■Elections
Candidates' rank determined
Draws for polling numbers for mayoral and councilor candidates in the country's top two municipalities were held yesterday in Taipei and Kaohsiung cities. The results determine a candidate's placement on the ballot. In Taipei, Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) drew the No. 2 spot while his DPP rival Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) drew No. 1 after an official from the election committee drew on his behalf. In Kaohsiung, where there are five candidates in the race for the top job at city hall, Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who was absent and had his number drawn by an election commission official, got No. 1, followed in order by Chang Po-ya (張博雅), Huang Tien-sheng (黃天生), Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) and Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷). As for city council elections, 115 candidates are vying for 52 seats in Taipei City and 114 candidates are fighting for 44 seats in Kaohsiung. The elections will be held Dec 7.
■ Crime
Counterfeiting charges laid
Law-enforcement agents arrested four people yesterday for allegedly counterfeiting NT$1,000 bank notes and seized equipment and bogus currency, a spokesman for the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice announced. Acting on a tip-off and following a lengthy investigation, prosecutors and investigators raided two locations in northern Taipei and Taoyuan counties where Ho Chin-teh (何金德), Lu Sun-yung (呂森永), Chang Yu-hung (張愈弘) and Feng Ming-cheng (馮明政) were found with 760 counterfeit NT$1,000 notes along with a computer and a color printer. The ring, led by Ho, allegedly sold bogus notes to downstream buyers, at a rate of one to three or one to four, who in turn passed the bills at grocery stores, traditional markets and street stands in central Taichung, Changhua and southern Kaohsiung counties.
■ Diplomacy
Chen offers help to ally
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that Taiwan is willing to help Sao Tome and Principe's fight against malaria. Chen made the remark at the Presidential Office when he received Sao Tome and Principe Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mateus Meira Rita, who arrived Wednesday for a five-day visit. The president said he was concerned about the nation, which is battling malaria by trying to eradicate mosquitoes. Chen said that Taiwan has already sent experts to the West African country, who have mapped out a mosquito-killing plan they will submit to the local authorities. Rita said Taiwan is the major cooperation partner of Sao Tome and Principe and told Chen that his country appreciates the assistance. Taiwan's aid, he said, is used to fight malaria and provide drinking water to residents.
■ Diplomacy
GIO solicits support
Government Information Office (GIO) Deputy Director-General Frederic Chang (張平男) called Thursday for international support for Taiwan, saying that a hegemonic China has never ceased in its efforts to isolate democratic Taiwan on the world stage. Chang made the remarks during a gathering in Geneva with 20 representatives from the media, academia and government. Stressing that Taiwan, a full-fledged democracy, deserves greater support from the international community, Chang invited foreign friends to pay fact-finding visits to the country. According to the GIO deputy chief, various European parliamentarians showed a high degree of interest in issues related to direct links.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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