■ Politics
Rally not `off-limits': KMT
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that it will leave the decision of whether to join today's march against China's "Anti-Secession" Law up to individual members."This is an event organized by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]. The political platform, national ideology and stance on cross-strait relations are all different from the KMT. If there are party members that want to participate in the rally, then the KMT is unable to prevent them from joining. However, we trust the judgement of our party members," KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said. He added that if there are KMT party members who attend to show their support of the Republic of China and call upon President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to uphold his "four noes" policy, then the KMT will not "hinder" them. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a KMT vice chairman, said yesterday that he was unsure whether or he would attend.
■ Fisheries
Seminar set for Monday
A seminar on deep-sea fishing manpower issues will be held on Monday as part of the government's efforts to formulate new policy and strategies for sustainable fishery industry development, a Council of Agriculture official said yesterday. The seminar, to be organized by the council's Fishery Administration, will focus on the supply and demand of fishing manpower, upgrading the quality of the industry's workforce and improvement of the shipboard working environment, the official said. The one-day seminar will bring together officials from city and county governments, representatives of fishing industry associations, academics and experts to explore manpower-related problems faced by fishing-boat owners and feasible measures to resolve them, the official said. The seminar will be the first of a series of forums to be held this year on issues affecting the fishing industry.
■ Politics
KMT revises nominee list
The KMT has released a list on Thursday night of three principles it will use when considering who it will nominate for the National Assembly Representatives' election on May 14. It said it would rank Chen Chin-jang (陳金讓), the party's nominee for the assembly's speaker, as No.1, while city mayors and county commissioners are to be ranked outside of the number the party expects to win seats. Chen is a former National Assembly speaker. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was originally ranked No.1 in the party's original list of nominees but on the new list he is ranked 135 out of 160. Penghu County Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉 ) is No.126 on the new list, the highest of any local official. The statement said the changes reflect the party's emphasis on academics and youth.
■ National security
Official punished
The Judicial Yuan announced yesterday that the president's former chief aide-de-camp, Lieutenant General Chen Tsai-fu (陳再福), would be barred for one year from working in government for failing in his responsibilities in connection with the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (陳水扁). The report said Chen Tsai-fu's poor leadership contributed to the incident. The report said Chen Tsai-fu failed to ask the president and vice-president to put on bullet-proof vests and he broke rules regarding motorcade formation, which resulted in the failure to properly guard the two leaders.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
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