■ SPORTS
Council moving south
The Sports Affairs Council, currently located in Taipei, is moving south and will start its operations in Kaohsiung beginning next month, council Deputy Chairman Lee Kao-hsiang (李高祥) said yesterday. The move is part of the administration's policy to relocate some government offices to the south to balance regional development and follows the Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Agency move to Kaohsiung late last year. The council will be relocated to the National Sports Training Center in Tsoying (左營), Kaohsiung City. Lee said the Cabinet had appropriated NT$28.37 million (US$735,400) for the relocation, including a monthly living allowance of NT$20,000 for each of the 114 staffers as compensation for the inconvenience.
■ POLITICS
KMT confirms nominations
The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) highest decision-making body yesterday confirmed the nomination of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) for the positions of speaker and deputy speaker respectively. The party decided to support Wang's proposed re-election as speaker after it won a landslide victory in the legislative elections, and selected Tseng as its deputy speaker candidate via a straw poll on Monday. The KMT's Central Standing Committee also passed amendments for the regulations on the establishment of the party's integrity committee yesterday, expanding its scope by increasing the number of members from 11 to 15. KMT spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) said the party is seeking to include more professionals in the committee to prevent inter-party corruption.
■ DIPLOMACY
Amendment includes Taiwan
By a vote of 25-3, the WHO executive board yesterday passed a China-sponsored amendment to the International Health Regulations of 2005 that includes Taiwan in the global health framework in principle, Taiwan's representative to Geneva Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) told CNA yesterday. Despite earlier media reports saying that China wanted to block Taiwan's representation in the health agreement with its draft amendment, Shen said that Taiwan "did not lose" as the "universal application" clause proposed by Taiwan's allies, also called the "Taiwan clause," was in the amendment. The issue of Taiwan's representation in the regulations had been taken seriously and fully debated by the board, Shen said.
■ POLITICS
Alleged gangster released
A campaign worker for Democratic Progressive Party legislator-elect Yu Tien (余天), alleged gangster Wang Ying-lan (王瑛嵐), was released yesterday on NT$100,000 (US$3,000) bail over his alleged involvement in a case of threatening the supporters of an opposition candidate during the legislative election campaign. Police suspected that Wang warned a borough warden, Chuang Chin-lung (莊金龍), an entertainer better known as Kao Chun (高群), and other wardens not to support Yu's opponent, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Chun-hsiao (朱俊曉), and not to perform at Chu's campaign rallies. Police said Wang told Chuang he would gather some gangsters at Chung's home to "drink tea." Yu defeated Chu by a narrow margin in the Jan. 12 legislative elections, and Chu said he would file a lawsuit seeking to annul Yu's victory.
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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