■ EDUCATION
Wu defends college plan
Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) yesterday defended a plan to provide fifth-year courses for university graduates, saying it would boost their employability and help meet the demands of the business and industrial sectors. Wu dismissed criticism that the program was designed to artificially lower the unemployment rate, which hit 5.3 percent last month and is expected to rise in the following months as new graduates flood the job market. He said the program is a long-term and far-sighted policy devised to meet the needs of the private sector. The ministry floated a “four-plus-one” initiative earlier this week that would allow universities to open one-year intensive courses for bachelor’s degree holders to gain technical knowledge that would enhance their chances of finding a job after graduation, especially in high-tech companies.
■ DEFENSE
Rescue to be MND’s remit
A bill aimed at officially listing disaster prevention and rescue as part of the military’s work cleared the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday. However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) expressed concern that the change could undermine the power of the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, as it would allow the premier to command the troops in disaster prevention and rescue operations. Vice Minister of National Defense Chao Shih-chang (趙世璋) said the scope of the premier’s authority in such situations would be clearly defined to ensure that it would not infringe on the president’s power. Chao added that disaster prevention and rescue had become part of the military’s core mission, alongside its duty to defend the country from foreign invasion. The proposed amendment to the National Defense Act (國防法) still has to be reviewed by the legislature.
■ FESTIVALS
Public invited to Santacruzan
The Taipei City Government invites the public to join the Filipino community in celebrating Santacruzan on Sunday. The annual festival, co-organized by Taipei City’s Department of Labor Affairs and St Christopher’s Church, will take place in front of the church and along Zhongshan N Road from 1:30pm to 4pm. Santacruzan is a commemoration of the quest in 324 by Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor credited with promoting Christianity in the West, to find the cross on which Christ was crucified. The department organized the festival for the Filipino community to celebrate the holiday away from home, while hoping to allow residents in Taipei to have a better understanding of Philippine culture.
■ CRIME
Police probing officer’s death
Police are investigating a suicide involving an officer in Lujhou (蘆洲), Taipei County, and will release the results in a few days, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday. The 47-year-old victim, identified by his surname Chuang (莊), reportedly shot himself to death outside a police station on Wednesday night. Jiang said Chuang was having a discussion with the chief of the police station when he took out his gun and attempted to kill himself. The station chief was shot while trying to stop Chuang. When he went into the station to seek help, Chuang again fired his gun and killed himself, Jiang said. He said the ministry had ordered an investigation into reports that Chuang was in debt, a drug abuser and did not get along with his family.
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
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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
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