■ POLITICS
Official’s pension may drop
Former justice minister Morley Shih (施茂林) is likely to lose an approximate NT$200,000 (US$6,600) on his pension after Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) rejected his request to retire as a prosecutor. “His request is not appropriate and not good” Wang said yesterday. By law, a prosecutor’s position is a life-time position unless he or she resigns. Shih was a prosecutor-general of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office prior to his ministerial post. “We must maintain the independence that belongs to prosecutors so they will not be interfered with or affected by other political facts,” Wang said, without elaborating. Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) said the difference between retiring as a prosecutor and retiring as a regular government officer was an additional NT$200,384 in pension money.
■DEFENSE
Minister makes base gaffe
Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) was criticized yesterday for being unfamiliar with the nation’s military bases. On Wednesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) asked during the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee meeting whether it would be possible to relocate the military base at Songshan Airport to Taoyuan Airport, to which Chen replied there was no military airport there. It was later pointed out that there is a military facility there. Chen, formerly an Air Force commander-in-chief, later admitted his mistake. KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-min (帥化民) said Chen had left the military a while before he took up the minister’s office, urging the public to have patience.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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