■ Crime
Two murdered women found
Hualien police said they found two unclothed female corpses on a riverbed yesterday. Both were strangled before being dragged to the locations where they were found, and the police suspect the two cases may be connected. The first corpse was discovered around 6am yesterday by an elderly man on the river bed under the Shueiyuan Bridge in Hualien. A second body was discovered by the police around 10am, less than 100m from the first. Both were only wearing underpants. The police suspect that the two females were first strangled to death, then dumped by the riverbed. There were no indications of rape. Both corpses are awaiting autopsies. Forensic doctors said that one woman, who is thought to be around 20, was thrown off the bridge after being strangled. The second was about 30, and had head wounds. Both women's' necks showed obvious signs of being strangled.
■ Politics
DPP mulls election date
The by-election for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman will be held before the Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 29 next year, a DPP spokesman said yesterday. For the time being, the DPP's Central Standing Committee has set two possible dates for the by-election, and the committee will announce the exact date by Thursday before accepting the registrations of candidates wishing to run for the post, the spokesman said, adding that the elected DPP chairman will take over after the Lunar New Year holiday season. Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun, former Council for Hakka Affairs Chairman Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) and Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮) have been tipped as potential candidates in the race.
■ Society
Pavarotti to wow Taichung
World-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who was scheduled to arrive in Taichung on a chartered jet last night, has chosen Taichung to conclude the Asia leg of his farewell world tour that began early this year. The 70-year-old opera legend will be greeted by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and his wife with flowers at Taichung's Chingchuankang Airport. Hu told reporters yesterday that he has prepared a "mysterious gift" that is expected to leave a deep impression in the opera singer's mind about Taichung. Pavarotti will sing at the Taichung Stadium on Wednesday to an audience of more than 20,000 people. Organizers said nearly all the seats have been sold, with all the seats priced at NT$1,000 (US$30) and below sold out. He will begin with three Neapolitan folk songs, followed by the opera songs that have made him famous, including Che Gelida Manina (Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen) from Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme.
■ Society
Web site explains ID cards
The public can ask questions about the new ID cards to be issued beginning on Dec. 21 by logging on to the Ministry of the Interior's Web site at www.moi.gov.tw, ministry officials said yesterday. The Web site will be accessible through the end of next year. Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) will publicly display the 21 security and anti-forgery measures contained in the new version of the Republic of China ID cards tomorrow at the Banciao City Household Registration Office in Taipei county, the officials said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods