President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday authorized several young members of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) to claim the registration form for the party’s presidential nomination on his behalf, beginning his campaign for the presidential election next year.
Ma should complete the registration process by the end of this month, in accordance with KMT regulations. The KMT would formally nominate Ma as its presidential candidate on May 4 if no other members register for the presidential nomination.
So far, there have been no signs that anyone within the party will try to challenge Ma, who doubles as party chairman.
Chanting slogans as they entered KMT party headquarters, KMT Taipei City Councilor Chueh Mei-sha (闕梅莎) led nine KMT members from southern Taiwan to claim the registration form on behalf of Ma, and said the president would continue national reforms, promote peaceful cross-strait relations, seek ethnic harmony and work harder to expand the party’s support in the south as he seeks a second term.
After the nomination is approved, Ma will establish his presidential campaign office late next month or in early June.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
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