Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma made the remarks in a program broadcast by the Chinese Television System.
Although the mayor was reluctant to rate himself on his performance over the past three years, he said he was satisfied with the city government's handling of garbage and its improvements in law and order, traffic and infrastructure.
"Building Taipei into a world-class capital has been one of my dreams and the city government has done a great deal to buckle down," he said.
The mayor also called for greater public support in helping him carry out the remaining tasks.
"Our next phase is to develop Taipei's broadband infrastructure, improve order and public security and promote sporting activities," Ma said.
As to whether the issue of public security would hamper his effort to seek re-election in December, Ma said he was not worried about that.
"The city's death toll in fires dropped to 16 last year from 34 in 1998, the last of the four years President Chen Shui-bian led the city. Taipei's death toll in traffic accidents also fell to a record low of 98 last year," Ma added.
Regarding the question of whether the "pan-blue" camp should cooperate in the year-end elections for Taipei and Kaohsiung mayor, Ma said it depends on the two parties' policy-makers. "As the KMT's candidate in the race, I can't comment on the issue," he said.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
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A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed