand after being found with 20kg of heroin, Thai police said yesterday. Kao Chih-ping, 35, Chiang Ching-huang, 47, and Chen Chien-hung, 42, said they had been hired to take the drugs to Taiwan where they had a street value of more than US$1 million, according to police. Police officers said they found a quarter of the haul yesterday in the luggage of one of the men as he was checking in at Bangkok's international airport for a flight returning to Taiwan. The other two were arrested during a raid at their apartment in Bangkok where the rest of the drugs were found.
■ Politics
PFP names candidates
The People First Party (PFP) yesterday unveiled its nomination list for legislators-at-large -- and Chairman James Soong(宋楚瑜), who had vowed to enter the legislature -- was not on it. The PFP, which estimates that it will win about seven at-large seats in December's legislative elections, nominated 16 candidates, mostly incumbents. Legislators Liu Yi-ju (劉憶如), Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), Nelson Ku (顧崇廉), Chung Jung-chi (鍾榮吉) and Lin Hui-kuan (林惠官), along with Tainan County Farmers' Association chairman Tsai Sheng-chia (蔡勝佳) and lawyer Lee Fu-tien (李復甸), are the seven expected to win a seat at the elections. Meanwhile, Li Ao (李敖), the maverick commentator who was the New Party's presidential candidate in the 2000 election, yesterday announced that he will run as an independent in the southern electoral district of Taipei City.
■ Politics
TSU names candidates, too
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday announced its legislator-at-large nomination list. Annie Lee (李安妮), whose name has been mentioned as a possible candidate, was not nominated. She is the daughter of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Meanwhile, estimating that it would win at least five legislator-at-large seats, the TSU nominated national advisor to the president Chen Yung-hsing (陳永興), senior advisor to the National Security Council Lai Hsin-yuan (賴幸媛), TSU Legislator Huang Cheng-che (黃政哲), director general of the Taiwan Bar Association Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇) and architect Chen Yin-ho (陳銀河). Additionally, the party's incumbent legislators-at-large, Wu Tong-sheng (吳東昇) and Cheng Cheng-lung (程振隆), voluntarily withdrew from the nomination process.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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