■ Education
Mandarin proving popular
The number of foreign students seeking education in Taiwan soared by 23 percent to 14,479 last year, mainly as a result of a global trend toward learning Mandarin, the Ministry of Education reported yesterday. Of last year's foreign intake, a total of 9,135 students studied Mandarin, an increase of 953 over the year-earlier level, ministry officials said. Japanese dominated the ranks of Mandarin-learning foreign students, with a total of 1,807 students, followed by Indonesians with 1,279, Americans with 1,252, South Koreans with 1,039 and Vietnamese with 402, the officials said.
■ Animal Care
Stray dog captured
A stray dog nicknamed "209" which had lived on an interchange island on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway for nearly two years was caught by volunteers from the Kaohsiung Concern Stray Animal Association yesterday. It took nine volunteers five hours and three attempts to tranquilize the animal. The volunteers risked their lives to get to the traffic island. Association chairwoman Wang Chun-chin (王春金) said many people had offered to adopt "209" as a result of media reports about the dog. The association will put the dog up for adoption after it has recovered from its ordeal, Wang said. Chang Tung-liang (張棟樑), a captain of the freeway patrol, said later yesterday that the volunteers faced fines ranging between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000 because they had not sought police approval before venturing onto the freeway on foot.
■ Society
Yang Chuan-kwang buried
Taiwan's first Olympic medalist, Yang Chuan-kwang (楊傳廣), who died of a brain hemorrhage on Jan. 28 in his Ventura County, California, home at the age of 73, was buried at Ivy Lawns Memorial Park in Ventura on Saturday after a brief funeral. Officials from Taiwan's National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles and the Democratic Progressive Party's Western America Chapter attended the funeral and sang the Republic of China's national anthem. Yang won a silver medal in the decathlon at the Rome Olympics in 1960. Rafer Johnson, a US athlete who trained with Yang and won the gold medal in the decathlon in Rome also attended the funeral and recalled his five-decade friendship with Yang.
■ Politics
Yu urges DPP debate
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the party should hold open debates among its members ON whether a "one China" framework exists in the Constitution. Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said last year that such a framework does exist, a comment that drew criticism from within the party. In an radio interview yesterday, Yu said national identity is a matter on the constitutional level and should not be blurred by "playing with words." Saying such a framework exists is wrong because the framework does not reflect a Taiwan-centered value, he said, adding that such a framework will also prevent the nation from becoming a normal country. He added that the party should also hold debate on the "four nos" proposed by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in his inauguration speech, but he did not elaborate. Yu added in the interview that he is in favor of changing the Constitution's general guidelines, which stipulate the nation's title, territory and flag.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
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