■ SOCIETY
Lu officiates weddings
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) officiated at a mass wedding ceremony of 32 couples at the Hsinchu Science Park yesterday. Lu exhorted the 64 grooms and brides -- all scientists, technicians or staff working for companies at the park -- to respect their marriage vows. She called on the newlyweds to forgive and be patient with each other, adding that there are inevitable ups and downs and twists and turns in married life. But the virtue of "thinking about the other's goodness," she said, would help them overcome the difficulties they will likely encounter in their marriages.
■ MEDIA
`China Post' Web site hacked
The Web site of the English-language daily the China Post was closed for more than two hours yesterday morning after its site administrators discovered that hackers had added profanities to the headlines of every story. The newspaper was not aware of the attack, which saw the f-word placed in each headline, until they began receiving telephone calls from readers at around 9am. The newspaper was forced to shut down its Web site, which did not resume normal operations until yesterday afternoon. The newspaper is still trying to determine the identity of the hackers. A similar incident occurred about four months ago, where the home page of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) was turned into the Chinese national flag.
■ HEALTH
Taipei pressures drug maker
Taipei requested yesterday that Akzo Nobel, the Netherlands' largest pharmaceutical firm, quickly sign a contract to produce flu vaccines or it would be forced to find another partner to ensure flu control, state media reported yesterday. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) selected the Dutch company in July last year for a build, own and operate (BOO) project for the production of flu vaccines and the two parties were about to sign a contract this year. But progress was hampered by a separate deal in March between Schering Plough, a global research-based pharma-ceutical company, and Akzo Nobel, under which the Dutch firm agreed to sell its vaccine research and development unit -- Organon Biosciences -- to Schering Plough. As the acquisition agreement would only be completed by the final quarter of this year, it would be impossible for the Dutch firm to give CDC a timetable on signing the BOO deal with Taiwan, the agency said.
■ TRAVEL
Global trekkers arrive
A Swiss couple arrived in Taiwan after driving through 156 countries on their around-the-world trip that began 23 years ago, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. Emil Schmid, 65, and Liliana Schmid, 66, arrived from East Timor and kicked off their trip across Taiwan on Saturday from Kaohsiung, after their Toyota Land Cruiser arrived in the city. They began their around-the-world trip on Oct. 18, 1984, traveling to the US. Emil was a computer software engineer and their global adventure began with the simple wish to get away from schedules for a year. But one year's travel proved insufficient, so they kept prolonging it and have not stopped since. Over the past 23 years, they have visited North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia, returning to Switzerland on just three occasions.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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