■POLITICS
Hu hopping mad over ad
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) yesterday said that a cosmetic surgeon who used a photo of Hu’s wife to promote a cosmetic cream could face litigation. Local media reported that a television commercial showed the surgeon claiming that the couple are grateful for the effect of a cream from his clinic. The ad says the cream helped Hu’s wife Shirley Shaw (邵曉鈴) recover her looks after a serious car accident, showing a photo of Shaw and what is said to be a note of appreciation signed by the mayor. According to reports, the cosmetic surgeon’s father was formerly Hu’s colleague at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the note shown in the ad was a card Hu sent to the surgeon’s father. Hu said yesterday that Shaw had never used the cream or received advice or treatment from the medical team that appear in the advertisement.
■SOCIETY
Man becomes oldest groom
A 96-year-old temple keeper has become the nation’s oldest recorded groom after marrying a woman less than a third his age, local media reported yesterday. The man, surnamed Lin (林), who runs a Taoist temple in Tainan County, married a 30-year-old from China’s Hunan Province, the Apple Daily said. Lin, who has two adopted children, although he has never married, told the paper that he was “instructed” by the gods to go to Hunan to find a wife. He decided to tie the knot despite strong objections from his 68-year-old adopted son, who suspected that the elderly man had been conned, the report said. “I must have a companion in my old days ... I’ve never been married before so why can’t I marry her? [My son] is unfilial,” he was quoted as saying. Lin is currently applying for his wife to come to Taiwan to live with him, the report said.
■TRANSPORTATION
Cardholders can use trains
Starting yesterday, holders of Taiwan EasyGo Cards can use them on Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) trains. The Taiwan EasyGo Cards are mainly used by public bus passengers in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Hualien and Taitung Counties. The TRA said passengers with Taiwan EasyGo Cards can use trains operating on the line from Rueifang (瑞芳) to Hsinchu (新竹). Passengers can use their cards at any of the 29 stations on this section of line. Passengers can also use Taipei EasyCards to access the TRA system between Keelung and Jhungli (中壢), which has 19 stations. Passengers boarding with either EasyGo Cards or EasyCards can take any type of train service at the price set for commuter trains, plus a 10 percent discount. Aside from the EasyCards and EasyGo Cards, the TRA is also encouraging commuters to buy its monthly pass, enabling them to board any train for the price of a commuter train ticket plus a 15 percent discount.
■ DIPLOMACY
Ma stops off in Guam
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) arrived in the US territory of Guam yesterday from the Solomon Islands for a brief refueling stop en route to Palau for a state visit. American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt, the top US liaison officer with Taiwan, boarded Ma’s plane to welcome him upon arrival. Guam Governor Felix Camacho and US Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo also came to the airport to greet Ma. He departed the Solomon Islands earlier in the day. Palau will be the sixth and final leg of his weeklong diplomatic tour of the country’s six allies in the South Pacific. He has already visited the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru and the Solomon Islands. He is due back in Taipei today.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
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